I thought this might be a good thread to start. I've gotten almost all my gear for Christmas, and this year my wife and I decided not to surprise each other so we went shopping today.

I got her a pair of Merrells. She's worn cheap shoes forever. Poor thing was getting so achey all over after spending decades in those silly shoes all day and she really had no idea what a difference good ones make. I think she'll have a hard time wanting to go back to her old shoes now, and I might even get her to do some trails with me too wink

She got me a new sleeping bag. After much poking around I decided on a Kelty Light Year 20 Degree Down Bag. (and I got good deal on it by clicking the Altrec.com link here). It's not high end but it looks like a good value. Backpackinglight.com gave a very similar, but slightly less costly, bag a pretty good review.

I've never had or used a down bag so I'm pretty excited to be getting one, and this one should work pretty good around here. On average we only have one about a month where the low temps fall into or below the low 20šs, so if it keeps me warm in the low 30šs I'll be a happy camper and I can carry my fleece liner if I get cold in the low 20šs with it.

It should be here in a couple days, and I had to postpone the trip Ulhiker and I are taking until next week so I will get my first chance to really use it on the 26th if the weather is decent. I'll post a review of it when I get back. Since I can only compare it what I've used, it won't be worth much, but I'll be honest about it.

I'm sure I'll be getting a couple more small gear items, and I'll mention them here when I get back from our trip, but the down bag sure gets me feeling like a kid on Christmas Day again laugh