I absolutely hate the tradition of exchanging gifts for Christmas, but my family takes it very seriously, so I'm stuck with another year of trying to come up with thoughtful gifts for people I only see a couple of dozen days a year that they haven't already bought for themselves. Given the general supply chain clusterfuck and the fact that you cannot seem to buy anything in a brick and mortar store anymore, I suppose I should get my shopping started now. So far, I've ordered these for my brothers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0789T2JQG https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EO2MY3G Focus: Christmas gifts you're getting for loved ones, or interesting gifts you would give if only you knew someone who would enjoy them. Alt. Focus: Awesome gifts that you have received
Now that were on the cusp of real Thanksgiving, I'll bump this. Clutch, you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting this in early October. Go stand in the corner and think about what you did. For Christmas, we're all chipped in to fly my sister and her family back from Hawaii for the holidays. Haven't seen her in 2.5 years, so it will be nice to have us all together. I'm sure my mom will want to do some Secret Santa nonsense, so I'll be buying a $100 gift card on top of it. Bump.
After the full shutdown from last year, I think we're all just excited to see each other as a big group again. We traditionally have an open house at one aunt's place on the 24th, an immediate family dinner on the 25th and then a big sit-down extended family dinner on the 26th. This year, it sounds like it's gonna be the big dinner on the 24th so I may have all my cousins over for a Georgia candied ham on the 26th. My dad couldn't give less of a fuck about Christmas, and my mom and I agree that we don't need anything. The only thing I have asked for is socks. As many socks as my mom wants to buy. The puppy and Rodney like to dig through the hamper and find socks, then play tug-of-war with them, so I've really burned through all mine in the last twelve months. I'm hopeful that she comes through and restocks me because it's getting desperate.
'Tis NOT the season yet, Clutch. We haven't even had a Thanksgiving thread yet. And you approved this, Juice? What the hell. The older I get, the more sick of Christmas I get. I'm not talking about apathy, I mean I'm actually starting to hate the holiday. I can only imagine what it's like for Jungle Julia; all of her students are wanting to play Christmas shit. With that said, I'll be making my custom Christmas cards again this year. JJ is getting a sewing machine, and Li'l Bandit will either be getting a multimeter or an electric impact wrench. Bah humbug, idiots.
We usually do one really good gift for each of the people we are buying gifts for. Both sets of parents this year are going to be getting a commissioned art piece. Found a good artist to do a couple 8x10's on canvas for about $100 bucks a piece. Got the kids custom made Pokémon cards. Went onto Fiverr, had someone sketch their pets into cartoon animals and then went on etsy where some guy makes the actual cards. 3 holographic cards and $100 bucks later and the kids are all set. Sister in laws are getting a really nice sour dough bread making book and the scouring knife to cut patterns in the top. Brother in law is getting a BBQ kit with a family crest branding iron to brand their steaks. Fiancé is going back to Australia for a month for the holidays so we decided in lieu of gifts, we are going to spend a nice weekend in NYC when she gets back. Going to see Billy Joel at the Garden and go to one of the Michelin star restaurants for fancy dinner.
Wanting to get my son an airsoft gun for Xmas and of course myself one as well. We’re on a ranch, with plenty of woods and trails and dry creek beds and places to have fun and me get injured playing. The last time I looked at any kind of airsoft anything was when it was first coming out and paintball was still king of the hill. can anyone point me in the right direction?
The most fun part of Airsoft is watching the YouTube videos of grown men flipping out when they “killed” early in a match.
and also not ideal to shoot at each other/relatives There’s enough cousins and dads to get at least a 5 on 5 game going
the other advantage airsoft has is that it doesn’t require Co2 refills, which can be an issue if you’re a good half hour away at least from the nearest place. And I prefer to not get paint everywhere and on everything, whereas biodegradable airsoft “pellets” are much easier. No one is gonna lie when you start lighting them up
Aaaaand I just finished my Christmas shopping. Jungle Julia is getting the Singer Simple (TM) sewing machine that she's wanted for years, and Li'l Bandit is getting a Milwaukee Fuel M18 3/8" shorty impact wrench set. Checkmate, idiots.
I, too, just finished my xmas shopping. Last month I got my sister and BIL a PS5 (friend at work hooked me up), because my sister is a huge Ratchet and Clank fan... and didn't realize they've been waiting all this time to try and get one. That's their gift, that I've already given them, but unknown to them, today I also picked up an Oculus Quest 2 and a few VR PS4 games (that play on the PS5). For my mom, I got her a custom made xmas sweater with some amazing wool that she's been thinking of buying but is hesitant due to the cost. A few close friends got some bottles of nice booze, and the only kids I know (teenagers of good family friends), I got them an advanced arduino kit and a Lego Technics (the D-11).
I have been purposefully avoiding buying stuff from Amazon. I bought some cheapo toddler stocking stuffer from a 3rd party on the Walmart site. It was literally purchased as a "gift" on Amazon and shipped to me in Amazon prime packaging.
I wanted to get our sons girlfriend a nice Carharrt hoodie and good fucking luck finding one in many sizes and colors. The one I eventually ordered was more expensive and still arrived in the wrong color. Being a men’s shirt, we’ll give it to our son. I did manage to find her a nice sweatshirt locally, but even that wasn’t easy. Every year it gets harder and harder to shop for my parents. I got Dad a beekeeping book and then will probably get him a gift card to the local artisan meat market. Maybe I’ll just buy the steaks and gift wrap them.
I have a solution. Stop doing presents. my family stopped doing them for everyone but the kids. Holiday get together a are much better now. And we don’t have to spend time buying shit no one wants.
We reached that phase as well. My brothers started it a few years ago when they started giving each other "cancellation of Christmas debt" to each other, and then last year when we didn't gather due to the pandemic, we asked if it was worth shipping each other amazon gifts and no one thought that was a worthy use of time or effort.
My extended family just does a white elephant, but everything has to be consumable, so it’s usually a variety of booze and unusual snacks. We are gradually entering in to no gift pacts with other family members to decrease the amount of buying and stuff. I think I might start a new registry for baby presents though since everyone keeps asking what to buy the new small human. I tell them he’s too young to understand and they should wait until later to try and buy his love but they don’t listen.