Drabbles and icons

I'm sick, so I tried to go to bed early. However, this just meant that I woke up at 12-something, because I'm sick. Ugh. Skin hurts, and tummy hurts. :(

I used the Christmas-y wake-up time to post my present for kimikoneko over at btvs_santa.

I wrote her a handful of drabbles, a few of which are linked. I originally had intended to do ones for Hanukkah, Christmas, blue & white, green & red, candles, holly, and mistletoe, but I got a bit lazy. So what we have is as follows:

( Candles (or just light, really) )

( Mistletoe )

( Hanukkah )

( Christmas )

( Blue, red, holly, and more Christmas (this was where I got highly lazy) )

I also made two icons (one of which was posted earlier):



And one final drabble, which was also posted earlier:

( Willow & vamp!Willow. Untitled. )

Presents! Christmas! Presents! Yay! Holiday cheer! :)

Being sick just meant that opening presents took a lot longer than usual, as well as there being an hour-or-so-long break in the middle while my dad went to drop off presents at our friends' house, where we were supposed to be having dinner this afternoon.

But I'm finally done (except for my stocking, I just remembered!), so I thought I'd detail my haul. 'Cause Christmas is so fun. :)

Ugh. Have to sit up to write this, 'cause otherwise I can't see all my presents. The sacrifices I make. :P

DVDs: "Amélie" (hooray!), "Oklahoma!" (with Hugh Jackman), and "A Year in Provence" (which I had no clue I was getting; my parents have it on video, and I guess they figured I'd like it on DVD. I'll try to put up with the cringiness that I feel at watching it, cause it does have lovely Provençal scenery, and French). And the promise of a DVD of the Stratford Festival "Mikado," which is the best Mikado production ever. We have it on tape at home, but I can't watch tapes, and I want the DVD. :)

A calendar of Provence, and a calendar of Ansel Adams photographs (I'd mentioned to my mother that I wanted the latter, when we saw it, but I didn't think she'd necessarily get it for me).

Digital camera! Which I basically knew I was getting, but I didn't know if they were going to give me a "gift certificate" and say go pick it out yourself, or if I was actually going to get the camera for Christmas.

Scabbers! And Fluffy! So, someone enlighten me, please: why on earth has Scabbers got a Slytherin-green bracelet around his right front paw? Is it just to show that he's evil? 'Cause he's not missing any fingers. :) His eyes are really disturbing, if you turn the doll, they look like they're rolling in his head. (My father just walked by and said "Just for a minute there, I thought you were holding a real rat." Yes, father. A fucking huge rat that I'm holding up by the neck. Yeah.) My mother got the stuffed animals for me, never having read Harry Potter; whereas my father, who has read all the books, looked blank when I said "Ooh, it's Scabbers!" and "Ooh, it's Fluffy!" "Who's Scabbers?" said my father. "Peter Pettigrew. Ron's rat." He looked blank. "Harry Potter," I said, and the lightbulb flashed. I do love my father, really. :)

Three pairs of socks from the GAP, which I always like. Stripey! Colorful! (well, mostly colorful.)

Cordless phone that my mom thinks will work better than the one I've currently got in Berkeley. I can't say but that she must be right, because that wouldn't be difficult. Also, extra cloths for the Swiffer mop.

A jug that she and I bought together at The Spanish Table on San Pablo, which I then proceeded to instantly forget about.

First edition, signed copy of a Jeff Noon book, Falling Out of Cars; and a copy of Nick Bantock's Museum at Purgatory (which is out of print); and a copy of Nick Bantock's new book, which is the conclusion to the second Griffen and Sabine trilogy. My mom did awfully well here, for me telling her less than a week ago that I wanted them. :) (Incidentally, girlwithjournal, the out of print book was from a bookstore in Vermont. I can't remember which, because the book with the card in it is across the room, and there's no way I'm standing up.)

My mom gave both my father and myself web cameras, which in principle is just a really silly gift, but my dad's wanted to be able to talk to me that way for years.... the real advantage? Comes with move-making software, which I think probably means I can make vids, now!

A baking stone for things like focaccia and pizza; should be fun, though I don't know what effect it will actually have on the bread.

Casual black fleece pants, which should be nice for wearing around the house when it's cold. And a nice black blouse from the GAP.

Ooh! Ooh! And a print of my graduation picture, and a DVD copy (made from a video tape) of my graduation ceremony. So anyone who wants to see silly caps and gowns and hoods is welcome to watch it. :)

My mom's friend Lin gave me a nice turquoise bracelet, and the friends we aren't having dinner with gave me a "Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan"... which I already have, and which is just a bit silly (no harmonies, for a start!), but it's still a nice collectable. And the other copy's in Cambria, so I can have this one in Berkeley. My mom's turning 60 next month, and her friend that gave me the bracelet found a copy of LIFE magazine from the week my mom was born. It's fantastic looking at all the old ads and whatnot; it's really an entirely different world.

It's been raining cats and dogs, here, and it's probably going to be raining in Austin, too, which is where I'll be from tomorrow until New Year's.

And now I'm going to open the stocking, and I shall report on it in a bit. (I know one thing that's in it, because I saw it in my dad's backpack: some sort of chai mix. I don't know if it'll be bad or good, but it's a nice thought.)

We had roast beef & yorkshire pudding last night, which was really good, if very greasy. By contrast, today I've been eating very small amounts of cottage cheese & yoghurt & ginger ale. At least excedrin makes my skin mostly stop hurting. And (knock on wood), I think I'm done throwing up, since I haven't since about 6am.

More Christmas.

Ooh, forgot the LED flashlight.

Anyway, stocking.

Turned out I didn't get the chai; my dad had gotten that for himself. But since he doesn't actually drink chai, I had assumed it was for me. :)

Lots of scorfs (mostly [or entirely?] satsuma mandarin oranges).
A toothbrush (which is good, because I've only got a crappy one in Berkeley).
A York peppermint pattie (my mother, by contrast, got about ten of them. And I thought it was spelled "patty," but apparently not, says the wrapper).
A random mechanical pencil, 0.5mm lead (my mother then handed me another).
An ancient pencil with a bubble-blowing thing in the end; but the bubbles have all dried up. I'm figuring it might work if I just add water (TM).
A check for $83.80... from 1999. From our friend Gordon Fain to my mother, paying her back for a copy of Woodhouse's English-Greek Lexicon she bought him. Somehow thinking it's no longer valid.
A little Dia de los Muertos matchbox scene with a female skeleton wearing a sombrero and playing the banjo. I know it's a female skeleton because she's wearing a skirt and has two pigtails.