During this Christmas season amid all the consumer materialism, it is helpful to remember the true blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…

Here’s the coolest stuff I got this year.

First, my sister has this computer-VHS doohickey that can transform VHS media into digital format – that isn’t the gift. She and my dad took a bunch of our family’s old home-movies and transferred them to DVDs. I’ve been bugging them for years to do something like this. Included in this batch: most of the school plays I performed in (beginning with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the 5th grade and culminating with the Pirates of Penzance my junior year), my dad’s old 8mm films of my older siblings (and me to age three), and a performance of the Marshallese Jobwa Stick Dance. This is definitely my favorite Christmas present this year.

I also got books…

American Gods and Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Neil Gaiman rocks the world of everyone who reads his stuff. American Gods won the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards the year it came out – not shabby. It’s also a postmodern/posthuman clash of ancient mythologies and contemporary technologies (with a splash of Americana). And Stardust is the fairy tale that spawned the greatest romance/fantasy film since The Princess Bride. I feel sheepish that I haven’t read either one of these yet.

Then I got Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I have more than one friend who has recommended these – my cousin and aunt foremost among them (who got me these books). I should read these – most importantly because they have a frackin’ cool premise. I have other compelling reasons: Meyer is a Mormon fantasy author who eschews Mormon fiction (score), reads Eric Snider (double score), and digs Orson Scott Card (triple score).

Then there’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra by the indestructible Friedrich Nietzsche. The most misunderstood book by the most misunderstood philosopher. I like reserving Nietzsche for rainy Sundays.

And then this book by Tom Reynolds. I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You’ve Ever Heard. It’s the perfect bathroom book.

There’s other stuff, but those are my favorites for now.

Libby and I got to spend Christmas with our favorite cousins (the country mice part of the family) down in Ivins, Utah. Good company, red desert, green shrubs, 64 degrees. Perfect Christmas.

It was good to leave home for the holiday and it feels great to be back.

Merry Christmas. Enjoy all your stuff.