I got one of the two books I put on my official wishlist: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. I can always count on my brother to give me what I want, so I usually send him the list with the books. He knows me well enough to know which book to get me.

So far (we have more gifts to exchange later today) I've received three books and an Amazon gift card - hooray! I have A House in the Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre, Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson, and Kate DiCamillo's The Magician's Elephant. Wonderful gifts!

I received loads of gift cards to B&N (hooray - those people know me well), and a book from my twin sis called "Remember, Remember (The Fifth of November): Everything you ever wanted to know about British History with all the boring bits taken out" by Judy Parkinson. Perfect as I am digging in to a bit more history of England now...

Aside from that, I engaged in my annual ritual of reading "A Child's Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas. Fabulous if you haven't read it - very very funny and poignant.... Also ordered the DVD of it so will have to force my friends to watch that next year.

Dylan Thomas is not very well known around these here parts, pardner.

I read Wesley the Owl. Might not appeal to everyone, but I loved it.

Sounds like you had a fun gift exchange. No, I did not get any books.

I do not ask for books as gifts because I read so many from the library and have little storage space but did pick up a copy of Noel Coward's verse from a charity shop for the price of posting a local Christmas card.
Not what I expected from what I have read so far.
Is 'verse' different from poetry?

No books (my friends know I own enough books to open up my own library!) however --- as usual, my stepdaughter came through with a wonderful B & N gift certificate. I am delighted.

I got a book of carwash coupons from Hubby........(yes, you can put that on your "worst gifts" lists!) does that count?

In fact, I shall start the list right now.....care to add to it? ( It must be something you actually received at some time):

WORST GIFTS LIST

1. Book of carwash coupons from Hubby

Worst Gifts List cont'd:

* DH did stocking for me one year: contents: Spanish Language People magazine (not fluent in Spanish) and green hair spray.
Result: Banned from filling Christmas stockings forever.

Worst Gift: A floor polisher/rug shampooer.

This year I got two Borders gift certificates and a copy of Julia Child's The Art of French Cooking. I'm not a gourmet cook now, but who knows? I told the family that DH and I would do the duck in pastry for the main course next Christmas. Don't know why they all laughed.

Worst gift.
Nothing! After giving my husband his present, I smiled expectantly as he always gives me something lovely, usually jewellery. He looked blank and said that he had not got me anything. I laughed at the joke but he really had forgotten. I smiled bravely and had very unseasonal thoughts!
Needless to say, there were two items for me as soon as the shops opened after the holiday. Not really the same though :-(

I got a B&N gift certificate, a BAMM gift certificate, plus a couple of mysteries (two Elkins and one Frazer). I also got Building a Dinosaur, which I'm quite looking forward to reading.

Worst Gift: From my grandmother
A squeaky alligator dog toy when I was 16. I have never owned a dog and have no desire to do so (I'm a cat person). We never figured out why she gave me that gift, except for she puts as little thought as possible into gifts.

I am interested to know more about A House in the Sunflowers, that sounds like a book I would enjoy.

Yes, I got two books from my brother, Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, which I read in one sitting, and Blackhawk - The Battle for the Heart of America by Kerry Trask. I also got the Kindle from the DH, which was a wonderful gift that I would not have purchased for myself.

I am, however, planning to go to B&N today and check out the sales, although I am in absolutely no need of anything. I can't help myself, I love looking through those tables piled high with all sorts of unusual books, all with tiny price tags.

Worst gift - I'm with ann - last year I got...nothing...even though I told him repeatedly that a card would be nice, and helpfully pointed to the cabinet containing several boxes of such. Maybe the Kindle was a make-up.

The year I got a waffle-maker even though I already had one AND had just been put on a strict diet by my doctor also stands out in my mind, however I cannot blame my DH for that. It was especially painful because it was actually a very expensive, high-end waffle-maker and the waste was atrocious.

Does make good story material, though!

Absolutely the worst gift, from a new friend, who does not know me well enough yet to have learned my tastes: a hideous set of 3 wine stoppers that are made of glass, in the shape of miniature trays with libations on them. Colorful, but utterly tacky. I'm just sorry she wasted her money, and I can think of no one I know who would like to have them....

