What did you GIVE this Christmas
 

You lot are always quick to boast about how much stuff you got this Christmas.
But Christmas is a time for giving and I want to see how many cheap bastards there are on this forum.

Here's my list...

Dad - Box set of 100 Westerns plus a load of other westerns.

Mum - Rise of The Planet Of The Apes, Conan The Barbarian, Cowboys vs Aliens , The Dead Blu-ray.
Bunch of low budget horror movies
The Onedin Line series 1-5
Bottle of Bacardi

Sister - Bottle of Baileys
Bit of money when she finally decides what she wants.

Sister's Husband - Doctor Who T Shirt

Nephew - Scalextric set
Table football set
Full England football kit
Fucking massive chocolate coin (My sister is going to throw a fit when she sees it :laughing: )
Bunch of other stuff my mother has bought that I probably owe her money for.

Niece - Musical Elephant
Activity Lion
Another bunch of other stuff my mother has bought that I probably owe her money for.

Me - Nothing, until I get my Christmas bonus :(

This is my kind of thread.

My mother received from me:

• Harry Potter 7 pt. 1&2
• The Big Bang Theory S03
• House S07
• Two fuzzy lined hoodies
• Bottle of Wiser's whiskey
• Three bars of goat milk soap
• A book she already had a signed copy of (goddammit).
• Two boxes of brandy beans
• A charcoal portrait of Jarvis Cocker I drew earlier in the year.

When she saw the last one, she went "FUCKING HELL!" Guess I did good then!

I got my mum a 1965 printing of Dune by Frank Herbert

Secret Santa-
A signed photo of Noel Edmonds
A Star Wars t-shirt
A tattoo book
A copy of Batman: Year One

Mum-
Celebrity Juice DVD
Some Lindor chocolates

Dad-
Some Joy Division live album on vinyl. They're like his favourite band and he dooesn't own it plus it has a cover of "Walk the Line".
No More Heroes by The Stranglers on vinyl.

Sister-
The new Mock The Week book
Chris Addison's DVD

Stepbrother-
Jason Manford's DVD

Stepmum-
A Lush giftbox

Nephew's-
Some toys for the little one and The Simpsons boxset for the older one.

Well, if this shows how cheap I am, I'll be first in line for the ridicule:

Mum: Spray deck for an open canoe.

Brother: Gigantic padlock, Quality Street Roses, Bike lock, panasonic headphones

Sisters: Cadbury's fudge (the big ones!)

Best friend Dave: Two foot high gingerbread man.

Friend Jack: Gloves

Friend Micky: "Invisible Lantern" - Screaming Trees

Couldn't be too extravagant this year, but I did what I could:

Girlfriend: Keurig coffee maker

Brother: He has a collection of Buddha figures, so I got him one that's a fountain to tie it all together

Sister 1: A subscription to Hulu (she watches so many shows I didn't know what DVDs to get her)

Sister 2: Hello kitty slippers

Mom: I pitched in for a really huge digital picture frame

Dad: A stylus/pen thingy for his new iPad (sounds cheap but this thing is pretty nice and professional looking)

Nothing, this year. Wasn't planned either.
I sent one friend little chocolate christmas wreaths with her christmas card :).
And I sent out cards

Jordan (eldest son): £140 in crisp notes.

Kyle (youngest son): http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...Y_WxHmJO-N9oZA
Reduced from £280 to £140.

Various others: £3,312 in fees for a funeral.

Mum: a new hairdryer

Dad: a bottle of Teacher's whiskey

Little Sister: perfume and a night-robe

Big Sister: perfume and a pair of fuzzy slippers

Nephew: a Lego racing car and a football

Brother
1.5 Terabyte external hardrive
Sister
A bunch of really nice candles
Dad
dyson hand vacuum
mom
Big ass box of purdy's chocolates
Friend mackenzie
A 100X70 painting I made

I got this for said family and friends:

Mom: Giant book on Downton Abbey
Dad: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, chocolates, car kit
Mate 1: Smiggle pad, pen and pencil
Mate 2: Perfume, travel pack...something else!
Secret Santa: Hello kitty spray and hello kitty earphones
Nana: Prayer book

So not really much, not many people to give to now.

The hell's a smiggle pad?

Family Calendars to both sides, so like 8 calendars. Those suckers add up.

Also gifts for our daughter. Books, a few toys ect...

