I had intended on doing this sooner, you know, like on Christmas when everyone is all abuzz about their loot. I don’t really have a good excuse….the salmonella? all the damn wrapping paper and ribbon I had to bag up?

Alas, Im going to share with you  a few of my favorite items from this year, in no particular order:

Santa picked these up  at the Raffles Hotel while we were in Singapore. I particularily liked the one on the right (and in the store PC told me it wasn’t that good–little did I know….). It says “meeting place of the worlds travellers.” And Sqwee! I love it. I didn’t see the other one while we were there but it says “patronized by royalty and nobility.” We joke about it in the mornings depending on who is drinking out of that cup….Im royalty…he can be nobility.

This bad boy is from my in-laws. I feel so spoiled! My MIL knows I like Sephora so she got me this every-color-in-their-inventory eyeshadow/lip gloss/blush set they had. I mean seriously, how FUN is this? I was eyeing something similar at the Sephora in Singapore but ultimately decided against it. Good thing, eh?

This is from my friend Vivian (does Marc deserve credit too?) and its nothing I would have ever thought of getting myself but I LOVE it. Its so fun, I love these kinds of gifts- when someone finds you something you wouldn’t have thought to ‘ask’ for and your totally surprised and end up loving it. (And no, I don’t intend to wear it with two rings, I was trying to get a quick picture because I was in such! a hurry! to post pictures!……a week after Christmas).

This is from my soon to be sister-in-law Ashley. Let me just say [sadly] I’ve never met her. My brother’s wedding is in October and Im holding out hope that I might meet this future FAMILY MEMBER before the actual wedding day. But, thats sort of beside the point. The point is she got me this totally fun scarf and its supersoft and will match quite nicely with my wool coat I got when I went to England for Thanksgiving while in college (a trip I went on with [among other people] Vivian who is now one of my best friends…..and we didn’t, like, even talk to each other on that trip. If only we’d been friends sooner I might have spared myself some crap-o roommates *cough* Christy *cough cough*). I also have to say that Ashley’s gifts were hands down the most beautifully wrapped out of any….I mean, they looked like they were wrapped by MARTHA HERSELF with pretty glittery paper and big fancy wired ribbon bows. It can’t be easy to go buy stuff for a bunch of to-be family members you haven’t met (my brother Scott is deployed so he was no help in any of this). I think it speaks volumes about her as a person that she went and got such heartfelt gifts for a bunch of to-be family members she’s never met. Im so glad we’ve claimed her to be one of us (I say that as if I had some hand/role in it, haha).

Note the ring....I did that just for you. Im nothing if not a model...with my Starbucks t-shirt and carefully cropped out wet hair. Also, my hand looks fat. Its really not.

This is what Santa brought me, Im pretty excited about it because, well, because Panini are delish. And easy. And healthy. And will be a nice break from the “so….how about pancakes for dinner?” I can always count on my husband for a small kitchen appliance.

This was a request, and I can always count on my parents to buy me something practical. I’ve had it with the crap-o thermometers [ dr: "how high was the temp?" me: "I don't know....our thermometer works-ish so I can only say they are fever-ish."] and this is what they use here….well this or the good ‘ole rectal and, Lord. Spare me. In the middle of the night when someone is sick the last thing I need to worry about is how far to insert a thermometer into someones butt.

And finally, another Sephora splurge. I mean, who wouldn’t want makeup with names like “sexspresso”, “nude beach” and “velvet revolver” it sounds so….scandalous! And, you know me, I live a life of scandal!

So, all in all it was a great Christmas filled with lots of fun “stuff”, great food, a leetle bit of salmonella, and no weight gain. But more importantly it was filled with family, whether imported from China, via an international phone call, a Facebook message, iChat or just an email, we were “with” all the people that matter most to us. Hope your Christmas was filled with as much ‘awesome’ as ours was.

And also, what’d ya get?

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