#we also have like wishlists for the gift exchange thing

[nitttstdsdtoastd]

girlhood is dressing up as a newsie for your class’s christmas party and blasting “brooklyn’s here” from the portable speaker you brought when you enter the classroom for the first time and playing sir mix a lot for the rest of the day

[birdmenmanga]

birdmutuals are we doing something like a silly little event sometime soon. I think I might go crazy if we don't

[creations-by-chaosfay]

I'm working on painting again, and will be painting during my, now very necessary, breaks. My new goal is to aquire more colors, but you have the option if purchasing the paint directly. All shop purchases are donations will be going towards bills and then paints.

I will be rotating between sewing and painting, but only after I start se2ing again. Making new quilts won't happen until probably mid-February. I made quilts virtually nonstop from Februry to October 2024 because we were so desperate for money. Especially when Cacoa (RIP), my service animal, kept falling ill. She passed away at age 18 years (spent entirely as my constant companion) in November 2024.

Making so many quilts with no more than two week breaks when my left wrist and hand hurt resulted in tendonitis from my hand to my shoulder. Recovery started in November 2024, and made more complicated by my having hEDS. I'm restricted to painting and playing video games until the tendonitis is healed. I will also be restricted to no more than 10 hours each week for quilt making. Thankfully, I now have the means to machine quilt. After practice pieces, I'll be able to make quilts in a fraction of the time I used take, and thus less stress on my joints and more quilts in the shop.

Thank you for your help, and for your patience, as I recover.

After I have the paints, I'll post a new goal. Here's the list, and you can purchase these from my Throne list, with the option of anonymously.

Stationary bike

Non-slip stickers for my rulers

New rulers

Filing cabinet - not listed

Printer

Quilt storage bags

Rotary blades

Tea

Sewing machine foot collection

Stationary mixer

Shelving for my sewing room - not listed, for vertical storage because the room is so small.

Paints for my dining room - not listed

Shelving for the living room - not listed

Shelving for the dining room - not listed

A second and possibly third pair of shoes - I own a single pair of shoes because trying on shoes is a sensory nightmare. I would like to get a pair of boots for gardening as well.

Shelving for my husband's "man-cave" - not listed

New switch/power board thing to replace the overworked one that came with the house - not listed

Replace our plumbing - not listed, we may receive financial aid for this due to my being Disabled; there's a program in my area for this.

Repair the wall heating units - one just blows air, not heat.

Commissions of both my cats - Jasper (age 14) passed away in November 2022, Cacoa (age 18) precisely two years later, on the same day.

[spinthetags]

(Once again, thank you to @pononoin for the art and @alister312 for the banner!)

We’re thrilled to announce that the interest check was a success, and we’re ready to move onto signups! The signup form will be found at the end of this post, and please make sure to read the rules carefully before filling it out!

So, what is a Secret Santa event?

In a Secret Santa event, each person who participates is both a “Santa” and a “giftee”. Each person will begin their participation by creating a small wishlist of concepts that they would like to see in their gift (more on this later!). The mod (that’s spinthetags) will look over the wishlists and assign each person both a giftee and a Santa. The person participating will be aware of their giftee’s identity — as they’ll receive their wishlist, and be instructed to create a gift somewhat adhering to those wishes — but they won’t be aware of their Santa! Their Santa is the person who will be giving a gift to the original user based on their wishlist.

Here’s an example: Person A asks for a gift relating to Tweek celebrating Christmas with Craig. Person B is assigned to be Person A’s Santa, though Person A doesn’t know it! Person B will then create a gift related to Person A’s ask. In the meantime, Person B is also a Santa — they’ve received Person C’s wishlist, and are creating a gift to their specifications. At the end of the event, everyone will get their gift! Person B will give their Tweek-centric piece to Person A, and Person A will give Person C’s gift to Person C! Consider it kind of like a circle, where everyone will both give and receive a gift.

It’s not as complicated as it may seem! During the course of the event, all each person needs to worry about is creating a work for their giftee. Then, at the end of the event, everyone will exchange their gifts! We encourage posting the work on Tumblr (though other social media sites are definitely allowed!) and tagging your giftee, revealing that you’re their Santa in the process. This will all be reiterated as we get closer to the gift posting date!

Below is our estimated timeline for the event:

October 25th - November 3rd: Signups are open!

November 4th - November 5th - Participants are sent their giftee’s wishlist!

November 6th - January 5th - Participants work on their gifts!

December 20th - January 5th - Gifts are posted!

As you can see, there’s an overlap between the creation of gifts and the posting of gifts; this is because the holidays can be busy for everyone, and we want to give you as much time as possible! You don’t need to post your gift immediately on December 20th — you can instead post it any time between December 20th and January 5th. If you need more time to work, take it! It doesn’t need to be finished by December 20th, as long as it gets shared before January 5th.

So, that’s the basics of the Secret Santa event! But we also have some more rules. Here they are below:

1. All works created for this event must be SFW! Profanity and light suggestiveness (granted the characters are of age) are allowed in line with the show, but no explicit NSFW content may be involved.

2. We ask that works you create are full pieces, or close to such; make sure to put the effort your giftees deserve into your works! We’re not explicitly disallowing sketches or drabbles, but make sure to put the amount of effort into your works that you would like to receive from your Santa!

3. The mods are going to work hard to make sure everyone gets assigned a giftee that they’re comfortable working with! On that note, there will be no switching; once you get assigned your giftee, short of extenuating circumstances, you won’t be given a different one.

4. We understand that things may come up! If you decide you no longer wish to participate in the event, you must let us know by Thanksgiving (November 23rd) so we can find a new Santa for your giftee.

5. Make sure to come into this with an open mind! Not everyone has the same skill level, and we ask you to consider the effort your Santa put in rather than their skill or experience in the medium. Please show your Santa appreciation!

6. The type of media you create can be anything; we expect to see a lot of fanart and fanfiction, but what you can create isn’t limited to that! If you have any doubts about whether your media is allowed, please send us an ask and we’ll get back to you!

On the same note as the rules, here are some guidelines for your wishlists!

- You can be as vague or specific as you would like! It’s encouraged to leave your Santa some wiggle room to exercise their creativity, but there’s no shame in adding specific preferences to your wishlist!

- It’s not required, but we encourage you to include some Holiday-themed requests. Get into the spirit of the season!

- You can put as many requests on your wishlist as you’d like! It’s a good idea to include at least two or three, to give your Santa some options, but there’s no upper limit. Just remember that the more requests you include, the less likely it’ll be that ALL of them will get included.

- Your wishlist can include anything from ships to scenarios to headcanons; anything that you would like to see represented in a work you’re receiving.

- Please be respectful of what’s on a wishlist! Remember that you’re creating the work for your giftee, not for you; even if you disagree with some of the headcanons the user would like, we ask you to still do your reasonable best on including them. If there is anything that you are deeply uncomfortable with creating, there will be a spot on the signup form to enter it, and we’ll make sure you aren’t paired with a user who would like that content.

Here is the link to sign up!

Please note that communications related to this event will be done by email; we encourage you to create a new email for the event if you’re uncomfortable sharing your personal one! Please make sure to check your email at least weekly! Communications will be sent from spinthetags@gmail.com.

Thank you to everyone who’s interested in participating! We can’t wait to see what you create!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I got my cousin a gift?

My family does a secret santa style gift exchange by age group. This year, someone made a group chat to put gift suggestions/wishlists in. Some people are more specific, some people drop their entire amazon wishlist, whatever. I gave two ideas for mine.

The cousin i got asked for a gift card or money. Hes been pulling away from the family for a while, and while I cant fully disagree and have been tempted myself, its a little frustrating when he shows up for the gift exchange and immediately leaves.

