This Ecosphere is surprisingly expensive, but William wanted it last year so we got it for him:

It’s a 4-inch glass sphere. Inside there is some vegetation, a nice little branch, some gravel, and two or three tiny shrimp. You can’t open it; it’s a contained system that runs on The Right Amount of Sunlight (you watch the vegetation, and if it gets too big you reduce the sunlight, or if it gets too small you increase the sunlight). William’s had it for a year, and two of the three shrimp are still alive.

The biggest pain is that you have to be available to accept the delivery in person when it arrives: it can’t, like, sit outside in the freezing cold. The second-biggest pain is that it needs some light every day, so you can’t store it in a closet until Christmas. Each day when William went to school, I’d take it out and put it near a window; I had an alarm set to remind me to pack it back in its box before the bus came back. …Boy, I am probably talking you right out of this. But William has really liked this gift, and especially in the beginning spent a lot of time watching the shrimp and monitoring the vegetation and being generally interested in the whole thing. One of the most enduringly successful gifts we’ve gotten him—and, once the gift is given and you no longer have to sneak it in and out of its box, a lot easier than a fish tank.

 

The pink wig I was so pleased with is marked down to $12.99 now. I bought another for myself but in sky blue.

I am this close to buying it also in violet and dark brown.

 

The concept/cover/title of this book appealed to me, so I got it from our library:

How To Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals, by Sy Montgomery. It took me a little while to get into the writing style; it’s fairly sentimental, as you’d expect. But I read the whole thing and enjoyed a lot of it, and it struck me as a very good gift book: great cover, general-interest topic, appealingly illustrated, good animal stories.

 

Friends gave me these flameless candles as a housewarming gift, and they are so great and so pretty (the candles, I mean, though also of course the friends):

Several people in the group already owned them, and several more bought them after seeing mine, so now they’re The Official Flameless Candle of Our Group. The little “flame” wiggles around randomly so it seems like it’s really burning/flickering, and there is a REMOTE CONTROL so you can turn them on or off from your comfy chair, and best of all there’s a timer so you don’t forget and leave them on all night and wear out the batteries. They also come in a birch version, and in other colors including pink, yellow, and green. One friend bought the burgundy ones so I can tell you those are also super beautiful.

A timely suggestion considering the recent government report that climate change is “an immediate threat, not a far-off possibility” and that we can expect to see an uptick in natural disasters: the Life Straw!

It’s at $12 right now, which is a pretty good price for it. I think lowest I’ve seen is $10 and the highest was $20.

 

The paint-by-sticker category has a new book: CATS.

I will probably get this for Elizabeth. Or maybe it will have to be a whole-family gift.

 

I was going to get this NES Classic video game system for Paul so he could re-enjoy his youth, and I consulted with Edward (our household video game expert) about whether I should get the NES Classic or the Super NES Classic. Edward thought the NES Classic was better than the Super (it had to do mostly with the pre-loaded game selection), but he was so into it and so excited about it that I consulted with Paul and we decided to get it for Edward instead. (“As long as I can still play it too,” Paul clarified.)

After reading the reviews, I also bought a second controller and a two-pack of extension cables. (The games are all pre-loaded, so you don’t have to buy any games, and in fact CAN’T buy any more games.)

 

If you don’t already own MasterMind (it’s a game like Monopoly or Sorry, where even if you don’t think you own it, you might very well own it), I recommend it—and as I’m posting this, it’s down to $9.50 which is a good price for it.

My nephew, who was six years old at the time, taught me to play it. It’s quick and simple to learn, but then it’s like Sudoku or one of those other games where you keep figuring out new strategies. I find it mind-stretching in a way that is probably very good for warding off Alzheimer’s / counteracting the effects of vodka tonics.

 

If you have kids who like to talk constantly about what the household cats are doing/thinking and what their facial expressions and postures are communicating, I suspect your kids would enjoy the book Breaking Cat News:

Mine sure did, and “Ma’am? Ma’am?” is a frequent part of our familyspeak now.

 

If you have a cat who’s a bit on the chonkers side, or a cat who needs to eat slowly for some other reason, or a cat who has a high need for digging/playing, may we suggest this Catit cat-feeding device?

I’m not saying Elizabeth and I attended a presentation given by a cat therapist on the topic of how to make your cat’s life happier, except we absolutely did do that, and this was one of the cat-life-improving items the therapist recommended. Apparently cats have an instinct/impulse to dig rodents out of holes, and this feeder satisfies that urge. We have two cats who would prefer to eat the easiest way possible and they just use the bowl, but we have one cat who gets bored and then finds her fun by tormenting the other two cats, and this feeder keeps her occupied many times a day. She will be up to her armpit in it just like the cat in the product photo.

 

What I like in a jigsaw puzzle is being able to pick which part I want to work on (a specific ornament on the tree, a specific compartment of the shadowbox, a specific bird, etc.) and work on that, and then pick another thing and work on that, and then join those things together. If you like the kinds of puzzles I like (as opposed to the kinds with vast expanses of sky/sea/foliage/mountain, or the kinds that are like just an impossible picture of a bunch of candy corn), may I recommend this doughnut one?

And it only has 300 pieces, so it’s good for working on with mid-age children. (I also loved this 500-piece Pantone one, but I only see it available from third-party sellers with high shipping.)

 

I’m not saying this is an EXCITING present, but this small Honeywell is my favorite fan and at time of posting it is on sale for $9.99:

I have it on my bureau at home. I bring it with me when I travel. (Except when I visit my brother/sister-in-law, because they already have the same fan in their guest room.) It can be tilted to various angles, and it has three speeds. I’ve had mine for years. I bought one for Rob for his dorm room. I bought another one just now because $9.99 is a nice price and there are a lot of rooms in our new house.