my heart is a glorious machine;

Well, I've had a lovely birthday.

It was quiet and rained all day; this has not happened since my fifteenth. I woke far too early (sleep has not been particularly normal lately), and was too sleepy to get up and too awake to sleep, so listened to quiet music for several hours (Ólafur Arnalds, Linford Detweiler, Martha Tilston & the Woods) with a little calico kitten curled up at my side until the sun finally glimmered a little through the gauze of clouds and I sat up and fetched Anna's parcel and a knife. (And by "knife", I mean "this odd little metal thing that's pointy on one end and blunt and rounded on the other and is ostensibly for keeping one's nails tidy somehow only I have no idea how it works or what it even does so mostly it's used to peel wax off the desk".) I love packages that are all sorts of little wonderful things -- she sent elegant monogrammed notecards, and bath products from Lush (!!! one is up-waking and the other is sleep-inducing), and a dear little tin and quirky 1920s-y earrings and the most beautiful soft elegant knit shawl, which happened to go perfectly with the casual steampunk attire I celebrated my birthday in.


(I am also still expecting a package from my grandparents and a small one from lady_moriel. I love packages!)

When at last I ventured downstairs, I discovered that my father had purchased my favourite Entenmann's coffee cake and some strawberries and left them at my place at the table. ♥ And Mum had already bought me bacon; so I had a delightful breakfast sitting on my trunk looking out the window and reading my pretty vintage paperback of Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water. The world flowed in a sweet, quiet, gentle pattern -- I never did picnic under the apple tree, because it was pouring rain, but I did get on my bicycle to fetch a baguette for my lunch (with sharp cheddar and more bacon), and sat on the back steps eating and reading The Perilous Gard.

There was quite a lot of quiet reading and consuming of delicious foodstuffs; Leandra and I danced around my bedroom to Rupa & the April Fishes, Benny Goodman, the Paper Raincoat, and Abigail Washburn; I streamed Penelope from Netflix (film: adorable; quality of stream: GHASTLY -- do you want to drive people to piracy, Netflix?; and James McAvoy = GUH. especially in a long stripey jacket. and a hat. and a lovely scarf. oh dear. I am quite sure I was simpering rather shamefully.), and later there was a thunderstorm, exactly what I ordered!; although the few -- very intense and lightingy -- bursts of thunder were gone fairly soon, there were torrents of rain and it was dark and weird outside so I took the iPod and our nicest umbrella and wandered about in my boots and ended up dancing on the sidewalk. Earlier, I sat cosily on the sofa and enjoyed being around people while Mum made me calzones for dinner, and a chocolate cake. At dinner, everyone sang, Dad and Timmy were sufficiently juvenile male persons and made weird noises; Leandra was patently adorable; Willowkitten tried to eat cake. The cake had M&Ms on top and there was ice cream with Junior Mints in, hurrah! (For the Tea there shall be a more elegant-looking cake with layers and fancy icing or something.)

 

 

Presents: Hockman's chocolates from Heidi; a wonderful set of blank cards + pen + envelopes + tiny notebook with adorable houndstooth patterns and vintage-fashion illustrations, all in a cloth-covered basket from Timmy; from Mum, the dearest knit owl pillow, a decorative thingummy saying "hope", and a pair of vintage postcards, one displaying the Public Library in Lynn, Massachusetts -- this was the town in which we lived in Massachusetts! I knew and loved that library! -- and the other showing the street down the block from here over a hundred years ago. The postmarks are dated 1909 and 1906, and they have mysterious notes to long-dead strangers and I love them. Dad's present was supposed to come yesterday, but managed somehow to get delivered to our old house a mile away; fortunately the Meholicks live there again instead of some strangers who mightn't know who to call. So it was delivered (along with Becca Meholick who had a playdate with Heidi) this evening, and I waited for Dad to come home from work to open it -- and was delightfully shocked to find that it was this magnificent comfortor set! My mother got me a lovely quilt a few birthdays ago, but then I got a larger bed, and it didn't fit; and it's started to get a little aged. I wanted something dramatic and quirky and sophisticated and me and had put this one up on my Kaboodle list as an example -- I love this kind of Victorian print -- but didn't think anyone would actually buy it for me. It's reversible, black-with-white on one side and white-with-black on the other, and trimmed in fuschia, and the pillow shams (also reversible) have little pink ball-tassle things on the ends and I love it. My entire bedroom looks magnificenter now.

I must thank you all for your wonderful well-wishing, especially wanderlight for the warm blanket, rainy window mix (I cannot stop listening to "Winter Song"; it is heart-achingly beautiful), and suangelita, who wrote me historical Slayer Buffy fic! You all are wondrous and I am blessed to know you.

(And now to bed! And now to bed!!)

So, first off: ALKDHGHG PRINCE CASPIAN TRAILER AJHFHGH. Hark their spiffing school uniforms! (What can I say?; I love (British) school uniforms. This is, however, most likely because I've never had to wear one.) And all of the, you know, AWESOME. Er. Don't expect me to be able to be coherent just yet. (EEEE!) Or, you know, actually be capable of speech.

Second off: well, everyone else is doing it, so, um. This is my Christmas wishlist. I feel a bit narcissistic about putting it up at all, but, you know, some of you lot like to get me Christmas presents, and I suppose direction would be nicer than arbitrary stabbing. Also because I have difficulty resisting memes.

step one--
Make a post (public, friends locked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fun ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione (WHAT?) Remus/Tonks icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ so that the holiday joy will spread.

step two--
Now surf around your friends list (or friends friends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part: If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call. There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.