The other thing is that this cousin is spoiled af - hes got a nicer car than me, and I know that he gets all of his money from his dad. Kid has been materialistic and image-obsessed for years, but I also know how hard it is to be gay in the area he lives, so I cant really blame him from going full Arianna Grande Fan stereotype. Ive tried to talk to him over the years, try to be a supportive older cousin, but he wont engage with anyone, even when I’m trying to find common ground. Like the only conversation weve had in the last year was “i like your nails” “thanks”

He also took a while to respond to the group chat, and I ordered something on black friday for him (nail related) before he said he wanted money.

Im just torn. On one hand, I feel like money is a shitty, impersonal gift, and something he has plenty of. On the other hand, he made his wish clear. And on the third hand, I already placed the order and cant return due to the sales. Would it be an ah move to try to give him a gift that I think he would enjoy and that we could connect over if it means ignoring his request?

What are these acronyms?

[winterfest-secret-vod]

WINTERFEST SECRET VOD IS HERE!

Hello there!

We want to invite you to join this Star-Wars Gift exchange, mostly focused on Clone wars and The Bad batch.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

This works like any secret santa or secret buddy. You will receive via mail the name of a person along with a wishlist of prompts they would like. And you will gift that person a Drawing or a Writing work according to their wishes.

But remember! You are their secret Vod, so you are not to tell anyone about the gift until it's time to reveal it!

We will be using a Google Form to register the participants and "Drawnames.com" to sort them.

WHEN DO WE POST OUR PRESENTS?

We are aware that these are very busy days, and that we started this Secret Vod very late. So the gift exchange will not happen on Christmas.

Instead the date for the gift exchange will be on:

30th of January

This will allow everyone to have two full months to prepare a Gift.

WHICH ARE THE RULES?

This is a Star wars themed gift exchange, so gifts and wishlists must be Star Wars themed.

We are mostly focusing on Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, but it's NOT obligatory.

This is also a SFW gift exchange, so we do need everyone to keep things clean.

If you have an oc you want to add to your wishlist, please make sure to add a link to references so your Secret Vod knows how they look like.

You cannot ask who your Secret Vod is, this is supposed to be secret!

You also cannot ask to be someone's Secret Vod, the choosing is random.

Please make sure to have your Gift on time. If you notice that you might not be able to finish the gift on time or that you might not be able to finish overall because of IRL things, please make sure to notify us so we are aware.

Please make sure to keep an eye on the mail you provide us, so you don't miss whose Secret Vod you'll be and their respective wishlist.

HOW CAN I ENTER?

VERY EASY!

All you need to do is fill this form:

This form will be open up till Sunday 8 of December, so please make sure to make your entry before that.

Once all entries are done, we will use "Drawnames.com" to start the gift exchange party!

You will receive a mail asking you to enter the page to sort your Secret Vod and add your wishlist. You will not be asked for any other information, so do not worry about needing to register.

If you have any doubts, please make sure to notify us.

With all said

Thank you for your attention and support!

We hope you have an amazing holiday season and a happy new year!

Dividers by (c) mikeykuns

[sulumuns-dootah]

26.12. Mammon - Unwrapping gifts (18+)

    ༺☆༻

⟡ Masterlist ⟡ 

₊˚⊹.* The Yule festival of Hell *.⊹˚₊

‎‧₊˚✧ 18+ Minors Do Not Interact‎ ✧˚₊‧

    ༺☆༻

The room is glowing with the amount of gold it contains. You've gotten used to that, but now the glow is enhanced by the addition of a giant Christmas tree with branches, heavy from all the ornaments, and all the gifts surrounding you and Mammon. They're all for you of course, because what could you possibly give to someone who literally has everything.

Sitting on the fur carpet in front of the fireplace you can't help but feel tiny, especially with the towers of wrapped boxes all around you. You've been unpacking for about an hour and there seems to be no end to all of these things. The king of greed is surely spoiling you. So far you've unpacked things like your favorite makeup, designer clothes and few chocolate boxes. And yet there's still enough surprise and excitement left in you.

It does make you feel slightly bad, though. He's giving you all of this and the only thing you have for him isn't even half exciting as one of the things he's given you. You could say he gets to see your reaction, but even that would get boring after the first few times.

Unpacking another box you find another much wanted thing from your pinterest wishlist board. You squeal with excitement and hold it up to fully take it's existence in.

“Are you okay, treasure? Did I get the wrong one? I can still exchange it for the right one.” Mammon's voice booms at you from the opposite side of the carpet.

“No... No! I love it! It's just that I feel bad I have only very little to give in return.” you set the gift back into its box and move it aside to the rest of unpacked stuff.

“Don't worry about that. The best gift you can give me is the excitement I get to see in your eyes. You look like an adorable little kitten getting a treat.” he laughs and leans back against the base of the armchair behind him. The two of you are sitting on the ground, yet he's still taller than the piece of furniture he's leaning back against.

“Oh... But if I had something for you, would you want it?” you pout a bit, playing with the tie of your satin robe. You were glad you even came up with something you can surprise him with and if he doesn't want it, you'd feel disappointed. It wasn't exactly easy to put on and make it stay on because of the material it's made out of.

“Of course I'd accept any gift from you. I would hate to see you sad.” his golden eyes look at you in a reassuring way. Maybe he can feel your hesitation to give him his gift.

You take a deep breath and decide to close the gap between the two of you, pushing some of the boxes out of the way and settling into his lap. “Open your gift then.”

It takes him a second to understand what you mean, but as soon as he does, quickly undoes your robe only to reveal the bright red ribbon tied into a bow around your tits. Mammon licks his lips and his hands plant themselves on your ass. “Well what a lovely gift. I hope you don't mind if we take a break from unpacking your gifts so I can play with the gift you've given me.”

Mammon's reaction relieves you off all anxiety. He likes his gift and you're so happy to allow him to play with you all he wishes. It also is a relief since you could feel the bow slowly slipping and undoing itself. The idea of it being finally taken off is exciting in both ways.

Before you know it you're laid back on the furry carpet and Mammon's hovering over you. Now you feel even smaller than before. The silky ribbon holding your tits together is torn apart and the greedy demon buries his head between them. His large hands roam your body and slowly move to take off the red thong with a smaller red bow on the front.

With you fully naked, it's Mammon's turn to undress and he does just that, except much faster than you. His abs seem to reflect the glow of the room, if not enhancing it. This was supposed to be his gift, but yet here you are being served a great feast for your eyes.

Your legs are being spread and lifted over his large hands. As he inserts himself into you, the air leaves your lungs. The way he stretches you while hitting all the right spots make you wish you could spend the rest of the night like this.

After a moment of him being still for the sake of your comfort, he starts moving. Slowly, like he has all the time in the world, which you guess he has. He's the king after all. All his affairs can be taken care of by his servants.

You reach out for him, to feel his tensing muscles, and he bends down to you. Hitting now at a different angle and with your legs folded up to your chest. He's steadily picking up speed, but you can tell he's holding back. He's thinking about your well-being, which you're glad for, but you still want to experience his full power.

Still, you're not sure if you'll be able to vocalise what you want, so you grab onto his horn teasingly. Using the movement from his thrusts to guide your hand on the thick base of the curly adornment. Hoping to rile him up enough to fully unleash himself on you.

“You're playing a dangerous game, kitten.” he growls into your ear and emphasises his warning with a few hard thrusts. That means it's working.

Trying to push him further, you start stroking his horn faster as well as your other hand holding onto his bicep digs your nails into the muscle. Another warning growl resounds from Mammon. But when you don't stop your actions even then, you're flipped over on all fours.

