Going with the flow of things, I told my Santa to get me things that made him/her feel good. So my Santa said s/he was "obsessed with lip gloss" and really enjoyed panda bears.

Thank heaven for descriptive Amazon notes, because I couldn't be quite sure who had sent me four tubes of Burt's Bees (made by happy North Carolina bees) pomegranate lip balm. This isn't just a lip gloss, since it has healing properties, too. Since I quit smoking 3 months ago, my lips have been constantly dry (go figure), so this is a really useful (and pleasantly tasty) gift.

Santa also loves pandas, so I got a book of panda stickers. These will probably find their way onto student papers being graded this week. My graduate students will be particularly enchanted with them (we're all a bit tired and in need of a grin), and so the gift gives them pleasure, too!

Thank you, Santa, for bringing me a smile...and making sure it won't be a painful smile!