Virago Secret Santa 2018: Opening!

Many of us like to wait for Christmas day but, because I know that others may be eager to open their gifts or may be travelling over the holiday period, I declare this opening thread open for business!

Let the festivities begin!

Whoo hoo! As is traditional, I'm going to open mine on Christmas morning, the only one I'll do before we head off for volunteering then family festivities. Happy opening, everyone!

Thanks Jane! I’ll open mine on Christmas morning too! So exciting- can’t wait!

In past years I've opened my gifts as early as possible. But with more of the group holding off until Christmas day, I am trying to exercise restraint. My gifts are singing their siren song and I'm holding off as long as I can but am thinking I might open mine on Christmas Eve.

Missing all the fun this year. Canada Post decided to strike right at Christmas mailing time, so Santa would not have arrived in time to treat his Santee, no matter how much Mrs Claus might help. Merry Christmas and happy unwrapping to you all, and much green (and grey) to come in the New Year.

Then I'll be first to post because I'm heading off on vacation and won't be back with free Wi-Fi until the 3rd of January.

Kaggsy (Karen), one of our wonderful VSS elves, was my VSS secret Santa (and for the second time my Santa was the same as my Santee - how cool is that!).

So many goodies!

The books:
Desperate Characters
Olivia
To the North and
Mrs. Dalloway

The extras:
Dark chocolate coins, muffin bookplates, London Christmas tree ornaments, and a beautiful unlined notebook with the cover of the Virago Classic version of Barbara Pym's Excellent Women.

Thank you so much dear Karen!

Hurrah! So pleased you liked them Lisa! I had such fun choosing - that’s a big part of the fun with VSS! 😁😁😁📚📚📚🎄🎄🎄

I will also be travelling and will only be able to bring the smaller of my two packages for opening on the proper day (that is of course the 24th as anyone in Scandinavia will tell you...).

I had planned to save the other package for my return but I've had a somewhat rough week and decided to start early. I'm glad I did because now I get to enjoy South Riding by Winifred Holtby on my travel! Both the novel and author are new to me but it looks really promising. Thank you so much Laura for the book and the lovely card! I would have loved it at any time but tonight I really needed it.

>8 alvaret: Oh hurray! I'm very happy that the Virago Secret Santa brought joy to a difficult week. I hope you enjoy South Riding as much as I did -- as I mentioned in the card, it's one of my favorite VMCs and much-loved by others in this group as well.

Safe travels, and enjoy your holiday.

>6 LisaMorr: >8 alvaret: Your Santas have great taste. I can see some of my favourite books up there.

>7 kaggsy: Looking at the card, I'm guessing you're a papergang subscriber too?!

I'll be saving til Christmas Day but very excited about them!

>10 Soupdragon: Oh yes... I love them to bits! 🤣🤣

My parcels are sitting under my tree awaiting for Christmas Day!

It is Christmas Eve and as I wanted to open my second VSS package in private I sneaked away to open it in the afternoon calm rather than wait for the primary gift exchange in the evening. I was very pleased to find Good Behaviour by Molly Keane in the package, a book I've heard about but not read.

I'm already 80% through my first gift, South Riding, and really enjoying it so far, so I trust that I will like Good Behaviour too, thanks a lot Laura! I hoped to get introduced to some novels and authors I might not have read on my own so I'm very happy with my books!

God Jul!

>14 alvaret: This makes me so happy. When you posted your "Letter to Santa" and I saw that you were new to Virago reading & collecting, I thought what better way to recognize that than to send two of my very favorite VMCs. I'm glad you're enjoying South Riding.

My Secret Santa was the lovely Dee (Soupdragon).


First of all, my husband couldn't stop oohing and aahing over the gift wrap which is very pretty indeed but eventually I had to remind him there were other treasures hidden within.



In the center, 200 Fair Isle Designs, a knitting book from my wish list which I am very excited to explore. And surrounding this, Spiderweb by Penelope Lively, The First Person and Other Stories by Ali Smith, Christmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell, and The Ponder Heart, by Eudora Welty -- all books by favorite authors which I am very happy to add to my TBR pile.

Thank you so much, Dee!

>16 lauralkeet: You are so welcome, Laura. I'm glad you are pleased with them - and that "Mr Keet" appreciated the paper :-)

My parcels are sitting prettily under the tree waiting to be opened tomorrow.

(Ack! Trying to post my pics here but no luck!) My VSS is the lovely Jane and what a glorious package she sent! A Virago green spine that I didn't have, Elizabeth von Arnim's Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther; Tirzah Garwood's autiobiography Long Live Great Bardfield, a beautiful Persephone edition; Anthony Trollop's collection of stories Malachi's Cove; a new (to me) author A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood; Diving Belles by Lucy Wood and a perfectly Christmassy book, Angela Thirkell's Christmas at High Rising. In each book was a lovely postcard of Cornish Daffodils with a lovely note. Several of the books and, of course the cards, focus on Cornwall which has been my interest lately and that Jane so perceptively picked up on. Thank you so much, dear Jane! A very Happy Christmas to everyone! 🎄✨📚💚

Thank you to I assume dear blueroses >18 bleuroses: for my lovely four parcels of Angela Thirkells. Hooray! I love the Virago reissues and had recently been bemoaning that I hadn't read one for a while, then there they are! I have ...

Before Lunch
Marling Hall
Northbridge Rectory and
Miss Bunting

I always open my Virago NSS first, before I go off to my husband's family's for lunch - today I am Poorly (Just a cold, but with three septuagerians, one with a recent Alzheimer's diagnosis and one octogenerian who tends to get things onto his chest I wasn't risking going over) so we got these opened and cooed over before husband went off to eat turkey.