Mammon's large hands grasp your ass and moving you back against him to meet his punishingly hard thrusts. You're surprised you still have any strength to hold yourself up and not faceplanting into the white fur underneath you. This worry is however quickly dispersed when Mammon reaches down and pulls your head back by your hair.

“Such a naughty kitten. I suppose I should teach you a lesson, hm?” his words are bringing you closer and closer to the edge and you're not sure if you even want to come this soon. You would happily decline any of the gifts from Mammon just to feel like this every day.

The absence of your answer makes Mammon use his other hand to grip your neck and pull you face up to make eye contact. But upon seeing your eyes rolled back and tongue slightly sticking out, he breathily laughs.

“Oh, what a fucked out slut you are, kitten. I hope you can go like this for the rest of the night, because this is my gift after all.“ his words resound in the spacious living room and you come for the first time that night. First time of many.

    ༺☆༻

But wait, this demon also has a gift for you!

"Oh? Where will you put all of this new clothes and makeup? In your new closet, of course."

[frostyreturns]

my biggest Christmas pet peeve is amazon links as wishlists. Part of the fun of Christmas shopping is finding gifts you think people would enjoy and lists are just a way to narrow focus. Like tell me you want a nice black sweater...tickets to a game/show...novels by your favourite author...stuff like that. It allows me to shop around, look for deals find things you'd like that maybe you didn't know about or gifts that are more personal. It takes some effort like looking into which games/movie/books you have already so you don't buy something they already have.

Don't just send an amazon link...I fucking hate that Christmas shopping for most people is just clicking a link and hitting buy. At that point we may as well just exchange hundred dollars bills, shop for ourselves and call it a day. Gift giving is supposed to be fun not an obligation that you need to find the easiest way to get it over and done with. You're supposed to be surprised Christmas morning its why we wrap the gifts so you don't know what you're getting ahead of time. If you're asked for what you want and all you do is send a link to one thing...then what's the point.

Also it's awkward when someone asks for one thing and it's out of your price range. Like sorry I have to buy for like 13-15 people I'm not spending 100+ and a 90% namebrand markup on a 14 year old because their wishlist is a link to a pair of yeezys.

And I'm talking about family and friends you spend Christmas day with, I get that ordering stuff online is useful for people who live far away and you wont get to see. It has its place...I just hate that Amazon is the one stop shop and nobody even leaves their house to do 90% of their shopping. Next year I'm suggesting a no amazon policy. Vague wishlists, in store shopping only

[pokeask-star-sending]

Star Sending Event Info

Welcome to the Pokeask community’s first Star Sending Event. Basically, this is a Holiday Exchange (AKA, Secret Santa) with a little twist: It’s in-character! Write up a wishlist for your characters and in exchange receive another blog’s character’s wishlist - one which you either draw or write your character completing their gift as best they can.

This is not a full fledged event with a location your characters must attend, interact with others, etc. You only need to do three things: Write your character's wishlist, fill the sign-up form, and do your piece for who you get!

Continue reading for info on how to participate!

Important Links

Intro P.1 | Intro P.2 | Info Tag | Wishlist Template | Contact Info SIGNUP FORM TO PARTICIPATE

Continue reading for rules and other necessary info!

BASIC INFO

These are limited to Pokemon OC blogs or ask blogs!

One entry per PERSON.

The form to apply is found above, just make sure you read the full document first.

Do not expect to send or receive more than one gift (But you can choose to provide more than one should you be inspired)!

As part of your entry, you can submit multiple Wishlists for your characters, with one list each. This gives your Sender multiple options to choose from. More lists does not guarantee more gifts to receive. 

Senders may do as much or as little as they like with their submission, as long as it meets the minimum requirements for the post.

Feel free to reply to your Sender’s submission as well, and use it to kickstart an interaction!

You MUST keep your Recipient a secret.

Do not share with anybody that is also participating in the event. 

This event focuses around character interactions.

Politely, I ask you don’t join with the sole intent of getting free art or writing pieces. While I ask for effort in submissions, the main goal is to spark little interactions between the characters from different blogs!

TIMELINE

Assume all dates are done under the Eastern Standard Time Zone. We do not have exact times because our team is doing this within our availability and have life priorities outside of the event.

Our application period starts from now, and runs until the 3rd of November. 

Wishlists will be distributed on the 4th or the 5th, depending on availability and any extra organisation needed. 

You may start working on your submission as soon as you receive your Wishlist!

We will be checking in on submission progress on two separate WIP dates; the 25th of November and the 15th of December. This will be to make sure you’re on track with your submission.

 A verbal update is sufficient for the first Checkup, but we expect something more substantial by the second Checkup. 

If no update is received a backup entrant will be assigned to your Recipient. We will have one final Checkup on the 10th of January for unsubmitted posts.

As part of the above, PLEASE keep a line of communication open with us! We will be understanding if you find you cannot complete your gift and there is no judgement towards you should that occur. We want the event to be as fun as possible!

WISHLIST INFO

Wishlist Template | Example 1 | Example 2 | Example 3 | Example 4

Wishlist Due Date: November 3rd

Five Wishlist items per character, max.

As part of submitting your Wishlist, you MUST make sure to include some kind of visual reference for the characters that you are submitting lists for.

Wishlists may be posted publicly, and posting them is even encouraged! Tag them under #pokestarsending2023. 

Wishlists are allowed to be farfetched, abstract, or even impossible to complete in-canon if it is in-character for your OCs to request such a thing.

If you’re unsure what this qualifies as, check the list examples or confirm with a mod!

In the case something your character would ask for is something you as the blog owner does not want to be completed for plot or story reasons, please leave a note written OOC stating so!

Lists can be written in-character, out-of-character, by a different character on the blog, or just a simple bullet pointed list.

As everything is completed in-character, do not expect the Sender to complete any wishes in a proper manner if it doesn’t seem fit for them! 

SUBMISSION INFO

The period for posting for submissions will start on the 24th of December and ends on the 31st of January.

We ask that you send your submission to be checked over with us to make sure it meets all requirements. Once approved, you may post!

If you require more character info about your Recipient, you may ask us to ask for you while keeping you anonymous!

Remember: It is your character that is completing what is requested on the Wishlist. 

Your character does not need to be able to fully complete a gift item from your Recipient’s list, if it isn’t realistic for them (i.e. their Wishlist asks for Technology and your character is a Wild Pokemon, which may be unrealistic or abstract). HOWEVER, there should still be effort put forth by your character in providing the gift.

Try to keep the tone positive and heartwarming, unless you receive permission from the character owners for your submission to take on a different tone.

Post by @-ing your Recipient, and include the tag #pokestarsending2023! We will be reblogging all submissions.

If you are unavailable to post your piece during the submission period, please let us know! We can post it for you on our blog.

Writing minimum: 600 of words minimum.

600 words is the minimum we ask of a writing submission to make sure enough is put into describing the gift and/or gift giving process. If you find yourself struggling to meet the minimum, please reach out to us with your WIP so we can can help review it with you.

In the case you plan to write the Recipient as part of your submission, we will inform you if the person receiving would prefer you not to write their character in your submission. 

Instead, try focusing on other details: How would your character prepare the gift? What process do they take in doing so? To what lengths do they go? Also, make sure you describe the gift itself and how it’s delivered to its Recipient.

Art Minimum: Either a coloured full-body, or a half-body with a background (at least three props).

Must include the character of the Wishlist. Including your own character is encouraged.

Comic Minimum: Clean sketch, 3 panels.

Must include character of the Wishlist. Including your own character is encouraged.

The minimum requirements may change if we feel they need to be adjusted. We will announce any changes, and by the submissions drawing period, we will have finalised them.

Final Notes.

