Matthew's Journal

From a Godparent:

• a 16" pepper mill

From the other Godparent:

• A CD of "reconstructed" Bach Violin concertos

From the brother:

• The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers
  
• A CD of Verdi's Requiem and Rossini's Stabat Mater
  
• A day-per-page desk calander of LOTR:RotK
  

From the housemates:

• Chocolate :)
  
• You know you're an email addict when [cartoons]
  
• Time-dependant puzzles [what it says on the cover :)]
  

From Anke:

• The catalogue of this years Wildlife Photographer of the Year
  
• A board-book of amusing animals
  
• A "Support the Stewards of Gondor" T-shirt
  

From the parents:

• Another cool waistcoat and bow-tie
  
• Books:
  
  
  • Eurekas and Euphorias [The Oxford book of scientific anecdotes] by Walter Gratzer
    
  • Close-up Puzzles [Optically Confusing Photographs]
    
  • The Cambridge Connection [fiction] by Raymond Harrowell
    
  • More What If? [Eminent historians imagine what might have been]
    
  • Lost Languages [The enigma of the world's undeciphered scripts] by Andrew Robinson
    
  • How to become ridiculously well-read in one evening [A collection of literary encapsulations]
    
  • How to build a time machine [fiction] by Paul Davies
    
  • The further inventions of Daedalus [A compendium of plausible schemes] by David E. H. Jones
    
  • A Celtic Miscellany selected and trans. by Kenneth H Jackson
    
  • Sunday Roast [The complete guide to cooking and carving] by Clarissa Dickson Wright and Johnny Scott
    
  • The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
    
  • The Mechanical Turk [The true story of the chess-playing machine that fooled the world] by Tom Standage
    
  • Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation [The definitive guid to the evolutionary biology of sex] by Olivia Judson
    
  • A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes by Willem P. Gerritsen and Anthony G. van Melle
  
  
• A hip flask
  
• A beer desk calendar
  
• A cat calendar (cartoon)
  
• A real black bow tie
  
• A black waterman pen
  
• A designer pencil [with spare leads]
  
• A pair of cufflinks (clock-face and machinery)
  
• A candlestick (about 30cm tall) in similar style to the large one I already have at Foundation
  
• A selection of random stocking-fillers, including:
  
  • A fluffy "tufted titmouse" with authentic bird-call
    
  • A pair of Roman numeral d6s
    
  • A confetti gun
    
  • A strange thing that goes "baa" when inverted
    
  • A very small radio-controlled car
  
  
• Beer, and some chocolates
  

All in all, I think I did very well :-)