Thank you so much! What treats!

My Santa has remained anonymous, and sent some lovely books and gifts. The books:

The King's General by Daphne du Maurier
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
Thanks Heaven Fasting by E M Delafield

And a lovely Persuasion mug in the Penguin mug range, some soap, some yummy looking chocolate - and some Dreamies for Hargreaves too!

Thank you Santa :)

(I've put touchstones in but on my phone, so not sure if they'll work)

My wonderful Santa turned out to be LisaMorr, for whom I was also Santa - what fun! And Lisa spoiled me with some beautiful treats! Bookwise I have:

Phoebe Junior
Miss Marjoribanks
Dimanche

All of which were on my wishlist. Plus a beautiful hardback copy of Golden Hill which sounds fascinating!

As well as those lovely bookish treats, Lisa also sent a lovely CD set called Music for Book Lovers. I plan for a relaxing rest of the holiday period enjoying both - thank you *so* much Lisa! 😁😁😁❤️❤️❤️

(I’ll try to post images tomorrow!)

Yes, it was me Liz and I apologize for the lack of card! I was happy to have you for my VSS this year - and pleased to add to your Thirkell collection. There was another parcel in addition to the books - I'm hoping you received it?

Kerry (CDvicarage) sent me an absolutely magical package, I don't think it could have been more perfect.

From the top of my wishlist, a beautiful hardback edition of Bookworm by Lucy Mangan. And so elusive I'd pretty much given up on them, books 3 and 4 from Antonia Forest's Marlow school stories: The Cricket Term and -The Attic Term.

Plus some gorgeous extra treats: chocolate coins, a selection of Green and Black's organic chocolate and some "posh" ginger tea. And a Santa themed spatula which Mr Dragon will use on the traditional Boxing Day scrambled eggs tomorrow!

Thank you so much, Kerry. It's almost spooky how perfect your selections were 😊

Thank you Liz for my lovely VSS parcel. I received: gorgeous original green Vmcs of

I'm not complaining by Ruth Adam
The Little Ottleys by Ada Leverson
And a modern VMC of
The Birds and other stories by Daphne Du Maurier
I also got some gorgeous Christmas tea. 😊

Can't work out how to post photos despite finding the help thread. Photo of my lovely gift on Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br00gmKnzi0/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=9t...

>23 Soupdragon: Delighted (and relieved) to have met your wishes!

I received a lovely selection of books from Johanna/Alvaret, with thoughtful comments in them and a gorgeous hand-woven ribbon around the parcel - your own work, Johanna?

I've had a wonderful time getting vicarious pleasure from all these thoughtful and much-desired gifts. Merry Christmas, dear fellow Viragoes!!!

>25 CDVicarage: I hope you'll enjoy them, I had a lot of fun exploring your LT libraries for ideas (and the one that claims to be a thriller really isn't)! The band is my work, I'm afraid it is a very early and wobbly effort, but the packages needed some colour so I hoped you wouldn't mind.

You should receive a book from one of your more local publishers too, I hope it has my name on it somewhere but I'm not sure.

It's so lovely to see all the wonderful books which have been winging their way all over the place. I really do think our VSS is the loveliest tradition.

I have managed to put a post on my blog about Christmas arrivals which includes a picture of my VSS from Lisa - thank you again Lisa! Here goes at inserting a picture:



If that doesn't work, my post is here:

https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2018/12/26/its-december-so-that-me...

I'm delighted with my gifts.

Two green Viragos:

Clash By Ellen Wilkinson
Where the Apple Ripens by Jessie Kesson

The first I left behind in a charity shop one day, and I came to regret that because I never came across another copy; and the second I loved when I read a library copy, many years ago, and have always wanted to own and read again.

AND

The Element of Lavishness - forty years of letters between Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell

I love STW's writing - there is a glorious thank you letter from her in my Christmas blog post here - and I have heard great things about Maxwell but never read any of his work - so this was a perfect choice.

Thank you, Santa!

(I think you're Simon, but I'm not sure.)

>18 bleuroses: I had enough ideas to fill a shipping crate, so I'm glad you like the look of the books I finally chose!

You guessed correctly, Jane :) It was a particularly lovely privilege to buy The Element of Lavishness for someone who is likely to enjoy it as much as I do!

And yes, I received my beautiful mug too but it had been put in a different place from the book parcels! I will try to get a nice photo and link to it (ha - try!). Thank you!

It was me, Simon.
Thought you may have guessed from the Cornish goodies and the book from Daphne?

Thank you so very much Alison for the wonderful parcel you sent me.

Books;

Fenny by Lettice Cooper
The Blush by Elizabeth Taylor, both original green virago's.

National Provincial by Lettice Cooper in the gorgeous Persephone edition.

Christmas Stories by Noel Streatfield.

Also included , a cute little tin of Christmas tea and chocolates.

Pleased with all, thank you Santa.

You were my guess, once I went back and read the list of Santas :)

>34 Cornishgirl: it was my pleasure to buy for you Mary. I so enjoyed Fenny and The Blush myself. I'm glad you like what I chose. Happy reading.

>21 kaggsy:,>28 kaggsy: I’m so glad you liked! It was so neat to be the Santa and recipient!

So lovely to see the generosity of this group; the Virago Secret Santa is so special!

>37 LisaMorr: It was cool that we got each other, wasn’t it? And yes - this is a very special group and the VSS is such fund!