Questions and constructive feedback are always welcome and never stupid! We are happy to clarify anything. Be it through the messaging system, or ask. You can also contact us on discord for any further communication; please see the contact page on the Star Sending blog for more info!

If you are stumped in any way of participating, you are free to ask for help or feedback from the team!

To make sure you have read everything, I have included a little passcode requirement in the form. What was your first pokemon game? (Non-mainline games are valid)

Make sure to reference examples and templates to aid in your submission!

Thank you for your consideration in participating! I am just one person with some friends, hoping to run something nice for this community, and I sincerely hope I can do my best for you. Every effort to make this as great as can be is hugely and humbly cherished.

[wirewitchviolet]

I hate Steam, and it's weird that you don't.

Easily, hands down, the single worst piece of software I have ever had on any computer is Steam, the game shopping/library/I-guess-social-media-app? from Valve that I'm fairly certain anyone who has ever used a personal computer to play a video game within the past, what, 20 years or so, is quite familiar with. It's ubiquitous. People have a level of affection for it they get kinda frighteningly weird about. But it is honestly JUST THE WORST, and I'm going to ramble about why for a good bit under the fold here.

I hate Steam as a store.

Primarily, Steam is a storefront. If I want to purchase a game to play on my computer I can, and often have to, either launch this here app or use the same credentials on a website, where I can fill in my credit card info and, one would assume, get a copy a game I can then install and play. But uh... while this is nowhere near the top of my personal list of issues with Steam, it is worth noting that that is not actually the nature of such a transaction, really.

What I am really paying for, in practice, is for whatever game it is to be "activated in my Steam library." That means I can then open the Steam app, pick that game off a list, and click a download button, which WILL grab all of that game's files from a server and copy them onto my computer, but not in the form of an executable application I can move around and properly back up and launch on its own. Rather, what I have downloaded is a plug-in for the Steam app that will let me launch that game from within the Steam app, if the Steam app is currently connected to the internet and having a good day. In every other context where any other piece of software pulls that kind of crap, everyone quite rightfully throws a fit over it, and frequently will outright refuse. Sometimes things go to court over companies insisting on this weird level of control and spying over the files people have on their own computers. I have plenty to get into about this later, but I'm still not done griping about Steam as a store.

Because see, sometimes, exchanging money for a game to be activated in a steam library doesn't even work. For whatever reason that I'm sure makes sense to someone's accountant, activation of a game in a steam library is based on the use of I want to say 16 character unique "activation keys," and sometimes they run out. Admittedly this issue comes up more frequently when I am acquiring a game from somewhere other than steam- a giveaway the developer is running, buying something from the Humble store and getting a steam key from them instead of a direct download, backing something on kickstarter, whatever. But PRETTY FREQUENTLY, I give someone my money, and in return I get a little notification that "Steam keys for this product are not in stock." I don't get my money back. I don't get some kind of gift card to use on something else. I just get, "welp, sorry! We don't actually have the thing you paid for available! Check back sometime later and we might?" And the operative word there is might. There are games I've paid for whose keys have been out of stock for YEARS. Oh and sometimes, those keys expire! I pay money for a game, get what is essentially a tag to take up to the front counter, and if I don't get on that, someone just pockets my money and I get nothing. Sometimes this happens THE DAY I PURCHASE IT. Sometimes THE DAY BEFORE I PURCHASE IT. No warning up front.

So, OK. Surely though there is some upside to this weird key tracking setup, right? Like if I somehow get into a situation where I have a key for a game that I already own (perhaps it's my birthday, and two people both decided to gift me the same game that I had on my wishlist). I have the one activated copy. I put in this second code and... here's a message that I already have this. Oh well OK. Will you refund me for the key then? No. ... can I pass the key along to someone else who also wants that game? I believe it depends, but the answer is at least sometimes no. Especially if there's some sort of sale or bundle involved, no splitting those keys up between several people, arbitrarily. Steam is all too happy to just take your money in these sorts of situations and give you nothing in return. Hell, I can think of at least 3 or 4 instances when I have ended up with an activation key or an on-site sales button for a game with various DLC expansions included, and because I already owned the base game, I was unable to activate this extra copy with the DLC included. No DLC for me, no refund.

Those pretty serious issues aside, it's just... really badly laid out and run as a store. Plenty of people will gripe about how hard it is to find something, or how there will just be a weird mix of porn and shovelware (often describing the same game) on the front page, but even just working out what you're buying or what a sale covers is kind of a confusing mess? Like right now, going to the front page, here's a big Wales Interactive sale. Let's just click through that and... OK what the hell is this complete mess? Don't judge me if you see "in library" on garbage by the way, it was all blind box bundle stuff. Anyway right at the top of this special dedicated sale page we've got

OK the one horror thing is 25% off... or 27% off with its DLC. The other is 81% off. Let me just scroll down more though...

OK so wait the one game they're really pushing the hardest here has a deluxe edition, an ultimate edition, and a collector's edition. All on sale, I think all with the DLC bundled in... and like, this version here is "-20% -33% so $51.66" and this other version which comes bundled with a whole other game is "-10% -58% $21.14" What are we even trying to convey? In what world would the former be a good deal? And those FMV bundles are similarly confusing. Well, let me just click through and see if it's clearer looking at just this one game and see if that clears it up?

No! Somehow this is even more confusing! I can however apparently buy just this game, if I were inclined, for MORE MONEY than buying this game bundled with this other game I already own. Why? How? Or if I want the DLC, I can get it with all the DLC for $50, OR I can get it with all the DLC for $30? Again, I am just incredibly confused, and glad I really don't have any desire to own this and don't need to care.

I will say though that the first time I ever purchased anything from Steam it was when they were running a sale like this on the Oddworld games. The confusing as hell bundle buttons and redirects and such set up a world wherein I had the option of getting literally every Oddworld game to date (this was before New and Tasty was a thing) for $25 OR I could get a bundle of every game except for Munch's Oddysee... the one game I had never had a chance to play before... plus those were uh... older buggier PC ports apparently. Anyway something bugged out in the cart, I had two identical things in there, just listed as "Oddworld..." and I end up charged for the.... objectively terrible option instead of literally that plus a whole other game.

So you know, IMMEDIATELY, when I see the full list of what I'm actually getting for the first time after hitting confirm, I see something went wrong, and promptly set about trying to cancel that/order the correct thing/get hold of some tech support person because hey what the hell? Now with LITERALLY ANY OTHER STORE, this would get taken care of immediately. Online, brick and mortar, whatever. In person? "Hey, I gave you the money for these 5 things, you only put 4 of them in my bag." "Oh sorry, here you go!" or "Hey the wrong thing was on the shelf" or "hey this literally wasn't in the box" these get sorted. I've had online stores literally send me completely the wrong order, got that sorted out. I've ordered clothes that didn't fit, they refunded me and didn't even want me sending the baby-sized one back. I once had a weird collision where a friend bought me a whole huge pricy bundle of games and software from itch.io, because she had contributed to it and wanted to share, meanwhile I bought it myself for the same reason. One quick support e-mail and I got them to send HER a refund, like within 5 minutes. Steam though? It has literally been a decade now, multiple support tickets, I still don't have my collection, no refund, nothing.

And you know just sticking with this a moment... appeasing customers upset about this sort of thing is kinda the one thing stores are for. If something is on sale in a store for $50, that store paid somewhere between $5 and $25 for that to whoever supplied it to them. When I buy it, I am forwarding along that small percentage of the price to the people who actually made the thing, and the rest of the money I am forking over is me paying the store for the service of making this a low stress low headache situation. Functionally that means I am buying insurance against random weird issues like... paying for something and not getting it. It happens rarely enough that the store still profits, but sometimes yeah you just give an angry customer whatever the hell they're haranguing you about, even if you're confused about what their deal is, so they don't spend the next decade griping to everyone about how terrible your store is to anyone who will listen and swear off ever shopping there again. Especially if they have a paper trail on how you didn't give them what they were attempting to buy. But anyway, moving on to the next problem.

