Well, it's that time of year... Time to go out and spend a lot of time and money basically guessing what the fuck people want for Christmas. Me, I want a soprano saxophone. Problem is, they are pretty pricey, so I probably won't be getting one for a while. I also want the bad ass 8 panel Olympic volleyball that Mikasa made, and for my wife to walk around in an "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit. I've done some shopping for the kids, Transformers, nerf revolving dart guns, that kind of thing, but honestly, my kids have so many toys I don't know what else to get them. They are only 7 and 5, so luckily there's no Xbox/PS/Wii shit, although I wouldn't put it past my parents to send them a Wii to drive us nuts. FOCUS: What do YOU want for Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate sometime in December? ALT-FOCUS: What are you getting for others, so that maybe someone on the board can shamelessly copy your idea?
Peet boot dryers and bottles of scotch. That's about as far as I've gotten. The thing is that I don't need anything or want anything that would be reasonable to ask for. At this point, I'm real easy to shop for. Just cut a check and write my name on it.
I really want one of those fancy tree climbing deer stands. I don't think anyone will splurge that much on me though. My birthday is in two weeks and I think Ill just ask for tickets to the UC game that night.
Call me crazy, but I just want underwear and socks. Even as old as I am, I have no doubt that Mom will come through yet again.
I was disappointed that I didn't get any socks on my birthday. When I am rich I will buy a pair of socks for everyday of the year. Scotch. All I want is scotch. And bourbon. Oh, and a Dosimeter
Chipotle Gift Cards, Cash, and possibly this: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=12548164
I want to see Santa kill every single prothonotary warbler in existence, and put them all in my stocking so I can feed them to Tex like popcorn. I'm probably only going to get this though, which is just as good. I just hope that Santa doesn't bring any White Russian Egg Nog to my house again this year. After a half gallon of that stuff, I spent last Christmas Eve running down my brother's street in the middle of the night yelling "PAAAAAAARTY!" when I was supposed to be helping put together the nephews' new trampoline.
I want new windshield wipers, installed. Also need a new flat iron and electric skillet. And best of all, I want to see Blue Dog running down the street on Christmas, drunk yelling "PAAAAAAARTY!" Actually I want to see when he trips and falls more than the rest but I'd settle I suppose.
It would be a more interesting story if you were naked. Focus: I've hinted that I want a kayak. Or a really really nice digital camera. My family swears that I'm the hardest person to buy for but I think that's just silly. Realistically, I'll ask for a new laptop battery, some perfume and a nice sized gift card from Sephora. Alt focus: I make a lot of the gifts that I give. I make bath products like body scrubs, oils and soaks with essential oils instead of buying them. Mine smell and work better and are a lot cheaper. People like that I made them myself and that there aren't any chemicals in my products. For my friend's kids, I do a lot of keepsake type gifts. It doesn't mean a lot to them now, but it does to their parents and hopefully someday it will to them. (For example, my best friend's little girl is three and I started a charm bracelet for her two years ago... I add to it each year & for her birthday added a necklace) I also frequently buy kids books & parents seem to appreciate that instead of toys. I personalize damn near everything too... from monogrammed blankets & totes to labels (and scents) on my products to handwritten notes inside book covers. It just shows that you took that little bit of extra time and effort to make it special.
I need a waterproof digital camera. I've spilled too much blood to not document it. I also need to get a laptop repaired.
New couches for the living room. I don't want or need anything from my family/friends, but my GF and I are getting new couches as our present to each other because we desperately need them. I am so excited about them, it's lame. Last year my family starting making each other Christmas presents and it was a huge hit. Money was tight for everyone and it just made sense to take the stress off of everyone. I have 3 sisters and a brother and now there are in laws and kids to add to the mix - so we are continuing the tradition. It can be a pain to think of something, but everyone appreciates the thought and effort so much more than just buying gift cards.
