Christmas presents

[jim]

I got nothin' and liked it.

We just don't do Christmas presents, even with the kids it's getting to the point where they basically tell us what we want. This year with the youngest he actually went to the store to buy them with us to make sure we got the right thing (Dr. Dre Beats studio headphones). The only surprise was he couldn't decide between the silver and red, so we said turn your back and we will pick the color and that will be your surprise xmas morning. Xmas morning comes, he opens them up, and ..... drum roll please .... WHITE! We even [expletive] that up! Couldn't even get the right god damned color.

Turns out he likes the white but hell we can't do anything right with xmas.

edit ... technically not true that I got nothing, I got tix to see Book of Mormon but we were going to get them anyway. My wife wanted me to pick out learn Spanish in your car CD set so I did that and wrapped it. And my parents always come through with cash, and it's a pretty significant amount and greatly appreciated. But it's not a surprise, we know it's coming. We also got the giant mega box of Hickory Farms crap from my wife's aunt. What the dog won't eat goes in the garbage. Nice gesture though but I wish she would stop.

[Radbird]

We got a ball of Wisconsin cheese glop, similar to cheese whiz from one sister- one taste and in the trashcan (horrid stuff), 8 boxes of Fannie Mae chocolates from another - we're giving them away unopened to our church office, post office, neighbors, whoever - last thing we need after overeating during the holidays, and some marinades from the third sister which we'll actually use (can't wait to try out the mango ginger habanero one).

Sister-in-law sent me a Wisconsin Rose Bowl t-shirt and an Ireland mouse pad from the Dollar Store. One out of two ain't bad.

[JackofDiamonds]

Mixed bag this year. I'm in a weird age/life bracket for gifting. At 28, I'm not a kid and don't expect big (or any) presents from my Mom and Dad, let alone from my fiancee's parents. We were in CT for Christmas and her step-mother is very sweet and generous (she knitted a nice cashmere scarf for me last year), but she bought me some weird gifts. I'm 6' and 190lbs, and she bought me pajama pants and a skiing base layer, both in smalls. Also a solar-powered/hand crank radio? To top it off, the "big" gift was some really ugly, but probably very expensive, monogrammed stationary. What do you do besides smile and sya thank you? They didn't need to buy me anything, they were incredibly generous to get me anything, but we would have all been better off if they gave me nothing, or a gift card. The fiancee felt bad enough that even though we said we weren't getting each other gifts (but come on, I just gave her an engagement ring, I was still hoping for a gift) she bought me an Apple TV.

Then my parents sent me a box with a fruit-of-the-month club and a custom shirt certificate from Blank Label and gave my fiancee a really nice pair of shoes. Boom, nailed it. My parents win.

Christmas is a contest, right?

[jim]

Then my parents sent me a box with a fruit-of-the-month club ....

It's the gift that just keeps on giving all year 'round.

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[jim]

We got a ball of Wisconsin cheese glop, similar to cheese whiz from one sister- one taste and in the trashcan (horrid stuff), 8 boxes of Fannie Mae chocolates from another - we're giving them away unopened to our church office, post office, neighbors, whoever - last thing we need after overeating during the holidays, and some marinades from the third sister which we'll actually use (can't wait to try out the mango ginger habanero one).

Sister-in-law sent me a Wisconsin Rose Bowl t-shirt and an Ireland mouse pad from the Dollar Store. One out of two ain't bad.

My wife's aunt is from Wisconsin. They love to eat crap up there. Good thing the beer is good to wash it down, because except for 7 year old aged cheddar Wisconsin food absolutely sucks.

[JackofDiamonds]

Then my parents sent me a box with a fruit-of-the-month club ....

It's the gift that just keeps on giving all year 'round.

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Jokes aside, it's [expletive] awesome. A box of the best fresh fruit sent to me every month? I just got a box of the best pears I've ever eaten.

[jim]

How many chemicals do they have to pump in that fruit to get it to survive being mailed to somebody's house?

[JackofDiamonds]

How many chemicals do they have to pump in that fruit to get it to survive being mailed to somebody's house?

It's 2012. That [expletive] is packed and priority mailed overnight.

[cardinalkarp]

My wife had this really cool Cardinals blanket made for me. It was made from a bunch of my old Cardinal t-shirts that had either shrunk, faded a bit, or had holes. Shirts date back to 04' through a couple recent ones. Pretty cool, and different gift.

[sighyoung]

I got some nice gifts--my daughter decorated a Christmas plate for me, and got it fired at a local stoneware maker. I also got a Samsung Galaxy player, which lets me play around with something to see if I want an Android smartphone later on. And my wife got me a NY Times cookbook, so I get the hint.

I will say, though, that my new sister-in-law got some really crappy presents for my kids. Nobody even expected a present from her, so I'm glad she got something, but sheesh . . . She got my son a hat and gloves that would fit a three year old, and he's fifteen. She got a snap purse for my daughter at a dollar store, and a zipper inside it broke off instantly. It is so cheap you can smell the sweat of third-world slave labor as soon as you open it, and it seems so carcinogen-laden that the EPA will declare it a Superfund clean-up site in June. A card would have sufficed, so I don't get it. The kids will write thank-you notes, and are usually very appreciative, but it's hard to blame them for chuckling. Last year, my sister-in-law bought my daughter an umbrella.

Was that the year of that Rihanna song? Is so, she probably just assumed all the kids wanted umbrellas.

It was the year of Rihanna's bonus track, "Gonna Send My Niece Cheaply Made Freebies I Picked Up From My Workplace" featuring Suze Orman.