Wait no! One more thing! It is SHOCKINGLY DIFFICULT to do gift shopping on steam! If I set up a wishlist, nobody can see it unless they're friends with me, and even then it's kinda weirdly buried in submenus to a point where I always need to search up a guide on how to even find it. And you'd think there'd be some option to just like... buy one of these keys everything is using for a game, and mail it to someone as a surprise gift, but nope. Not an option. Everything about buying a game for a friend or relative is like pulling teeth. In the store for buying games.

I hate Steam as a launcher app.

There is really no reason for launcher apps to exist. We are all perfectly capable of, say, putting all of our games into a nice little "Games" directory on our computer and setting a nice shortcut to that or whatever other little organizational things we might want to do. I will grant that just freaking displaying a directory is something Windows in particular is weirdly bad at, but it does a better job than Steam does. Just opening this window with a list of games requires a weird amount of startup, possibly a login, it puts a shocking load on processor and ram. It opens a big annoying pop-up ad. It signs me into a messenger app I'm never going to use. And when I'm done with it, attempting to close it out like any other piece of software on my computer just straight up does not work. In theory if I formally "Exit Steam" from a drop-down it will cleanly quit, but sometimes I forget, and I swear, sometimes that doesn't do the trick, and while it certainly looks like Steam isn't open from a glance at my taskbar, if I open up my task manager, here's like... 5 separate running instances of something called "Steam Web Helper" and one of them is eating AN ENTIRE FREAKING GIG of RAM! It is absolutely absurd for anything to ever be doing that. The only other thing I have that eats RAM that absurdly is my web browser, where I have like 200 tabs open across 20 windows at any given time, all loaded up with gross bloated sphagetti scripts instead of functional code. But it's not like this Steam web helper is secretly a web-browser opening pages up for every game in my library or anything right?

... no apparently that's what it is. Yeah all those screenshots, trailers, reviews, "community content" sections full of creepy fan art and Russian youtube LPs of games that load up in a full page splash zone when you're just trying to click the name of a game off a simple text list and hit launch are secretly a big web page we're quietly launching an invisible web browser to load up. And hey, even if you don't have that window open, it's still loaded. And even if you go mess with preferences and ask not to be spammed with all this stuff, it's still loaded. And even if you try to keep steam closed at all times to avoid the whole mess, it really likes to worm its way in to load on boot up and also update itself whenever it feels like it.

And hey! Speaking of updates! The real reason the steam launcher even exists of course is to serve as super aggressive DRM (the sort where even if you have single player games locally "installed," you can't play them if you are offline or otherwise unable to connect to Steams servers, and to spam you with those pop-up ads, but the sales pitch to keep you from just treating the whole thing as gross malware is that there is some convenience here. Doesn't matter if you have 10 computers scattered about, Steam will keep your favorite games all ready to go and fully up to date and cloud sync saved data between them so they can be loaded up at the touch of a button!

Well that end of things straight up sucks. I am inherently distrustful of automated updates in general. I tend to hit a version of a given piece of software I like, and from there on any further updates can only make it worse. Also, I like to have total control of when my bandwidth is being hogged. I don't want to be streaming a movie, or hosting a stream on twitch, and have oh... Steam, let's say, decide that 100% of my bandwidth is needed RIGHT THIS MINUTE, because there was a 30 gig update for I dunno, Granny Simulator. But... Steam feels differently, and will absolutely queue that up. Even after I dug through preferences looking for a way to disable that. Even when I don't have the game in question installed, and haven't had it installed for years, if ever. Aside from the serious bandwidth issue, I constantly find myself mysteriously out of disk space because Steam decided it was time to download a huge patch for some game or other I've never even touched, and I just have to go through like I'm hunting for mushrooms in a basement or something finding these unwanted games.

And it doesn't even really keep them up to date! I end up with games that are "fully installed and ready to launch" but when I try, I have to sit there for upwards of multiple hours after hitting launch buttons because oh, the installation process forgot that every game for some baffling reason needs its own personal copy of DirectX and 20 other software dependencies, and it just didn't feel like running the installers for those when installing the game.

The worst part though is the damn cloud sync saves. I have absolutely lost count of how many dozens or hundreds of times I have completely lost all save data for a game because some cloud sync failed, or an automatic update corrupted save files. Or less damaging but still quite annoying, I've lost my connection to steam while playing a game, causing my local save to be more up to date than the version stored on a server, and Steam's answer to that is TOO FREAKIN' BAD! There is, to my knowledge, absolutely no way to push a save file to the cloud by hand. It is always considered the master copy, and if it's out of date or corrupted, oh well. I didn't ask for this, I'm always playing on my one desktop, but I just gotta deal.

I... greatly dislike Steam as a compatibility layer.

So the thing with Steam and the separate copy of DirectX for every individual game is that IN THEORY, Steam does a lot of handy things behind the scenes to get older games to work smoothly on modern hardware. And it... often does a kind of OK job at that? I put it through its paces on that front more than most people do, streaming my whole library, which includes some 20 or 30 year old games, but... most of those are from modern promotions explicitly linked to Steam so you'd think those would all be guaranteed to... run, at all. Hopefully not too many would have terrible interactions with the resolution on my monitor. DOS games in particular tend to really suck through Steam. There's a one size fits all DOSBox solution, but... it's an old buggy version of DOSBox, and if I could just manually launch a more current and nicely customized one and run these things through that, and not have it, you know, completely break should I alt-tab away, that'd be nice. But I can't. Because aggressive DRM.

I hate Steam as a social media... thing.

Back at the dawn of time, I like a lot of other people made the mistake of picking AOL as an internet service provider. Everything about this was absolutely miserable, except for the whole Instant Messenger thing. That was a nice way to stay in touch with people that I used for many many years... and the reason I used it for many many years was that it was available as a small lightweight independent program I could still use for decades past when I swore off AOL forever. Steam has a little chat thing, but... it does not have that very important feature. I can't access my steam friends chat deal unless I am actively running this awful piece of software that eats more than half my RAM and fills my hard drive with garbage. And also, you know, I have multiple other ways to keep in touch with people. If I did use it though, I'd hate the UI. And I hate how you have to cut through it half the time to invite a friend to play a multiplayer game.

Beyond that, Steam has all this "community" stuff where... again, unless I actively disable it, I'm bombarded with weird LPs and fan art and this whole baffling ecosystem of neo-nazis spamming negative reviews at everything not staring a white guy and... reviewing each other's reviews like some kind of weird reddit gold system? Totally burying any useful information, and also throwing "user tags" on games destroying any sort of usable organizational info. And then there's trading cards? I've never understood what those are about. It all just seems terrible, and I want to be rid of it, and it definitely enables all kinds of horrible stalking, too.

I hate Steam as... you know, a general vestige of horrible capitalistic crap?

While Steam isn't the ONLY game in town as far as a store you can buy games from, it has enough of a stranglehold on things, and this weird cult-like following of people who I guess missed out on the whole 16-bit console wars thing and are hellbent on recreating it with... what stores people shop at. So there's a lot of baseline stupidity and aggressive weirdos from that, but also, as a developer, you really can't afford not to put stuff in the Steam store, which as I understand it is the absolute worst deal financially for any possible place you can sell a game these days, and forces developers to eat the loss with the constant weirdly advertised sales. Plus, you know, I personally have like... two or three thousand games right now which I can ONLY run if I have Steam going. Eventually it's going down and taking all those with them. Any unilateral policy changes Steam makes, we're all stuck with. Games get pulled without warning or recourse. Hell, game developers get snatched up by Valve on the promise of getting their stuff published and getting relocated to... maintenance projects on Steam with their projects killed. So that all sucks.

