My Christmas List

Last year I had a very traumatic Christmas when I decided to make all my presents myself. This year I decided to buy early and often, and I have accumulated a substantial pile of presents. But you know when you're looking at your Christmas present pile, and it seems like a weird and random assortment of things? That's what my Christmas list looks like this year.

Someone I know (I'm sure none of these people read my blog) is getting a Lucky Mojo Charm from Mojohatchery. It's made of something called devil pods or, hilariously, bat nuts -- and in person it is terrifying. Those little black seedpods really do look like bats from one angle and scary faces from another. I think the recipient will appreciate this. Plus, it's supposed to ward off evil, and what more does anyone want for Christmas?

Someone else is getting a set of 1930s French chessmen in a wooden box, similar to the set available here. It's not quite as cool as a set of devil pods, but I think he might like it better.

Another person on my list will be getting an Art Deco brooch like this one, a hand holding a water lily.

And if you have someone on your Christmas list who likes antiques, used to be a locksmith, and was once almost kicked out of the navy during WWII for smuggling a pet monkey on board, this is the perfect gift: a Chinese lock in the shape of a monkey, over 100 years old and available here.

Let's hope that my friends and family are ready for some interesting and unusual vintage presents, because that is what everyone is getting this year from me. And if any of you are reading this, I wouldn't mind getting that sort of present for Christmas either.