welcome to camp telophase

We shall be somewhat judicious in our use of Christmas tree ornaments this year.

( cut for why )

At work we usually partner with a local charity that gets gifts for kids in crisis--either taken into care, or they and a parent are escaping from a domestic abuse situation, etc. We get cards with a fake name for the kid (to preserve anonymity), their basic info, and some gift wishes.

I went through the cards on the board and got the geekiest one I could find. "Nathaniel" is a 12 year old boy, who has listed under the Gift Wish section:

Bookstore gift card
Magician items
Legos (Lord of the Rings)

I have no idea if "Magician items" means a magic kit, or if it means he like Gandalf a lot, or if there's something out there in the 12-year-old world that fits that description. At the very least, I'll get him a Barnes and Noble gift card, and something from the LEGO LotR line, along with a receipt in case he's already got it. But perhaps a couple of books that he might like in addition to this? That I can get at my local B&N so I can enclose a gift receipt, as he may not be able to return them to Amazon, as I have no idea what his situation is.

Suggestions?

If y'all remember the Secret Santa thing I posted about a short while ago, where I got two girls, one 13-year-old Twihard (a nickname I use with love: I remember being proud to be IDed as a Durannie, being addicted to Duran Duran at that age!), and one 9-year-old science & Lego-loving girl, I turned the presents in on Monday.

For the Twihard: a copy of Fang Girl (with a signed bookplate supplied by helen_keeble! Yes, it arrived! Thank you! :D), an omnibus of the Den of Shadows Quartet, by Cecilia Atwater-Rhodes, Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce, because I loved it as a teen, Garth Nix's Sabriel because ditto (but as an adult, when it came out!), and Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon, in case she likes dark-and-brooding (I enjoyed it; I still keep meaning to pick up the sequels!).

For the science girl: Potato Chip Science: 29 Incredible Experiments, which comes in a bag the size and shape of a potato-chip bag (filled out with air,e ven, so it really feels like a large bag of chips!) stuffed with a book and items to use in experimenting on potato chips and potato chip bags, which I figure she can probably get her hands on, a Klutz Press book abut building little machines with Legos, Lego Crazy Action Contraptions, that includes the necessary Legos, Pratchett's The Wee Free Men, as Tiffany Aching is the same age as her (might be a little old for her prose-wise, might not; I was reading Lord of the Rings at her age so you can't tell. She doesn't have to like it!), and Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me.

Thank you all for the suggestions! I picked and chose partly depending on whether I'd read and liked it, and partly whether or not it was available in paperback at a reasonable price (for the ones that I hadn't read). XD

Right! So once again my workplace is doing the Secret Santa thing for the Alliance for Kids, which is where they deliver a bunch of cards to us, each one with a kid's name, age, clothing size, and gift wishes, and we pick one or two and buy a few gifts and hand them over. The parents/guardians wrap them and give them to the kids. (These are kids who are in the system somehow, often because they're escaping from abusive situations.)

Anyway, nobody wanted video games this year, but these are the two I picked. I'll need suggestions from you guys! (They're not related this time. I think I picked sisters last time.)

Note, these are not their real names. The AFC people assign them these names for anonymity.

MADISON. Madison is 9 years old, and her wish list is, and I quote: "Science, Legos, arts & crafts, books." SCIENCE! AWESOME! I'll have to shop around and see what I can get her that involves science. Possibly some good science-related books? Parents of science-interested 9-year-olds: what books and other toys do your kids like?

MARIA. Maria is 13, and wants "Anything Twilight" and books. Yes, yes, I know, Twilight. I will probably purchase her something Twilight-related that is small and is not the books, as I assume she's already read them. What I would like to do also is get her BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS that are BETTER THAN TWILIGHT. What would YOU recommend for a 13-year-old Twihard that doesn't have the skeevy relationship dynamics, but still might speak to her id in the same sort of way that Twilight does? Vampires & werewolves a bonus, as I have no idea if she's Team Edward or Team Jacob (or, perhaps (if only), Team Bella).

Work is doing that thing again this year where a local child abuse advocacy center gives us the names and Christmas wishes of kids in the system, and we buy presents for them*, deliver them unwrapped to the center along with wrapping paper, and the parents or guardians wrap the presents up for the kids.

I grabbed two, because they were sisters and gamers, who both want PS3 games. The 15-year-old wants Call of Duty: Black Ops which, er, no. She may well already own and play Call of Duty, but I am not going to be the one responsible for determining if she's able to play an M-rated game or not. But I'm sure I can find some sort of less-than-M first-person shooter or something to give her, along with a receipt for exchanging it for Call of Duty something she likes better, or just wimp out and get her a Best Buy gift certificate. Her 14-year-old sister wants Little Big Planet. Which I will also gift with a receipt, and perhaps instead with a gift card, as I note that Little Big Planet 2 is coming out in January, and I don't know if she wants or would prefer that one.



* They put the kids' names out at multiple locations, so we don't have to worry about supplying *all* of one kid's presents.