Wood-hold on to them-someday you will need a white elephant gift for a funny gift exchange. We have a box of such things, many of which were given by students-so they don't really qualify as worst gifts, since they were chosen by children with love in their hearts...just no taste yet. (I hope)

I did get several b&n cards, which I will enjoy using, and several OOP books from my "find someday" list-DD is a fervent second-hand book shopper and always has my list with her, bless the dear. So in January I plan to have an old mysteries read-fest.

Worst gift-a ceramic purse-shaped box from my step-mother-in-law. We all got them-hideous and not at all in keeping with any of our homes. Mine was leopard-spotted and about 8x10 inches not counting handle.
Used it last year at our "Tacky Present Regift" party at bookclub. It won 2nd prize. A singing corkscrew won 1st.

Father Christmas came loaded with books for me this year.

In no particular order

Scourging Angel (about the Black Death) by Benedict Gummer
Sisters of Sinai - Janet Soskice. In the late nineteen hundreds two Scottish sisters discover early MS of the gospels in the desert.
Family Britain - David Kynaston (1950's 'history'. Can my childhood be 'history' already?)
Shakespeare - Bill Bryson
Sacred Hearts - Sarah Dunant's latest
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men - James Agee

It might be some time before I am able to report back on them.

vee, let us know how you like Sarah Dunant's latest, "Sacred Hearts". I've seen it at my local library and no one seems to be checking it out....

Meant to add that I read House in the Sunflowers by Ruth Silvestre a year so so ago. I think she has written 3 books with similar titles. It is worth trying to read them in order (which I'm sure I didn't do). They are about her family finding a run-down old farmhouse in Gascony (?) doing it up and meeting and becoming friends with the 'locals'. Wonderful details of the huge meals cooked by these French women. The last book is rather sad.

I didn't get any terrible presents this year; although a while ago I received a hot water bottle two year running from my DH plus those electronic scales that worked out how much stored fat was wobbling off my delicate form. You can guess how pleased I was.

Mary/woodnymph, your friend may appreciate your abstemious habits by giving you wine bottle stoppers. She obviously knows you never finish a bottle at one sitting. Or is she trying to tell you something? ;-)

Two books were under the tree for me.

Abigail and John, Portrait of a Marriage from my son who shares my passion for history and knows that The Adams' are my particular interest.

My daughter found a book at the flea market she thought I would enjoy - Quilts, Coverlets, Rugs & Samplers by Bishop. It's actually an antique guide, for evaluating and assessing these fabric arts. Many of the quilts in the book are from the CT river valley area, near where we live, and they cover a large period of time, through the late 1900's. (It still astounds me that that is "last" century!) Some very interesting quits...some with incredible amounts of work in them. They humble me.

Vee, re your childhood being "history," it used to irritate my mother no end seeing something labeled an antique that she either had started keeping house with or was still using. My things are now called "collectibles."

Relatives knowing my interest in cemeteries, bought me an autographed copy of In the Land of the Long Fingernails:A Grave Digger's Memoir by Charlie Williams. While a student, Williams worked at Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. I can't wait to read it, though I may be disturbed to find out all the "dirt" (ha ha) on what goes on at cemeteries.

I gave The Wife a list of books wanted, and thus received:

The City & The City, China Mieville;
Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffeneger;
and Robert Gottlieb's massive (ca.1200 pg.) Reading Dance, a collection of dance criticism in America from the last fifty years. Hours of blameless entertainment in that one...

I got her a giant edition of the 17th C. Cellarius astronomical atlas, with fanciful illustrations of the constellations. Her only complaint is that none of her friends understand why it's such a cool gift.

I got a paperback reprint of one of the old Judy Bolton books, The Clue in the Patchwork Quilt. I've been collecting these in a casual way, but the cheap mid-20th century paper and bindings have not held up well. The paperback reprints are more practical. Still, there is something rather wonderful about holding the old books in my hand. Other than that I got and gave some DVDs, and I certainly gave a number of books.

My star gift was something that will be appreciated by those of you who share one of my other passions -- a Singer Featherweight. I'll be trying it out this afternoon.