But again, mostly I hate the bloated malware aspect and them stiffing me on a game a decade ago. And it's weird that everyone seems to just give them infinite free passes on all this stuff while harping on anyone else they see doing similar stuff.

[blairsanne]

How do you feel about gifts? Are they a family only, close friends, anyone? Do you save gifts for special occasions or just give gifts when you find them? Of course cost is a big factor.

I love giving gifts. I am always finding little things for my nibblings and siblings and parents. My spouse helps too especially for the nibblings. A lot of times it's just something simple like hair care or snacks. Though we have also bought some decorative signs for a shop owner once. She hung them up until she closed the shop.

*Asks are sent for fun, no pressure to answer

I don't often think of getting gifts for people unless I happen to see something and genuinely think of a person who would enjoy it. If it's cheap enough, I sometimes will just buy it for them as a little surprise. But that still tends to end up just being for people really close to me, like my husband or best friend. Mostly I give gifts for birthdays or Christmas.

I do try to get gifts for my family for Christmas, and often birthdays, too, but it's been harder the last few years with not living close enough to visit them to give them the gifts.

My husband and I always exchange gifts for our anniversary (today is our 17th!) and Christmas, and we also get gifts for our birthdays (mine is in a few days but I'll be travelling so he gave me those early). We always give each other wishlists because, frankly, we are lucky enough to be able to just buy whatever we want and the lists make it a lot easier because we know it's stuff we want, and I know I won't put something on my list unless I'm willing to not buy it for myself before Christmas, lmao.

I don't buy gifts for coworkers, and I don't organize the birthday card/cake, either, because I feel that is my boss's job. But I'm always happy to pitch in if something is being organized. We recently had a coworker go on maternity leave, and a bunch of us pitched in for a gift basket of stuff for her for a surprise baby shower before she left.

I do think gifts are nice, but I try to be mindful about not just giving something to someone they will then feel obligated to keep. I think consumables are a good option for that reason (like food, soaps, gift cards; stuff that gets used up). There were some hoarding tendencies in my family home that I personally try to avoid, and I don't want a gift I give to ever feel like a burden.

[secretmagicalgiftswap]

Wishlist & Package Rules

WISHLIST RULES

As this is a gift exchange centered around spirituality, please make your wishlist relevant to your practice!

Avoid asking for athames, hemp products or anything else that could be classified as weapons or illegal items. If you’re unsure of a product, add it to the list but there may be a higher chance that you will not receive that particular item.

You may provide a link to an Amazon wishlist, but you must also provide some ideas of what else you would like, in the case that your Gifter can only afford shipping for handmade items or cannot for whatever reason buy items online.

You may list some specific items, but please also give your Gifter options. For example, you can definitely ask for a specific tarot deck, but you should also include on your list something more vague in the case that your Gifter cannot get you that specific deck.

In the past, we have had people ask for items such as loose leaf tea or resin incense. This is usually fine and things were normally shipped on time; however, sometimes these items require extra checks by customs and may result in your package being opened or delayed, so please keep that in mind!

GIFT PACKAGE RULES

You must provide a tracking number for the package. This is for confirmation that the package was, in fact, sent, and to avoid people saying they never received their package when they did.

Any herbal or loose items such as loose leaf tea, resin incense or powders MUST be securely packaged in a closed bag* and labeled, with ingredients and the best before/due by date listed if known. * = please do not cover these items with aluminium foil. Some scanners do not scan through aluminium foil and may result in the package being opened by customs or other control on the way.

Please include at least 3 items. These can be bought, handmade or a blend of both.

There is no set package size - however please keep in mind your Giftee’s requirements.

Please do not include weapons or illegal items. If your Giftee has an item on their wishlist of which legality you are unsure of please do not send it.

While not necessary, we encourage you to write a letter! It can be a short description of the gifts you chose for your Giftee and why; a letter to say hello and make a friend, or just a small positive note about something that caught your attention about your Giftee’s wishlist or practice, anything is good! It’s always lovely to receive some words!

AN EXAMPLE WISHLIST:

Divination tools, candles, incense - preferably rose scented

Books about a particular deity, tradition, folklore etc.

Witchy art/art relating to specific deities

Items related to specific deities. Here are some things I associate with xyz deity: frankincense, purple colors, knitting tools

Link to an Amazon Wishlist if desired

Maybe mention some things you absolutely cannot or don’t want to receive (although this will be answered in the sign-up form)

[pbandjesse]

Today was a pretty nice day off. A true day to myself, I was on no schedule, I got a lot done. I felt good.

Some of it was sleeping better. My breathing and my nose still continue to struggle. But I woke up at 915 with no alarm and felt pretty good.

I got cleaned up and put on a soft grey jumpsuit. I felt pretty cute in a cozy kind of way.

I overwhelmed myself at first though. So many directions I could take the day. There was a dishwasher to unload. And I wanted to clean the apartment. And deal with some snails. And and and. I kept picking things up to start something but then seeing something else and I was a little frustrated with myself. Finally I just put everything down and went to have an egg salad sandwich and some chips and give myself some direction.

Once I ate I decided I would start with my candle project. I have a lot of half filled or less vanilla candles. And decided to melt them down with new wicks for Christmas gifts. I saw someone put the jars in a low pan of water and heated it over the stove. And this worked really well! It was slow going but it did work and that was pretty great. I had already added the wicks but I would need sticks to hot them straight up and I am pretty proud of how they came out. And they smell good. I put some strawberry in them too so it's a light fruity floral vanilla. Made the whole apartment smells nice.

While the candles were melting I went to deal with the dishwasher but a bunch of stuff was still dirty. So I reloaded it and put it on heavy duty hoping that would work. And it seemed too though everything was still really wet in the end. I think that something is clogged in there. I may have to investigate tomorrow.

In the mean time I worked on a Christmas card and continued to work on some sewing and some knitting.

I also spent a lot of time vacuuming. I cleaned the kitty litter. I sprayed down the bathroom. I delt with some snails. I did finally break my fish tank vacuum and will have to replace that. But that's alright. I needed to go to the pet store for vacation feeders anyway.

The doorbell would ring and it was a package for me for a Christmas gift for James. So after I ran down and grabbed that I started wrapping those as well. We are mostly out of our silk scarf collection we are using to wrap each others gifts. But I figured some old paper from last year is just fine too.

I would do some work on inventorying the gifts we have for other people. James made a list of people and I wrote all the gifts down and now we just have to make sure they all go to the right person. I was able to add my candles to the list which was nice. And they would come out really good! I am going to melt the tops with a hair dryer tomorrow to fix a few little imperfections but I'm really really pleased with how they came out.

I would spend a lot of this afternoon working on my knitting and drawing on my tablet. Me, James, and Jess are going to get some matching tattoos in January and I wanted to draw up some flash for myself because they are all small the artist was chill with us doing a few. And I have a few on my wishlist that I want to fill in my arm a bit with. My last tattoo was incredibly painful so I'm hoping that she has a lighter hand. Jess just got a chicken tattoo from her yesterday and said she was very fast and very delicate. So fingers crossed.

Callie let me know she would be coming over at 5 so we could talk about schedule stuff and Tipis and all things camp and Christmas and life. And we had gifts for each other. I was very much looking forward to seeing her.

