Best Hanukkah Presents

I know, it's over, and glad we are of it. But I just had to share some stellar presents.

Presents I Got

From S: A month's membership at the gym which I activated Tuesday when it was just too damn cold to run. Treadmills! Cybex! Nautilus! Unlimited yoga classes! No need for fleece!

From E: Knee socks. Warm, and they keep my hip black calf-length high-heeled boots from abrading my sensitive calves.

From M: Red and black lumberjack plaid thick fleece pajama bottoms. So cozy I have to put them on as soon as I get home every evening.

[Do you sense a theme? Yessirree, it's cold here in East Coast Big City in the winter.]

Presents I Gave

Tub Tints and bath crayons: hands down the most successful presents of the year. We do the eight nights/eight presents thing, yes indeed we do, but a bunch of nights they get presents from grandparents and aunts, and one night they get big matchingish presents (this year it was a watch for M [blue leather wristband and analog face] and a clock for E [Hello Kitty, digital]), and then they get little matchingish presents, like t-shirts from S's restaurant (ok, that was a big hit too, as were the timepieces) and a chapter book (Abby Hayes 16 and Junie B. Jones 2, respectively--also hits, we sure did well this year). Then the last night we gave them the tub tints and bath crayons, wrapped in two separate packages, so everyone had something to open, but they had to SHARE. And they have (pretty much) in long baths which give me a lovely mid-evening break and have nicely decorated our bathtub tiles (my sister says no, no, they stain, but our bathtub tiles are not of the most attractive sort, so staining can't make things much worse and might improve them).

And with that the holiday season is fully behind us, except for the great and ongoing enjoyment of the presents.