Best presents you got, best you gave, duds, feelings Christmas

[BusynMember]

This is just kind of a fun thread, I hope.

My best gift was an AWESOME coffee maker than actually makes HOT coffee (not lukewarm), doesn't spill and also has the option of a K-cup. Thank you, husband.

Biggest hit presents for others were photo mugs for hubby, Julie and her SO. For hubby it was a coffee mug with a collage of the family plus dogs For my daughter and sister in law I gave them coffee mugs that were smaller without tops on them and they both had a picture of my granddaughter on them.

I had an unusually GOOD, warm and cozy Christmas both in Wisconsin with our foresome and when we visited my daughter, SO and grandbaby in Chicago. I didn't want to leave. I cried and hugged her and the baby. When I got home, Jumper had to go right back to college for basketball practice (most kids don't go back until Jan. 3rd). I cried and hugged her.

Not all of my holidays through the years have been so hot, but lately they have been. I think this was the happiness I have been during the time and the saddest when it was over. What about you?

 

[dstc_99]

Lets see my favorite was a Seattle Seahawks jersey from husband. The close second was from my best friends daughter who is 7. She got me a University of Kentucky Cheerleader Barbie.

The dud was the diamond cross from my parents. It's not that it isn't pretty it is just that they have now given me three of them in about 6 years. Since my dad owns a jewelry store and tracks all sales to customers with pictures you would think he could at least pull my file and see the crosses. I think it just makes me sad he can't take the time to think about what I would like. I don't even attend church anymore.

The biggest hits were to my mother in law who absolutely loved her trip out here to visit and her sweatshirt with the kids names on it.

 

[KTMom91]

We had a really nice Christmas, with Miss KT and her hubby here. Since her hubby had never been to San Francisco, we gave the kids money for Christmas for them to spend up there. They had a great time, got Hard Rock Café shirts and crazy socks.

I got Hubby a personalized license plate. He's wanted one for quite some time, but could never decide what he wanted on it. Once he finally decided, I ordered it. It came in yesterday, but he was still happy to have even if the State of CA was late in getting it here.

Hubby got me five golden rings, like the song. They're beautiful and I love them.

It was fun watching the grands open their presents this year, since Maddie is 4 and knows all about Christmas. Charlie, almost 2, took a little longer to get the idea, but she was right in there when she caught on.

No duds this year!

 

[Wiped Out]

We had a small but nice Christmas. Mine was full of clothes (which I desperately needed). I think husband's favorite is a toss up between the blue tooth headphones or the blue tooth speaker we gave him (along with his Michigan jacket. difficult child's favorite was actually from easy child/difficult child. She bought him a version of Sega games from the 80s-he loves it. easy child/difficult child loved the moccasins we gave her but then made the mistake of wearing them to work-ouch!

I think my favorite present is that there was no fighting on Christmas between easy child/difficult child and difficult child, and that difficult child was calmer than he has ever been on Christmas-he had a few moments but they were relatively mild.

 

[Tanya M]

I had a visit from Christmas past. 20 years ago on Christmas morning I noticed a new santa head ornament on our tree. husband told me to look at it. It's actually a ring box and held a beautiful ruby ring. This Christmas after husband and I opened our gifts he say's to me "there's one more" I look under the tree and don't see anything else, he say's "it's right in front of you". As I turned to look at the tree all I see is the santa head ornament. I look at my husband and ask "is there something in there", he say's "open it and find out" Inside was a beautiful turquoise ring.

My other favorite treasure was a video of my grandchildren opening the gifts I sent them. Next best thing since I couldn't be with them. Darn those 2000 miles that separate us.

 

[AnnieO]

I got some nice stuff including a new pressure cooker and canning supplies... But my absolute favorite was watching husband open his main two gifts. One was a handmade knife sheath with the USMC emblem and his initials, with a Leatherman to go in it. The other was his old jean jacket, which I cleaned up and put all his patches on for him, including a new one I had found with his MOS. And Rose loved her secondhand Weebles. Pat's favorite gift was the Stormtrooper wallet he got. Mostly, though, I really enjoyed just being with happy family. And Greek and Mexican food... Yum.

 

[pasajes4]

I received a salvaged stain glass window. I can picture it in my cottage by the river.

 

[Kathy813]

Let's see . . . My favorite gifts were the two tops husband bought me from my new favorite store, Soft Surroundings. They just opened the first store in the southeast and I love their clothes (no, I don't work there or get a commission, LOL). They are pricey, though, and pretty far away from our house so husband went out of his way to make me happy.

easy child gave me a gift certficate for a massage and said it was to help me relax. difficult child surprised husband and me with a $25 gift card for Dunkin Donuts which was very generous considering her income.

My surprise for husband was a new office chair that he desperately needed for his home office. I went to buy it at Costco on Christmas Eve since I couldn't figure out a way to hide it from him if I bought it early. I just left it in the trunk of the car overnight and handed him the key and told him to look in the trunk Christmas morning.

