Christmas has come and gone for another year and true to form it was a pretty good holiday full of laughter, love, and presents. Personally this was a Doctor Who Christmas as no less than three of the gifts I received were DW themed. First I got a pair of Sonic Screwdrivers, one from my mother and one from my mother-in-law, which made for a cool bit of synchronicity.  The first was a Sonic Screwdriver pen that is a full-scale model of the Doctor’s favorite tool. The bottom cap can be removed to reveal an ink pen and the top end extends and lights up making the well-known buzzing noise when a button is pressed on the side. The ink tip on the bottom can be replaced with a different one that contains “invisible ink” which glows under UV light, which is exactly the sort of light that the top end produces, so you can write secret messages. This kit also came with my own sheet of psychic paper which you can write on and then wipe clean. The second Sonic Screwdriver is much less fancy and smaller in scale, but is a bit more practical because it’s actually an LED torch (flashlight). It doesn’t make any sound and it doesn’t extend and it’s about 70% of the size of first one, but it lights up with a blue light that’ll at least let you walk through a dark room without tripping over the cat. I’ve found it’s helpful when peering into darkened computer cases.

The third DW item I got from my wife and it made me squeal like a small child once again. It’s an official Doctor Who Radio Controlled Dalek Robot. Melvin is less impressed with it than I am. Probably because I’ve been chasing him around the house with it. You have full control over its movement and as it trundles along the dome head swivels around and it randomly says one of 7 different typical Dalek phrases.

I got a cool camera tripod called the “Gorillapod” because the legs are made up of little ball joints that allow you to bend the legs so your camera can grip onto surfaces. Straighten the legs out and it’s a traditional style tripod or you can wrap them around a tree branch or latch them onto a fence making the number of places you can set up your camera almost unlimited. It gives me the option of using the timer on my camera to allow me to get into some of the shots, or just for vainly taking pictures of myself without one arm stretching out of the frame holding the camera.

I got three new books to read including one on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever, and The Night Before Christmas in Michigan. I got The Bourne Ultimatum on DVD and the Die Hard Collection on Blu-Ray making that my official first high-def movies which look great even though we don’t have an HDTV to view them on. My only complaint about the Die Hard movies is that it doesn’t include the unrated cut of Live Free or Die Hard so I’ll still have to pick that up separately. The games I received were The Orange Box (Half-Life 2, HL2: Ep. 1, HL2: Ep. 2, Portal, and Team Fortress 2), Gears of War for the PC, and Assassin’s Creed for the PS3. My mother-in-law also knitted me a new pair of slippers and bought me some pajama bottoms. The last time I wore pajama bottoms I was thirteen years old so it was a somewhat nostalgic experience to put these new ones on. One of my sisters-in-law made me a custom t-shirt and I got some Christmas cookies. Lastly I got The Barenaked Ladies are Men on CD.

I think that pretty much covers everything, though I have a nagging feeling I’m leaving something out. Oh yes, my wife bought me some cologne because I said that if she told me what kind she preferred then I’d wear it on occasion. I’m not much for cologne myself, but anything that makes me smell a little better for my sweetie is worth it. Finally, here’s a pic of me with some of my goodies taken early Christmas morning. Note the bed-hair is in full effect.

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So what did you guys get?