Focus: This is terribly pathetic, but I want new throw blankets for the living room. We had the most ridiculously comfortable blankets EVER, but earlier this year, our diarrhea-laden puppy shat all over them. They could not be salvaged. My parents had given them to me several years ago, but unfortunately, the company that made them is no longer in existence. They were the kind of blankets that the minute you put your head to them, you were out for the count. Alt-Focus: I grew up with dogs and it has always been a family tradition to have a portrait sketched of each of our dogs. Our last family dog, Hoosier, passed away back in June, and his portrait will probably be the last one to grace my parents' mantel. My fiancee and I got a puppy earlier this year, so to carry on the tradition, I've found a local artist to sketch a portrait of our first dog.
I'd really like a new stereo system for my truck since I dropped $5k into the truck this year and will be holding onto it for a while. But since I dropped $5k on the truck already this year, this is a luxury I'll pass on. (The big expense in doing this is, you have to buy some part to modify the wire harness which adds about $400 to whatever stereo you choose.) As for gifts for others, I'm putting my wife and my mother on separate flights to NJ. I'm hoping only one of them decides to return. As for the kids, no clue. That's the wife's department. Though I did get my oldest daughter an embroidered Ed Hardy black hoodie off the clearance rack at Marshall's for only $39 (msrp $195--who pays that for a sweatshirt?)
If my parents ask me what I want for Christmas, I will without hesitation tell them that I want Busch Garden and Water Country season passes for me and my daughter so that the only money being extorted from us by those bastions of awesomeness will be for food, beverage, and maybe some overpriced piece of fabric or plastic if my daughter whines hard enough and I've been overcome by the giddiness of the freaking good time I'm having.
I have that beat, I'm hoping for a ladder. We've been in our house for over a year now and we've been using hand me downs of everything since we were getting married and figured a lot of that stuff would be good gifts. One of those hand me downs was my dad's old ladder that has to be 15 years old at least. It's a piece of shit wooden one that my wife has to hold whenever I climb on it. It's too short for our roof too so when I have to get up there I have to pull myself up using a pipe. I'm just cheap enough though that since it still works I won't buy a new one, but I bitch everytime I need to get up on the roof. As far as gifts, I'm excited to get my nephew his first real remote control truck. He's 5 1/2 now so he should really love it. I won't get him a pussy one like that Radio Shack ones I got when I was around his age. I'm going to find the coolest looking one that I think he can handle. Just sucks we live in Wisconsin so it'll basically sit there for about 4 months before he can take it outside.
My Christmas gift is getting to spend almost two weeks in the winter wonderland that is my hometown (it's in Ohio). My family is flying me home because I'm uber-broke, and I couldn't be more excited. I haven't seen snow or spent a Christmas with anything resembling family in three years. I know it's hard to believe, but it's pretty depressing spending Christmas drinking beer and eating pizza with a couple buddies in 80 degree heat (well, after the first one). I'd much rather curl up inside drinking Christmas appropriate drinks and eating Christmas appropriate foods and spend time with family, while A Christmas Story plays on the TV for 24 straight mother fucking hours. C+?!?!?! WAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! Seriously, who else in the world would leave Hawaii to spend Christmas vacation in Ohio? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Let's just hope I don't get arrested like my last trip home, where the idiot cops cut up my driver's license because they couldn't fathom that someone in the world would have a Hawaii id and presumed it fake, all the while saying, your lucky we don't keep this as evidence.
Several years ago when my siblings and myself got to the age where we starting procreating we decided that it would be best (more economic) to stop buying each other Christmas gifts and only buy for the kids. The rules were simple. Less than $20 per kid and no clothes. Nothing sucks more for a kid than getting new clothes for Christmas, so we vowed not to do that to each others kids. As mature adults we quickly realized the potential for this new arrangement. "So you got my 3 year old a finger paint set that she can smear all over my house? Just wait till next year mutherfucker! It's on!" I am currently the reigning winner for my exquisite choice of a bucket of 1000 legos last year. Knowing that my brother has been pulling those little pieces out of the couch and stepping on them in the dark all year long is the gift that keeps on giving.
I just really want some new socks. All of mine are to the point that they have holes or are so thin in places that they almost have holes. I never think to buy them for myself. Oh, and a massage if someone is feeling generous. My husband is buying me a plane ticket to St. Louis for a concert I'm going to in April. I'm getting my husband a couple flight lessons. He has taken 3 or 4 hour-long flight lessons so far and wants to get his pilot's license (for some reason?), and the lessons are pretty pricey.