When she got here she was dressed up all cute because she would go to meet her family for dinner after she left us. But in the mean time we talked and went over things in my computer. We exchanged gifts and they were legit perfect. She screamed over the macarons, particularly the box. She tried to get me to split one but I was like nooo they are your gift you enjoy all of them!! And she gave me a knife shaped like a fish and I could not love it more it's perfect. It's everything. I love gifts where you feel very very seen.

James would come home and jump right into their chores. Started the laundry and then ran to the grocery store. They would pick us up frozen pizza. And would be back pretty soon. Me and Callie chilled on the couch talking and having a fun time thinking about the house and the plans for it.

I am trying to be measured still but I am excited and incredibly nervous. I was joking about a TikTok I saw that was basically "everyone loves a maximalist until it's time to move" and man that could not be more on point. Cause like in moments I'm like. Throw it all on a box and get it over there but also. I hate living in half done spaces so you have to time it right. I feel like we will probably start with our storage stuff like my bikes and decorations and camping equipment. Then my studio would logically be next. Then maybe like our extra clothes. My suitcases. The extra towels. I don't think I would want to take down much of my wall stuff until we are closer to living there because it will make me sad having bare walls. I know that's silly but it's how I feel!!

Callie would head out when her family was getting to the restaurant. And I hope she had the best time. Hugs and goodbyes.

Once she was gone I continued working on some knitting. And James came and started wrapping family gifts. And I worked on a small silly gift for Jess that had Callie and James laughing so loudly. It was just a really lovely evening.

I took a late shower and started this post late when I started creating a plaque for my fish knife. That's mostly planned out now but the real work will have to wait for tomorrow.

I am supposed to have the make up private class with Naomi tomorrow. But I want to spend the morning finishing up some projects and starting to pull together everything I'm packing for our Christmas travels. I hope it is a really chill day and we get word about the paperwork for the house. They accepted the offer but we need it in writing before we can do anything!! Ahh!

Sleep well my friends. Take care of eachother. Goodnight!!

[lowhighng]

The Magic of Christmas

Christmas, for me, is a time of love, joy, and togetherness. It's a season where we share love, give love, and spread love. I can almost feel the happiness in the air, the excitement of gift-giving, and the joy of receiving. Whether it's a small token or an expensive gift, it's the thought that counts. Christmas is the time when I feel most loved, receiving gifts from those dearest to me. I cherish the way my family comes together during the Christmas season. We've been celebrating the same traditions since I was a child, like the manita exchange and the countless games we play. The laughter and joy shared with my cousins are unforgettable. I love the anticipation of Noche Buena, waiting until midnight to celebrate Christmas and indulge in a delicious feast. We stay up late, helping each other stay awake and singing karaoke until the early hours of the morning. I also love the secret surprises, like the hidden money that comes with the instruction, "Don't tell your mom, she'll take it from you." Christmas transcends age, strengthening our bonds with loved ones, even as we grow older. I remember when we were kids, the excitement of December 24th was intense. We couldn't wait to see the gifts under our Lola's Christmas tree, each one with our name on it. We'd get dressed up early, eagerly asking if our wishlists would come true. Even now, the feeling of anticipation remains, though perhaps a bit tempered. I'm grateful for my parents' efforts to make Christmas special. My dad's commitment to fulfilling his promises, like buying me the shoes I've always wanted, and my mom's dedication to preparing the feast are truly heartwarming. And of course, I love helping out in the kitchen, even if it means I might try to finish all the food before midnight. I hope to continue these cherished traditions and create new ones with my loved ones. I hope to carry the spirit of Christmas with me throughout the year, spreading kindness and joy to others. It’s a feeling that warms my heart, knowing that I’m part of something special. As Christmas approaches, I find myself reflecting on the true meaning of the season. It's not just about the gifts or the decorations, but about the love and joy that we share with others. It's about taking the time to appreciate the little things in life and being grateful for what we have.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Writing Advent Calendar 2023 Day 17

Prompt: Gift

Aka: It is time for the girls to exchange their christmas gifts this year again!

Read on ao3 or under the cut

Last year, Violetta, Francesca, Camila, Natalia and Ludmila had a gift giving, where everyone gave each other one gift each. They decided it would be very fun to do it this year again.

This time however, they had all been so busy that they had not had time to create wishlists. Instead, they decided to simply surprise each other.

Now, they sat in a ring in Violetta's living room, all with gifts. Violetta and Francesca were acting a bit odd, according to the other three girls. No one was sure if they wanted to ask what was going on. It seemed like the two were hiding something. Maybe they would reveal it later.

"So... who should start?" Camila asked.

"You can start!" Naty said, "Because you asked!"

"Oh, alright!"

Camila placed out her wrapped gifts to everyone. She grinned as she witnessed them opening them.

Violetta got her present out first. "Oh! A music box?" The music box had a violet-colored V painted on it, together with a bunch of music notes and flowers.

"I painted it myself!" Camila said proudly. "Also, try winding it up!"

Violetta did, and realized it was En mi mundo that was playing. 

"Wow! Thank you, amiga!" She gave Camila a big hug.

Francesca then opened hers. It was a dress, with a bunch of bows and also music notes on them.

"I've been very into handcrafting lately," Camila shrugged, "So I made you something that I knew would feel personal for you."

"It is really pretty, Cami! Thank you!" Francesca exclaimed.

Ludmila was next to unwrap hers. She stared at her gift for a moment, but then gasped in a pleasant surprise. It was a painting. A painting of a scene from Isadora Starfighter, the series Ludmila was obsessed with and who Violetta gave the entire book series set to last year.

"This is my favorite scene! How did you know?"

"Oh, I just figured."

"Did you paint this yourself?"

Camila nodded. 

Ludmila looked around. "Ok, promise you never tell anyone I did this..."

She then gave Camila a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"She liked it!" Camila cheered.

"I did. But never tell anyone."

Naty then unwrapped her gift. Seeing it, she immediately got teary eyed.

"No... you bought this?"

"Better, I made it myself!"

It was a notebook that Camila had filled in all the pages of. On every page, there was something about Naty that she liked. Her favorite memories, little things she does, things that reminds her of Naty. Naty's happy tears ran down from her eyes.

"Aw, we should have given this last!" Francesca said, "I'm never gonna compete with that gift!"

"I'm gonna love your gifts, too," Naty promised, wiping her tears. She gave Camila a large hug and started to kiss her cheek, forehead, nose and just everywhere around her head. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Alright, I guess I can go next," Violetta said, handing out her gifts for everyone. 

Camila opened hers pretty quickly. "Wow!" Violetta had bought her a harmonica. "Thank you, amiga! Now I can learn to play so I can hypnotize people with my music!"

"Yeah..."

Naty opened hers, and once again seemed to be teary eyed. "A purple flannel shirt! Aah! Look at it, so beautiful!" She immediately tried it on. Then she gave Violetta a hug and a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you, thank you!"

Violetta turned to Ludmila, who had just opened hers. She smiled nervously. "Well, I don't think it can top the gift I gave you last year, but..."

"A pair of neon light star boots!" Ludmila exclaimed, "That glow in the dark!"

"Yeah, and they change color, too!"

"I love it so much!"

"I'm glad. Now you can take midnight walks and everyone will see two pairs of glowing boots lightning up the darkness."

Francesca had opened hers, and gave Violetta a big grin.

It was a notebook, with the title "My secret recipes". It was decorated with a cup of hot chocolate.

"I remember you said you wanted to write down your recipes... and I know not all of them are secret, but when I saw the hot chocolate cover... I thought of you..."

Both of them snickered.

"Does Francesca make a special kind of hot chocolate?" Naty asked.

"Well... I could," Francesca said, causing her and Violetta to snicker once again.

The other three exchanged looks. They both wanted to ask and didn't want to ask.