I'd like to know too! Is it a New Zealand thing? I'll ask my dad...

Here's what I gave the lovely people in my life:

Dad: $40 gift card to a bookstore, and he can also use it online to download books to his e-reader.

Mom: Chocolates and a makeup kit she had her eye on.

Little brother: A Harry Potter Lego set and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It was the only one he didn't have, for some reason.

Boyfriend: $50 worth of piano sheet music and books he was looking for.

That's it!

Smiggle

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_h_l2txfvKN...s1600/aaaa.jpg

It's honestly the most popular thing to buy stationary from here.

Got my:

Mom: 50 dollars
Dad: 50 dollars
Sister1: 50 dollars
Sister2: It will be a late present for when she comes down to visit... either 50 dollars, or an external hard drive, depending on whether her husband bought her one already or not.
Sister3: Nothing. She's in prison. I could give her 50 dollars, but she'd spend it on the most ridiculous prison attire.
Sister4: Nothing. For some reason she dropped off the map with her husband and refuses to contact anyone with any sort of regularity. After all the 50 dollars I gave her...

Extended family: I don't even know where they live anymore.

Secret Santa:
A handmade snitch necklace
Rose earrings in Gryffindor colours
Heart earrings in Gryffindor colours
http://i39.tinypic.com/inesxw.jpg
This tote bag I made
a big ass bag of gummy worms
and a box of candy canes :)

Mom:
http://s.onlineshoes.com/images/br019/272532_366_45.jpg
These! They were pretty pricey so that was my one present to her

Brother
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitnes...nanas-2_vg.jpg
The Yonanas machine, it makes soft serve out of frozen fruit

Boyfriend
His spoiled ass....
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...55573200_n.jpg

That's all his stuff which was
4 dress shirts
2 new ties
2 Dune books that he didn't have (no idea what ones)
2 cassettes because his winter car is an old Toyota with a tape deck. I found them in a thrift store for 39 cents, it was Parallel Lines by Blondie and Beauty and the Beat by the Go-Go's.
And on Friday he gets his big present...one of these
http://thesabs.com/wp-content/upload...fleshlight.jpg
Since he's buying me a new, rechargeable Rabbit. hahaha

Could have at least bought the other one.

hurr

It's still a very nice shoe/boot, very colourful.

Thanks :) She loves Doc Martens, has a whole collection of them and I wanted to surprise her with a print she's never seen

Very true. Most of the doc martens I've ever seen are black (except for the ones with the union jack on the front, which are still mostly black).

And the ones which are coloured don't usually have a pattern.

Since I am ancient, my immediate family are long buried . . . so no gifts! (whew!)

Oldest son: next year's college paid
Youngest son: Nintendo 3D plus a bunch of games to go with it (other stuff)
Wife: new desk, better PC and beautiful oak bookcases (she's a writer and her study needed a makeover for a while)
Friends/ Relatives: books, booze, clothing, tires (lol), gift cards, music
Charities: $1,500 each
Animal Welfare Institute
P.A.W.S.
Best Friends Animal Society

Mom - The Hangover DVD and a shirt from Zellers.

Brother - Tin of Copenhagen Long Cut.

Oh okay! Everything there looks really cute! It reminds me of this: http://www.lisafrankstore.com/, which is really popular in the US and they ship to Canada too.

That sounds like my uncle. Basic story: he divorced his first wife, moved all over North America to try and find his birth parents and/or siblings, met some lady from the South who was also estranged from her family, and they got married. Every time somebody contacts him he changes his phone number. I only know this because the only people he talks to are his kids, but he phones them first. They don't even know what his phone number or address is.

I don't think I'd have the guts to buy my boyfriend a fleshlight.

Truth be told... I actually think it's sweet :).

Why not?


(also, I used to love Lisa Frank, and I actually use a Lisa Frank wallet lmao)

I think it's safe to say that a fleshlight would be an appreciated gift for any guy. Most of us would just be too embarrassed to ask for one.

Any girlfriend that recognizes that a guy needs constant...well...relief even when she's not around is a cool ass girlfriend.

Excellent gift, Paloma.

I'm not afraid to give him one, but perhaps scared of actually BUYING it. I don't know. I'm shy.

