...a remote control Millenium Falcon!!! Fuck yeah! <a class="postlink" href="http://www.hammacher.com/Product/78895?promo=Toys-Games&catid=54" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.hammacher.com/Product/78895? ... s&catid=54</a> It's that time. Black Friday is next week, XM Radio has already put up the Christmas music channel, we just can't avoid it. Focus: What do you want for Christmas? What are you getting for others? Found any cool gift ideas you'd like to share? Alt Focus: Talk about your gift giving and receiving history. We don't care about socks and underwear from your mom... keep to the interesting and fucked up stuff. .
My mom still gives me underwear and socks every year. It's like she feels that the only way she can still be a caring mother is to ensure that I have clean underwear on when I'm rushed into the emergency room after a hideous car accident. (I said we don't care about that shit from YOUR mom... but MY mom is a totally different story). I tend to get a lot of clothes from my family, but 99% of it is stuff I'd never wear. They've finally learned that I like hooded sweats and stuff like that (I tend to keep my house a little chilly in the winter), but some of the other stuff is just god awful. The best gift I ever got was a gift certificate for 2 hours of flight time in a Harvard (known as a Texan in the US). I had a shit-eating grin on my face for a month. And tools. They always ask what I want, and when I send them links to the snap-on online store, they just don't get why it is that I need a 15 ft-lbs torque wrench or other nutty things. And gift certificates are always welcome... book stores, or Canadian Tire, or Home Depot. Lee Valley and Cabella's also have a special place in my heart. But really, it's to the point that if I want something, I'll buy it myself... Christmas is more about the time off work, spending time with family and friends, and cooking/drinking/eating like kings.
I mentioned this briefly in one of the WDT posts, so I thought I'd post a couple of pics here. This is a hand-made tractor and harvester that my grandfather made for my dad when he was really young. This was in the 1940's sometime, and my grandfather was running a cattle farm and a steam-powered sawmill. It was a time when you were self-sufficient as you could be, didn't throw anything away, and if you needed something or broke something, you made it or fixed it yourself. It actually runs (electric motor and battery), that was made out of Campbell's Soup and Coffee cans. My grandfather spent about a month making it in his spare time. Kind of makes me feel a little small when I buy that Chapters gift card. The tractor: The harvester:
I'm going to catch shit for this, but whatever... The wife and I have a tradition of no surprises. We're going to get half-baked and well-wrapped ideas from the rest of the family, so we ask each other what we want and then just do that. This year I had the option of either a nice gun case (my guns are currently in closets/on tables if I'm using them or think I may use them), or a big shed/workshop. I told her the gun case was just another excuse she could use for why we can have kids, so I'm getting the shed. ... And she's getting a luis vuitton purse. She never asks for shit like that, so once in a while is ok. Also it's our first Christmas married, or something like that. Wife gets what wife wants (except kids, yet).
My parents just bought me these: They're ridiculously comfortable for golf shoes, but I'd never spend $140 on them myself. Aside from that, I gave my brother and parents a laundry list of books I'd rather have in print than on Kindle, as well as a handheld vacuum and Gran Turismo 5. My list gets lamer every year, but I really want for very little. A couple years ago, I bought my parents a Wii, and they got me a coffee maker and a Food Saver. I buy myself most everything fun I'd like to own, so the utility gifts are perfect.
Best gift I ever got my Mom was this: For years she had a $10 Canadian Tire drip coffee thing that barely worked. I was given one of those by my credit card company, and absolutely love it. I was home last year for about 6 weeks to look after my dad after he had his heart surgery, and missed having the "push the button and wait 30 seconds while it grinds beans" caffienated goodness, so bought one for them. I say it was an early Christmas gift to my folks, but really, it was for me. At the time she couldn't figure out why she'd ever want or use one, but since then she's become quite addicted to it, and loves it. Almost more than me.
This year I'm getting a new ankle! Besides that, I don't really need much. I pretty much have everything I could want. My aunts always insist on some sort of list, though, so I just tell them that any useful gadgets for the apartment would be great. Also, more lululemon would be fantastic. It's all I wear to work. One year my great aunt painted various birds on rocks and gave them to everyone in the family. Is this art? My grandmother was an artist who actually sold her work. My great aunt has never been remotely artistic, but maybe she felt inspired to create. It felt like she had an Alzheimer's moment, forgot how to can jelly like she usually does, and just started painting rocks instead. Um, thanks. The sentiment was sweet and I appreciated the thought, but it was a little random and awkward. Of course, my mom thought it was the neatest present ever. Mine is still in a closet somewhere in my parents' house.
My wife told me Tonka was my combination birthday (Dec 4th) and Christmas gift, and I told her I was fine with that. Knowing her, she'll get me something else. I'm trying to figure out gifts for her, but it's tough. She is the most non-materialistic person ever, and would rather have something lame like a new bird feeder than a diamond bracelet. She blew her knee out in July doing karate, and is dying to go back, but won't be cleared til February. I'm probably going to get her a fancy embroidered gi top as one of her gifts, just as a little added inspiration for her to make it back. We have kids. Christmas is more for them than us, anyway. We're trying to find them the coolest stuff we can, but honestly, they have damn near anything a kid could want, so that's going to be tough, too. Add to it that I'm not working (full-time in school getting my Master's) and the Christmas budget sucks, anyway. Would rather the kids be happy than get more crap, ya know?
