Christmas continued

I always love giving gifts, trying to find just the right thing to make people freak out with happiness on the day of. This year I did some well and some not-so-well. Here's a re-cap;

For my girlfriend:
A book - Shinsengumi - about the end of the Samurai era of Japan, the historical context for one of our favorite movies, The Last Samurai. Also a simple silver necklace with a heart pendant.

For my dad: an electric sander that he just absolutely loves - he is like finding things to sand with it just so he can use it. He loves the random orbital motion that sands powerfully without leaving scratch marks because it doesn't go in just one direction.

For my mom: O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack - not exactly on her list, but inspired by something on her list (she wanted a compilation of hymns to sing along to, and got two of those from other people, so I branched off and made her happy)

For my brothers: for Ben, a documentary on the first 5 years of SNL, and for Josh a 22-track CD of Elvis performing live at Madison Square Gardens (I'm trying to organize his musical education, you see).

For my Sister's family: Burl & Ive's Rudolph movie on DVD (one of Luke's favorites) - includes a claymation performance of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by the inimitable Destiny's Child...

For my grandparents: Ordered from amazon.com (with gift wrap!) Spike Jonez' greatest hits on CD - a blast from the past for them matched only by the Turntable/CD player combo my granny gave my grandaddy.

For my mom's sister's family: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD

For my mom's brother's family: hands-free headsets for the two children's cell phones, and a toy cell phone for their baby sister (these actually haven't been bought yet but will be tomorrow).

That's about it!

What was your favorite gift to give this year?