And what was in those gifts many, on Christmas Day in the morning?

Now presenting - the gift slider, season 2! Well, sort of. You see, last year I made a slide show of all of the interesting gifts that I received for my birthday/Christmas. I tried to duplicate it this year but Blogger doesn't support Java so you'll just have to view the picture without the glitzy scrolling script. Pay particular attention to my poor photography skills and to the way that I masterfully turned the word "gadget" into a verb in the 8th caption. Please note that these are just a handful of some of the gifts that my parents gave me. In addition to this small sample of Gifts 2006 I also received a hefty amount of clothes that actually fit, a number of Weight Watchers items, some vogue-eriffic black nail polish, and various nifty things from my friends. I just didn't include any of that because I a) was in a hurry and b) didn't want to get cat hair all over my brand new duds.

Actually, I'm reaping the benefits of Christmastime as we speak - I'm wearing some new snow men boxers and some Mary Jane-esque socks while listening to my Pride and Prejudice soundtrack for the 4th time and wishing that I hadn't just sampled that Pumpkin Flax Kashi bars that Santa left in my stocking this morning.

I was pleasantly surprised to find this Christmas to be spectacularly enjoyable! My mom, brother, and I went to the 10:00 candle-light Christmas Eve service last night at church and it was wonderful! We've never been able to go before because we are always out of town on Christmas Eve. Then at 7:30 this morning we loaded all the presents and food into the car and toted everything to the hospital where we ate breakfast, emptied stockings, and spent a ridiculous amount of time opening presents. My mom's family came to the hospital at 1:00 and we had lunch in one of the guest rooms on my dad's floor. It was totally unorthodox but it also turned out to be the most relaxing and family-oriented Christmas Days ever.

Merry Christmas y'all!