In Genesis 11:5-8, there is a story about a united group of people, speaking the same language, built up a tower "with its top in the heavens". [...] "And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." (English Standard version 2002 - from Omniglot)

"And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel "because God there confounded the language of all the Earth."" (Wikipedia)

Because this provides a Biblical explanation of why multiple languages exist on the earth, the Tower of Babel story has become well-known in linguistics. I did not get a tower, or a Bible, but I did get "The Power of Babel" by John McWhorter. Being the linguistics geek that I am, this made for an exceptional gift. This book explains the history of language, how it developed and evolved, etc.

The first part of the description on the back of the book: "In this entertaining romp through territory too often claimed by stodgy grammarians, McWhorter ranges across linguistic theory, geography, history, and pop culture to tell the fascinating story of how thousands of very different languages have evolved from a single, original source in a natural process similar to biological evolution."

In addition to this book was also something very surprising: Rat treats, "Corn and Fruit Kracker Sticks" for rats (sic). This was a very emotional gift for me. A few months ago, I was forced to give up my rats for adoption. Seeing these treats reminded me of them, and how special they were. I am very delighted to see that they weren't forgotten, even if I don't have them any more. This really does mean a lot to me to have those memories coming back. I was very close to them. They were part of my family. I'm very happy that my SS was able to see how important they were to me by including them in the exchange.