Sunday Salon: The Gift Edition

I must have been pretty good this year (although the rest of the family was apparently better since they all got more books than I did from Santa). Actually, my sister said that she has more books for me but they were delivered to her house after they'd already left for my parents' house so there should be a few more heading my way (probably in February when my parents come to visit us again--any bets on how many of those gifts will be previously enjoyed before making their way to me? ::grin::)  But what I did find in my stocking and under the tree was this pile:

I also got a book of 52 cards from my teenaged daughter (yes, the title is already starting to wear off):

There are some highly entertaining reasons why she loves me in my bound deck of cards where each card lists a different reason she loves me. One of them is because I help her spell things. (She's truly atrocious at spelling.) Another is that I only correct her grammar every other time. (Any more frequently and I guess she couldn't love me for it.)

Did you find any books under your Christmas tree or beside your menorah?

With the busy-ness of this time of year, I have barely read anything at all. As I've mentioned before, I was concentrating on finishing up my books in progress so I'll start the new year with only one. So this past week, when I wasn't preparing for or celebrating Christmas, I followed along as an author made a concerted effort to better himself through actually finally reading books he has long claimed to have read (but hadn't) and I watched as a widow learned that love is indeed a vital component in considering a second marriage. Now I am back to learning about the psychology of animals and the varied, and sometimes sad, ways in which their minds can be akin to ours. What have you been reading as the year winds down to a close?