It’s been a long while since I blogged about the gifts that I’ve been fortunate enough to receive for Christmas. But, it’s always a fun thing to do. I enjoy seeing what others received, so I thought share I’d my Christmas 2018 haul.

This year seems to be the year of books. And socks (not pictured). 😊

I managed to get all three of the Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks. A couple of awesome people got me the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide earlier in the month. I’ve already devoured both and am looking forward to diving into the Monster’s Manual whenever I get a chance.

I’m still a D&D noob, but I’m learning more about the game. I wish I had known how fun it was in the previous 30-something years of my life. The tradition of people gathering around the fire and telling stories is one of the most uniquely human activities we can participate in. Turning this tradition into a fantasy-based game with dice is just plain fun. I’m hoping to eventually run my own games as the Dungeon Master.

Family members also picked up paperback copies of Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and Caraval for me. Both of these books seem to have unique concepts. I’ll probably start diving into these in the coming weeks.

At the bottom of the photo above is my Kindle Paperwhite with its new library painting cover. I’ve been breaking it in for a couple of weeks. I love this cover because it just makes me want to read more.

If I didn’t have enough to read, my parents made sure I would. They sent me an Amazon gift card that will definitely keep me in books for a few months. Although, I do wonder if they were just being lazy shoppers this Christmas instead of encouraging me to read more.

I did get restocked on socks this year. You can never go wrong gifting socks and lots of them. And underwear. Seriously. Especially for men. You know we’ll wear stuff until it’s ragged and aren’t likely to go buy new ones for ourselves.