The King's Paws (with one holding a bottle of Peri Peri sauce.)

[ScarletBea]

Yay @Arry! We miss you - I hope you're ok

I've just made biscuits for the first time, they're to be a present for my friend's parents where I'm having Christmas lunch tomorrow! They're very yummy, I ate one that looked a bit dodgy (they're stars, this one was more like a blob hehe)

[JMack]

Happy Christmas everyone. It’s been a wonderful one so far at castle JMack. Love and friendship to you all.

[Eli_Freysson]

Well, I got a nice stack for this Christmas:

[JMack]

I go two Amazon gift cards, so I decided to get a number of World Fantasy winners from recent years.
Am now waiting for the arrival of:
> The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
> A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
> The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Clare North
> The Changeling by Victor LaValle
> The Chimes by Anna Smaill

and not from WF winners:

> The Three-body Problem by Cixin Liu
> All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

I have another gift card from my mom. Hmm. Maybe something for photography, since there's no way I'll read these new books any time soon. 

[JMack]

Sons of the Pioneers.
Tumbling Tumbleweeds.

https://youtu.be/_UiSMyyj-Ac

Just sayin'.

[The Gem Cutter]

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and all that. I got a pipe, a tobacco jar, and all the accessories so I can get my 'old man with a pipe' on

The final day of a long and particularly difficult year is upon us. Perhaps it's just me, but if 2018 is unusual, it is not simply because of difficulties, but the multimodal, multidisciplinary aspect to them: politics, relationships, work, medical issues, family, you name it. Let's hope 2019 is a little less turbulent. For my part, I am hoping Robert Mueller brings me some more indictments to start off my year

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful year - I hope everything you need comes to you when it will do the most good

[J.R. Darewood]

I got:
a season pass to universal studios and some toffee bread pudding with butterbeer ice cream on it.
an african print scarf at a kawanzaa party I just went to
a tiny skillet for making giant cookies that I have discovered does not work on a range
lots of fried chicken

[ScarletBea]

I like to hear about these strange presents

I got 5 tea towels

As for the new year, I'll wait:

(and I'll be asleep at midnight hehe)

[JMack]

I got a sweat shirt saying “Buffalo, NY: Where My Story Began”, which is a reference to my surgery, not my birth or my writing 

Veggie Burgers made by friends of my son (who wears a t-shirt reading “Don’t Buy Food from Strangers”)

Enough gift certificates to fill another shelf with books for my TBR (When is retirement?)
And to buy a cast iron crock pot in which I plan to make no-knead bread

Two “Great Courses” courses (presumably great), one on photography and one on everyday life in ancient and medieval times.

And, thank god, coffee

[Lady Ty]

36 minutes to our midnight, Sending you all sincere good wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. There is hope here for 2019, an election sometime when we may get sanity and humanity back again is looking more  possible by the day.  This has made me very happy, but as ScarletBea mentioned my muscles are being annoying so I cannot ramble on here very often. Keep safe dear friends and thank you writers, having short stories as a monthly free gift is magical. 

[Henry Dale]

Got dice, a mortar and pestle, screwdrivers and that's it so far. I'm expecting more home decoration and utilities.

[Rostum]

Got some roll top panniers that attach to the engine bars or the hard luggage I use on the bike. An extra 10kg can now be carried. Coffee flavoured chocolate books and DVDs.

and 7:45 until the New Year but have a Happy New Year anyway.

[ScarletBea]

My sister sent a package to my parents with her presents ages ago, it hadn't arrived yet.

Today my dad wrote to me and said that it finally arrived, and it looks like it was opened in some kind of inspection, since the parcel with the drugs was the only thing that disappeared

I have no idea why it was opened, it only had clothes-type things, nothing that could be mistaken for something illegal

[Eli_Freysson]

As we say here in Iceland: Happy new year and thanks for the old one.

I'm off for dinner with some friends, then the bonfire, then the TV recap of the year. Then, at midnight, an absolutely insane amount of fireworks.

[JMack]

We’re with my Dad, Mom, brothers, sisters-in-law, all nieces and nephew and spouses (but one), my kids, and more. Playing “Dance Charades”.