As I was sitting this afternoon contemplating the rather uninspiring Christmas Eve I have ahead of me, there came a knock at my front door. The most unusual of occurrences, someone at my front door, sent me forth from the bedroom to investigate. No one was there when I got there, but a box was sitting right in front of the door, from someone with the initials MLL.

After staring at it blankly for a few moments, I finally realized this was one of the Christmas presents I’d ordered for myself a while back. It was, in fact, my very own pint glass from Keepsie’s Bar in Seventh City! I’d pre-ordered it a while back, and (as I expected) all but forgotten about it since then. I love being able to surprise even myself with gifts!

Inspired, when I got home from having Christmas Eve dinner with my daughter, I poured up a pint and sat down to listen to this year’s Christmas tale from Escape Pod. It’s become a tradition over there to send out a Christmas story from Mur Lafferty, and this one, “Citytalkers,” was every bit as good as I’d hoped. It was the perfect way to spend what would otherwise have been a long and uncomfortable night alone.

The glass itself, for those who are interested, is made 100% of new and improved AWESOME! It’s thick, high-quality glass, better than those I’ve been served in actual bars. Whether or not it’s dishwasher-safe is irrelevant to me, since I don’t have a dishwasher, but I can tell this is going to last through a great many uses over the years. And it’s just taken over from my regular beer mug as the only vessel from which I want to drink beer around the house.

Thank you, Mur, for the awesome stories and equally awesome merchandise! If I ever actually entertained, I’d want a full set of these for guests. As it is, I’m raising a pint to you and hoping your holidays are happy!