Shopping for me for Christmas is usually a breeze. I give everyone a list of DVDs (or Blu-Rays now), Video Games, and books, and let then get whatever they want for me off the list. If not, just get me a Best Buy gift card. My wife is slightly tougher, in as much as she likes clothes, so she usually gets gift cards to clothing stores. As for what we get others, the hardest guy on the planet to shop for is my father-in-law. He says he never wants anything, at all. My mother-in-law never knows what to get him, either. For the last few years, we've found the perfect gift for him. We've been buying toys and gifts and donating them to kids in a childrens' hospital (usually Riley's Childrens' Hospital in Indy). Long story short: A few years back, my wife lost her little brother to cancer. We literally spent Christmas Eve and Day at the hospital, and spent the nights at a Ronald McDonald house. Seeing kids in a hospital at Christmas is fucking awful. They're twice as depressed as usual. But, seeing them light up when they get a gift they weren't expecting was amazing. Every year we end up spending more and more on those gifts, and we always put it as from my brother-in-law. The past few years we do this in lieu of getting gifts for my father-in-law, and I've honestly never seen him happier at Christmas.
Alt-alt focus (I can do that because I started this thread, and because I rule): Is buying gift cards a shitty way of saying, "Honestly, I gotta get you something, and A) I don't give a fuck, B) I don't give a shit what you like, go get it yourself, and C) you just aren't worth my time or effort of getting a gift", or are gift cards a great way of saying, "Honestly, I love you, you're a great person, but rather than buying you something you would feel obligated to like, I would rather give you money to allow you the freedom to get something you really want"?
Gift cards rule. I hate the commercialization of the holiday, but if someone is going to feel like they really have to get me something I prefer gift cards so I can get something that I will like and use and not throw away in a couple of months.
The only gift I haven't thought about so far is getting my sister the first season of "Firefly." We got into a fight a couple months ago because she associates Nathan Fillion with his character from "Buffy" and refuses to admit that he is a very sexy man. I figure half-way through season one, she will be as in love with him as I am. Other than that, I always get my mom a candle, and my little brother some random toy because he's nine and doesn't give a shit. The only two gifts I have trouble with are my 18 year-old brother and my father. I know they will like whatever I get them, but they are both the emotionless silent type, so I never know if they really like the gift or not. My brother plays the guitar and reads comic books. My dad is Mensa smart, drinks tea every night, and smokes weed every weekend. Anyone have any ideas on what I can get these guys?
What about when you have a Secret Santa thing at work with like a $15 or $20 limit and someone pusses out and gets you a Dunkin Donuts (or equally lame) gift card?
Well of course that blows, and shows that whoever gave it was a dumbass and didn't get the concept. (Mind you, more than 1 HR person has been looking for me after gifting ben wah balls and other "inappropriate" gifts, but fuck them). My family, though, knows the stores I like to shop at, and will provide an appropriate gift card. I also live thousands of miles away, so gift cards are a bit easier to deal with for those years I'm not home for the holidays. That being said, every year my mom makes up a stocking full of little shit, all individually gift-wrapped, and sends it off to me so I can hang it over my fireplace. And my sister makes home-made chocolate macaroons and sends them. That's special as hell, and is alway appreciated.
I love gift cards. The truth is, most years a lot of the stuff I want is a few months away. For example, I am looking forward to the following games: DC Universe Online Batman: Arkham City Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Dragon Age 2 Infamous 2 Most of those are coming out in the first half of next year. A few Best Buy gift cards stashed away will buy me all of those games. As for my wife, she loves gift cards, too. She is really picky about her clothes, and it is easier for her to pick them out, so she LOVES getting gift cards to the clothing stores she likes. iTunes, PSN, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble... get me gift cards to those places, and I will absolutely find a use for them. Now, of course, there are shitty gift cards, too. Those Visa gift cards that charge you an extra dollar on whatever you buy are silly and show that the person has no idea where you like to shop (and hence knows nothing about you). McDonalds or Dunkin Donuts? Fuck that. Gift cards are great if they show that you know the person well enough to know where they shop and what they like.
My Grandma always used to send me a lot of lefse, which is a Norwegian sugar-butter-cinnamon cookie type of thing. I haven't had them in forever since she passed away, and they were the highlight of Christmas for me for 20+ years. I'd give just about anything to get those again for Christmas.
Im not really asking for much this year, because I really dont need anything. All Im really asking for is a new set of winter work clothes (Tough Duck is where it at, fuck Carhartt): and My for my dad Im renewing his subscription to the OFAH and buying him a $100 gift card to Bass Pro. My mom on the other had is so hard to shop for, anything she wants she usually goes out and gets. One thing she wants is new floor vents for the house, which is retarded, but well see how it goes. Worst comes to worst, RONA gift card.
This: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area51-alx/pd?refid=alienware-area-51-alx&~ck=mn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-area ... alx&~ck=mn</a> I've wanted to buy a new desk-top [specifically an Alienware] for over 5 years now. In that time I've moved across the country several times and lived in four different states, so I've relied on two different laptops the whole time. Now that I'm pretty permanently situated [at least for the next three or four foreseeable years], I've been researching exactly what I want from them. The girlfriend and I are giving each other the gift of a new couch, as she hates our current one, and some small stairs for our Yorkie to get up onto my girlfriend's lap whenever he so desires, like our Huskeranian already does [Husky/Pom mix]. My Dad I got some awesome Sennheiser wireless headphones, my older brother I got an entire book series for [specifics redacted as I just remembered he reads this board at times], my younger brother I got a small, socially oriented, electronic poker machine so he can learn the game and play with friends [trying to get him OFF his computer/Xbox], my mom we found something unique and pretty and decorative, my cousins are getting a purse hang thing for restaurants/bartops, her husband is getting some rare bottles of whiskey in rare vintage tins, my other little cousins are getting a puzzle and a video game.