I bought easy child a Tommy Hilfiger overnight duffle bag with a matching tote bag. I think that she really was happy because she loves his prints. difficult child got mostly shoes and some clothes.

Tonight, husband and I are going to see Dancing With The Stars on tour. It was my Christmas present to myself.

~Kathy

 

[pasajes4]

I love DWTS!

 

[Kathy813]

pasajes4, you would have loved the show!! Alfonso made a great host and kept us laughing. Whitney was cute as a button and there was a lot of verbal back and forth between the two. The dancing was great as expected.

The unexpected treat was Mark Ballas. I had heard him sing before but he really surprised me last night. He sang and played the guitar and was awesome. There was a trio where he, another guitar player, and Val (who plays the violin) all played together. I was amazed at how good they were.

Val was also very funny. He did a monologue that had us all in stitches. There was also a question and answer period where they pros got to show their personalities. For example, Alfonso asked who was the most competitive pro and they all turned and looked at Mark. Then Alfonso asked whether the rumors of romance were true and they all looked at Val.

I've been to three of the live shows now and this one was definitely my favorite. The female pros that performed were Whitney, Emma, Kim (back from Australia's DWTS where she is a judge), Brittany, and Brooklyn. The male pros were Mark, Val, Sasha, Keo, and Paul.

I am so glad that we went. Even husband enjoyed it and he doesn't watch DWTS.

~Kathy

 

[pasajes4]

I just saw that they are going to be here. I think I will have to get tickets for my mom and me.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Honestly, I received really thoughtful and sweet gifts from my kids who wanted me to have lots of things under the tree for all the things I do for them.....I must have had 15 gifts! easy child and difficult child each gave me one "major" gift ( a lovely pair of gold earrings from easy child and an Elsa singing doll from difficult child {my favorite movie and song!}) Then there were lots of gorgeously wrapped little items like my favorite chapstick, a marshmallow Santa, spicy microwave popcorn...! It was so fun to be like a little kid and have all these things to open!

But in all honesty, my favorite gift this holiday was spending time with my children, family and friends. We had an extraordinarily warm holiday filled with visits from family and friends without incident. This was a difficult year for me with 2 pretty major health issues (one resulting in surgery 10 days before Thanksgiving) and finding myself well and able to enjoy my kids, my extended family and friends was a wonderful gift.

 

[Californiablonde]

My mom had her annual Christmas party on the 20th and most of my relatives were there. The kids each got $100 worth of gift cards to Target and I got $100 worth of gift cards to Kohl's, which is my favorite place to shop for shoes and clothes. On Christmas morning the kids and I went to my mom's for breakfast and she gave me yet another Kohl's gift card and a pair of fuzzy, warm slippers. I love gift cards because I love clothes and shoes but my family absolutely does NOT have the same taste that I do. With my cards I went out and bought some comfortable but cute heels, a top, some silver earrings, a watch, and a new pair of fuzzy PJ's. All in all we had a good Christmas and a great vacation overall. I am back to work today and hating it!

 

[susiestar]

I got really thoughtful gifts from everyone. I think we all did. J surprised me with 4 of Ulta's Super Shiny Lip Butters and explained that she found a really good deal (we both LOVE a great deal!). I have really bad lip problems from the skin issues and these are so amazing on them. They are one of very few commercial makeup products that I can wear, so I truly appreciate them.

husband was truly shocked to get 2 kindle fires this year! His dad found out his died and bought him a new one. But he also got a call from UPS about a pkg with the wrong address. When we picked it up we thought it was a book I had ordered that never arrived after 2 mos, so I opened it. A friend of his from chuch also sent a kindle fire to him! His dad gave him the 7 inch and his friend gave the 6 inch, so he let me have the 6 inch!! It was such a shock!

My folks gave thank you a kindle e-reader for his birthday/xmas combined, and we upgraded it to a 6" kindle fire with the most memory for a xmas gift. He was so thrilled he said thank you to each of us about ten times over 2 weeks! Of course my folks were fine with the upgrade or I would not have done it. They just didn't know if we would be okay with him having relatively unsupervised internet access from a tablet. He has straight A's, doesn't get into trouble, does his chores mostly, and knows the few rules we have are hard and fast. So he has earned the chance to have a tablet, in my humble opinion.

Jess got a plastic drawer unit from my mom that is STUFFED with office suppliles, craft supplies and cool stuff, and she is just thrilled. she got a cheaper tablet and is going to exchange it and use her own $$ to upgrade it to a kindle fire. husband got one of the cheaper tablets from me a an early xmas gift, and she is using that one for now. Trade in value of it is almost nothing, so if she breaks it we don't really care.

thank you's other favorite gift was a tea assortment. He decided he wanted to try a lot of different teas, so he got a big assortment of tea bags for his birthday and some fancier organic loose teas and a tea tube for xmas. He has at least one cup a day, and uses his D&D dice to choose which one to have, lol! It is really cute.