Gifts to friends:
AKG 240s headphones
Trini Lopez vinyl
Charlie Daniels Band vinyl
Jeepers Creepers 2
Politically Correct Bedtime Stories
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
Walden - Henry David Thoreau
Eraserhead
A carton of Marlboro Special Blend Gold

Family:
An ink drawing of Batman that took 3 days
Stephen King's new book
Jeffrey Eugenides' new book
A shelf from IKEA
$20 Cinemark gift card (3)
$50 Walmart gift card
Bruno Mars poster
Beatles wine glass set
Bottle of wine

Eh, the only gifts I think are worth mentioning are those I got for my father & my moms cats. He's insanely hard to shop for, as he's not very materialistic, but quite well off so he can just buy whatever he wants...

...so I bought him socks. Socks that cost $10 per sock, meaning $20 a pair. Socks that come with a lifetime warranty. I got various blends, generally some mixture of silk, merino wool, cashmere, and some sort of synthetic. For some reason the synthetic helps to wick away moisture better than purely natural blends.

In regards to the cats; I got one pound of catnip from the farmers market. Half an ounce of that stuff = two barn cats, each of which are close to twenty pounds, flopping and hopping and sneezing and scratching.... great entertainment for all, especially the children.

^ Yes, this is a much nicer idea for a thread, Urban, and it has some quite revealing posts. For me, the most startling have been SiriusB`s, and the sad story of Burning Down`s AWOL uncle.

Most of my family and friends have happily established a mutual no-present pact, but here is a list of the main exceptions :

My son: Has been asking for a car stereo for months, so he doesn`t have to listen to me when we`re driving around. This, of course, has the benefit of being a present for myself too.*
My mother-in-law: a tasteful Views-of-Mexico calendar. The great thing about giving calendars is that you don`t have to think of a new gift idea next year; just buy another calendar.
My father-in-law: rather boring polo shirt to suit his sedate style in clothes.
My landlady: calendar as above.
A fellow-tenant: two cans of genuine, exported, Dublin Guinness.

* What were the first cd`s to get played ?
...My son : Planet Pitbull by Pitbull
...Me : Congotronics by Konono No.1. ( If you`re curious about Congotronics, take a look here: http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...mber-30-a.html )

Father - Pearl Jam documentary
Mother - iPad protector
Sister - Gift card

Done.

It's been a rough year financially for me and I couldn't afford much so, in addition to a few small gifts, I did a series of paintings, one for each member of my family. I think they turned out pretty well, and everyone seemed to like them, so I guess they were a good call.

I did a "it's the thought that counts" Christmas since I've been broke for ages and wrote a short story for half of my recipients and wrote a 12 minute song for the other half. My household family got both.

This year, although they've (obviously) not yet received said presents:

Mom: North Face zip-up (those things are ****ing pricey), and two University of Kentucky shirts.
Sister (23): Batman hooded, feetie pajamas, with a cape. And I'll get her something else, too. Just haven't found the right thing.
Sister (14): A One Direction pillow with Harry Styles' face on, Regular Show socks, Nicki Minaj Pink Friday perfume, and a pair of Toms.
Brother-In-Law: A really nice zip-up Cincinnati Reds jacket thing.
Cousin (28): Two wrestling DVDs.
Cousin (20): A wrestling box set and a gift card.
Cousin (17): A huge quantity of protein powder, and a protein shake shaker.
Grandmother: Paula Deen cookware.
Great-grandmother: Bette Davis DVD box set.
Dad: University of Kentucky hoodie.
Aunt & Uncle: University of Kentucky throw, and some candles.

Friends TBD: Still haven't got to shop for 'em.

I still have several hundred dollars left, but I'm considering taking out a $200 payday loan, and paying it back next check when I'll have money I don't need to buy presents with. Because I kind of want to buy my grandmother this awesome Michael Kors purse that's marked down to $130.

Mother - Not bought anything yet
Sister - Soap & Glory set thingy, lots of stuff in it
Dad - Dunno yet, was going to be an electronic cigarette but my sister already got one

All my relatives have birthdays in or around December too :(

Everybody else can feck off. Immediate family only.

Mother: Gang of Four - Songs of the Free
Father: Bumblefoot - 9.11
Sister: The Peanut Butter Conspiracy - The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
Bandmates: Wolves in Sheepskin Shirts
Friends: Cards

I haven't decided what to get for my cousins yet.

Things I learned today: Frownland's mother is pretty cool.