2025 Giftmas Gallery
Posted on December 29, 2025 by Aywren
Similar to last Christmas, I was on the road this year and received my gifts in person. So, I don’t have a list of individual items to post, but I still want to create a gallery of gifts like I did last year. Since the previous format worked well, I’ve done the same here.
Toys and Figures
Let’s start with a golden mimic plush! Friends and family know that I have a thing for mimics (I don’t understand it myself), and so I often get a variety of mimics as gifts. This is a good thing, btw.
This one was from my sister, and was apparently a Kickstarter item that didn’t arrive in time for last year’s Christmas present. The chest even opens up, allowing you to put things inside it – and came with some treasure and a little mimic charm!
Speaking of mimics, this was a mimic ornament from Syn! Didn’t I tell you that people like to get me mimics? This one is a little less cuddly, but a cool addition to my tree!
I don’t usually ask for Funko Pops, but this was a very particular request from my inner 80’s kid. I was a fan of PC Popple when I was young, and there’s a story of how my PC Pocket Popple got stolen at school. I never got it back, and I was heartbroken – so much so that I still remember the event to today. I asked for this Pop to somewhat fill that PC Popple shaped hole in my heart. I think it worked! 😊
Art Supplies
I think this is a sign that I need to pick up my crochet needle again! I got two crochet-oriented gifts.
First, this is a hand-dyed and hand-spun skein of yarn, a gift from Syn. She also pulled up a pattern to a really pretty scarf, though I’m going to have to remember how to read crochet patterns before I can attempt it. Still very exciting!
And for the warm-up, I got this cute Woobles kit for a miniature treasure chest (we can pretend it’s another mimic, right?). It also came with a little tin for holding clips and smaller crochet items, which will come in handy for sure!
Then, I also received this set of felt coloring pens from Syn. This was more of a “hey do you want this” situation. Since I’m always down for coloring pens, I accepted quickly.
Decor
I got a couple pieces of decor from my sister, who is currently a merchant for such cozy decoration items at a craft shop local to her. First, there’s this cute wood black cat figure, made to match my own cat.
I allowed my cat to investigate it, just to see his opinion. His answer was:
And then, my sister gifted me this very fun bathroom item. I discovered I already had a nail in the wall near my guest bathroom toilet that was practically made for hanging up this little picture, and I was pleased.
Stickers and Cards
I tend to ask for stickers for my journals and commonplace books. The first pictured here was a set of quote stickers from Amazon. The second was some retro Atari stickers from my brother-in-law. I know he was cleaning out a stash in a back room and found them, so they might actually be retro. Unsure!
Final Fantasy Magic the Gathering card booster packs! I’ve wanted to buy a few of these since they released this year, but they’re expensive and difficult to find. Even my sister told me it was hard for her to find them. I got a few pretty cool cards from these, but now I need to get something to put them in as a display. (And maybe add a few packs to this collection just because.)
Gaming
First, a physical copy of Romancing Saga – Minstrel Song Remastered for the Nintendo Switch! My wishlist of physical Switch games is getting smaller and smaller as I focused heavily on ignoring the Switch 2 in favor of fleshing out my Switch 1 physical library in 2025. I still had a few wants on this list, and this was one of them!
I also got a Tamagotchi Angel from my wishlist. While I have been mostly focused on the Paradise lately, I do have the itch to try a more retro Tama, and this will be it. Looking forward to exploring one of the angel lines, and loved the design of this particular Tama!
What’s Christmas without some Gift Cards?! Two Steam gift cards and one Switch gift card, in fact.
I picked up the Grandia HD collection on the Switch, and on Steam, I bought Erenshor and Tiny Bookshop. I still have some Steam credit I expect to spend during this current Steam sale, but I’m waiting until the new year rolls over due to gaming stats (a post on that later).
I also was gifted three Steam games directly from Syn’s brother including: Expedition 33, Dokapon Kingdom Connect, and Metaphor ReFantazio! No, I didn’t expect this treasure trove, either.
While not a game, it’s directly related to gaming, so it fits in here. This was a hand-made FFXIV Azem enamel pin from Etsy that my brother-in-law bought me, with the idea that I’d be wearing it to FanFest this year. The summoning circles actually spin around the center Azem soul crystal, and it’s quite an impressive piece! The scrip reads: “Forge Ahead, Warriors of Light.”
Let’s go retro. Very retro.
Another gift from my brother-in-law who must have held on to this sealed, mint-in-box copy of the original Catz PC game! I used to love the old Catz series on PC, so I think this is going on my retro gaming shelf! I find it funny that it still has the sticker price from “Egghead Computer” for $19.93. It also still has the $5 mail-in rebate on it. Just perfect!
And, of course, the Steam Deck, which I wrote about here. So, I won’t belabor this. I will write another post about my thoughts on the Deck and all the things I’ve been able to do with it (emulation included)!
DVDs
I also focused on picking up a number of physical DVDs and BlueRays (even bought a new little DVD player during Black Friday sales) this year. I had several on my wishlist, including this one – Moody Blues Live at Red Rocks. This is an extremely sentimental concert for me as it was the show that introduced me to my life-long favorite band. But I realized while I had a copy of this in VHS (not a typo), didn’t have it on disc anywhere. I do now!
Books
This was the year of many books as gifts. I want to read more in 2026, and had several books on my Amazon list in response.
The first is The Stand by Stephen King – an author I have known all my life, but have read very little of. I found a list of books in the order one should read them to best break into Mr. King’s vast universe, and I’m starting with The Stand.
But holy cow, I did not expect it to be so thick! My hand here for size reference. This book could seriously hurt someone if thrown!
The family joke was that I had to finish reading The Stand before I could go home from vacation. That... did not happen.
The next book is the Mr. Ballen graphic novel Volume 2. Last year, I got Volume 1 from my sister. This year, she got me the follow up. She knows what I like. 😊
The next two books are art and inspiration books that I put on my list. I’m grouping them together because they fit together. The first is We Need Your Art.
The second is Making Comics.
Both are books I’m looking forward to exploring this year!
Speaking of books and art, here’s the final FFXIV Shadowbringers art book in the series – Among the Stars! I got the previous art book for last year, so I have almost all of the most recent ones. Love these books!
Last but certainly not least, the Brambletrek is a GM-less RPG set. I have been looking for something just like this in terms of solo RPGs, and it has adorable mice characters to boot! The book, character journal, and cards all look extremely professional and like they’re going to serve up a ton of fun. Really looking forward to learning this system and playing soon!
So, there you have it! This was my giftsmas this year. I’m so very grateful for all the fun things and excited by the opportunity to learn more, play more, and read more in 2026!