"My turn, then!" Francesca exclaimed, handing out her gifts.

Ludmila was quick with opening hers. "Oh my gosh... a gift card at Lunar Lakes!"

"Wait, what's that?" Camila asked.

"It's only the best store to buy everything space related! Astronomy books, funny t-shirts, telescopes, you name it! Thanks, Fran!"

They suddenly heard the squeal from Naty, who seemed to be so happy about everything she got. It was a CD from a very obscure band that Naty enjoyed, but due to their obscurity, finding much merchandise from them was hard. This CD included several songs that were not even uploaded on the internet.

"How did you find this?" Naty asked in amazement.

"I have my ways," Francesca replied, shrugging. She got a hug and a kiss on the forehead, just like Violetta.

Camila was next to open hers. She gasped. "Wait, a mini me?!"

Francesca had crocheted a small doll looking just like Camila.

"Yep! I thought you could use it as a representation of yourself, or maybe use it as a spy when you're not nearby."

"Oh, amiga, you know me so well! Thank you!"

Finally, Violetta opened hers. It was a package of lipstick in different shades. She gave Francesca a smirk.

"Oh, you bought this because..."

"Yes."

"I told Fran I ate lipstick once when I was a toddler and she thought it was so funny."

"Yes, but you know what, Vilu? You can eat these!"

"What?"

Francesca pointed at the package. "There's five samples in here. Chocolate, strawberry, raspberry, grape and blueberry. And those are not just only lipstick, it's eatable! And when they're done, there's instructions on how to fill them up again!"

Violetta chuckled. "So I can really eat these?"

"You bet! Let me show you!" She brought out the chocolate lipstick and applied it on Violetta's lips. "Now, lick your lips!"

Violetta unsurely did, and then gasped. "No!"

"Yes! You can go to parties with food around your lips and no one will know!"

"This is so cool!"

Francesca reached out the lipstick and Violetta took a bite of it. Both of them laughed.

"As I mentioned, you can make more. There's some instructions. And you can make your own flavors."

"This is so funny. Thanks, Francesca!"

She gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing Francesca to take her finger on the chocolate-covered stain that was left, and taste it.

Once again, the other three girls weren't sure what they were witnessing with Francesca and Violetta right now.

It was Ludmila's turn to give her gifts.

Naty was the first to open hers. She was completely speechless.

"Did you like it?" Ludmila asked.

What Naty was holding was a blanket, with a pitch black cover. If you'd put it on the ground, it would look like a bottomless hole. 

Naty formed a grin and then started crying. She tackled Ludmila with a hug and several kisses on the same cheek.

"It's perfect! Aah! Look at me!" She hid under the blanket. "THE DARKNESS HAVE CONSUMED ME!"

Everyone laughed, as Naty's head peaked out from the blanket. 

"I live here now," she said.

Camila was next to open her gift. "Aww... a coloring book!"

"Yes, one of those coloring books made to calm you down... when you feel not so calmed down..."

"Thank you!"

Violetta then opened hers. She started smiling. "Ooh, a ring!"

"Yes, a mood ring to be precise!"

"Cool! Thanks, Ludmila!"

Finally, Francesca opened hers. "No way! Bows with a space theme!"

Ludmila shrugged, giving her a pleased face.

"Very fitting, and a gift very you!"

"So true."

Naty was last with her gifts. She was still wrapped in her blanket and looked like the leader of a creepy meeting. "Here you all go."

Ludmila opened hers first. "Oh, Nat! You shouldn't have!" It was a couple of earrings looking like the the planet Saturn. Ludmila immediately put them on. "Thank you! Saturn has been in my interest more than the others lately."

"I know. I listen."

Francesca opened her gift. "Wait, a moomin mug?" She did not expect to find that over here. It was specifically of Mymble's daughter, sitting with a flower in her hair.

"I got it last time I was in Europe!" Naty chuckled. "It was her or Snorkmaiden, but I personally liked the design of this more."

"That's nostalgic," Violetta said, "I had one with Little My when I was little, but we lost it."

"Hold up, what is a moomin cup?" Camila asked. "I understand it's something european or whatever, but why does Violetta know about it?"

"I lived in Europe for a big part of my childhood if you didn't remember," Violetta reminded her. 

"Get cultured Cami, even I know what the moomins are!" Ludmila scoffed. Actually she barely knew, but the 90s anime had been airing for a little while when she was a kid, so she had some idea about it.

Violetta then opened hers. "Coloring pencils! Wow, thanks, Naty!"

"Glad you liked them, they had so many different ones, and these ones really spoke 'Vilu'."

"Well, I'm glad!" 

Then Camila opened hers. "Naty, you have outdone yourself."

It was a book on how to make your own advanced crafted flower crowns. Camila had made some flower crowns herself, but she mostly bought them. And making some advanced ones meant she could really start wearing some impressive ones.

"Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Naty replied, cozying further into her blanket.

It was very fun to get gifts from everyone. They hoped to this next year again.

I don't know how many readers read what I wrote last year, but I am starting to wonder if the girls are gonna do this as an annual thing for at least a while in their life haha Fun fact, "Lunar Lakes" is a place in the Sims 3 and it just felt like a good name for the made-up store.

[animes-trash]

Servamp Secret Santa 2022

Spooky time's over, and it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas ! Oh well, not really actually, but it's definitely feeling like the Servamp Secret Santa 2022 registrations opening. I hosted it last year and everything went smoothly, so I thought it'd be fun to do it again. The link so sign up is at the end of the post, but please read carefully what's next so you're not missing any info.

Important informations

For those of you who never did a secret santa, here's how it works : it's basically a gift exchange online. We're not buying anything, but we're making Servamp related gifts such as fanarts or fanfics (or edits, or else, whatever you can make) and sharing them online. In the form you write your wishlist and your no-no, and I'll communicate it to your secret santa. This is the only informations I will share, along with your username. Don't worry, your email will be kept secret.

It's a secret santa, so please don't reveal who you have (you might know them on tumblr) until the gift reveal. If you really have questions about their wishlist, you can write to me and I'll find a way to assure the communication while keeping it anonymous.

Let's talk about important dates now. The last day to sign up in November 30th ! Passed this deadline it'll be too last, which is why I'm opening the registrations early to everyone can know about it in time. Please, check out your mail inbox around December 1st. That's when I'll send you your secret santa (or maybe the 2nd, depending on the time I have).

The last day to drop out is November 5th. Don't worry, it's okay to not be able to go through the secret santa, we all have personal lives with its problems and events. Just be sure to tell me as soon as possible so I can assign your secret santa to someone else.

The time for sharing gifts will be from December 24th to the 31th. You can give your gift at any moment during / between these days. PLEASE stay within this time period.

To avoid people being late, there was this thing that I saw on another server for fanfic writers. Basically, it was a time limit of 2,000 words (so that people don't plan too long fics then don't finish). I won't put it as a strict time limit (mostly because I wrote a 5,000 words stuff last year–), but I'm still putting it as an advice.

You can make fanarts, fanfictions, or edits. This is mostly what people do in general.

Let's use the tag "Servamp Secret Santa 2022" to share our works later. I'll also use them on all my secret santa related posts.

NO NSFW. This is a family friendly secret santa.

There is a discord server ! I encourage all participants to join (it's very useful for the gift-share there). It's also open to anyone. There is the role of "observer" if you want it. I'll share the link on December first (well, you can find it on my page if you search it, but I don't think it's useful to join before December).

And I think I've said everything ! If you have any question, don't hesitate to ask in my inbox, by dms, or this post's comments. I'll answer as best as I can. Please, share as much as you can !

HERE IS THE LINK TO SIGN UP : https://forms.gle/o6fC67rdXtkVT5ibA