CHRISTMAS SHOPPING STRESS

What if we all just shopped for our own gifts, and let people open them for us on xmas morning? We'd always get exactly what we want, in the right size/model/color. There wouldn't be much of a surprise involved, but I think it would save us money on crap gifts that we never take the time to return, or leave in the closet, or sell at a garage sale, or RE-GIFT(anyone else do this?) And think of the money you'd save...."yeah, Aunt Joan, you got me this oil filter and drain pan....thanks, I'm due for an oil change" Instead of a really nice terra-fucking- cotta wine chiller when you don't even drink wine. (got $5 for it at the garage sale)

...... wait a minute.....

Would your wife buy herself expensive jewelery from you?! Would your hubby buy himself a trip to the massage parlor?

....... hmmmm........I might need some help fleshing this out.

How much can I spend on myself this year?

whatever your budget willl allow. that's the beauty of it

hey Lumberjim don't be Bah Humbug..cant you feel the tension in the air as Christmas gets nearer.I love the panic as it gets nearer it takes over peoples lives When you hear the panic"shit haven't got so and so's present" as they rush blindly to buy some other crap.Leading up to the shark feeding frenzy state of 3 days left,2 days left.Oh fuck its Xmas eve and there's fuck all left in the shops!
Its a wonderful time to people watch if you can stand the crowds
Go on man get out there to your nearest mall its like a million times better than tv or the movies..or maybe I need help..

My wife and I always like sending messed up gifts to folks we don't like , as in ,
A person you know that just got new carpet and they have 3-4 unruley kids , we send them the biggest playdoe play set we can find with lots of reloads ( cans of playdoe )
Or one of those mold it your self car sets (those can make a goopy mess ),
oh and a cehmestry set is always great .
This year we are sending a certin relation and kids gift cards from the hair cutting place in walmart . The thing is the nearest walmart is probley 30+ miles away , and they can't get beer or cigs for the gift cards ,,,,,,,,, Hell who am i fooling they will just probley trade them for crack or some such :(

I'm typically a last minute shopper. Many is the year that my shopping was done at the mall on Christmas Eve. Certainly there are any number of things that I've found and hidden away throughout the year, but mostly I lose track of those and don't discover them again until early January.

Yes, I will admit that I have re-gifted. Although one year my sister's cats were visiting and stopped me from doing so ... knocked over a Pfaltzgraff candleholder which was wrapped and ready to go. *kersmash*

I much prefer to get gifts for friends that are unique and/or handcrafted. I love going to the Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem, PA for stuff like that. When I have time, I'll do the making myself ... earrings, scarves, and afghans are good.

Within my own immediate family (mother and sister) we supply each other with a list. Mine always starts with the Hallmark Star Trek Tree Ornament ... I have the whole set, and no, they don't go on the tree, too much of a PITA to take them out of the boxes and wire them into the light strands (no more than two per strand, please). The point is that I have them, not that I USE them. So I always get something that I want, which also usually includes some kind of videogames or accessories. I still haven't finished playing with last year's toys ... Ratchet & Clank and SOCOM.

And I agree ... for friends with children there are actually two categories of toys ... messy (playdoh, fingerpaints, etc.) and loud. I usually go for loud. Drum sets, musical busy boxes, or whatever will be age appropriate. But LOUD.

by Wolf gifts that are unique and/or handcrafted

My ALL time fav gifts were from my mom and a friend that both fly fished , they would tye me flys for Xmas . Both competeing and comenting on each others flys , sorta fun to put them against each other, both had there merets and there de-merets ,, but hell i ended up with a butt load of hand tied ( with love ) flys :)
They are both gone now so I guess i have to start tyeing flys again :(

Loud is good for folks you want to annoy ,
but NOTHING beats playdoe for the shear pissed offedness ( is this a word ??)of the mess ( especaly the cheap stuff , perminint dyes and all ) :flipbird: :flipbird:

I realize that this will bring criticism to me, but FUCK - learn the language!

tie - to make a knot.
tying - to do above.
competing - involved in a competition.
commenting - making comments.
there - as in "over there"
their - as in "their grammar needs work"
they're - as is "they're partially illiterate"
merits - good stuff.
especially - in particular.
shear - something like scissors.
sheer - what you meant.
permanent - the length of my status as an asshole as a result of this post.

I only point all of this out because of the volume of errors in the one post. Yeah typos and mistakes happen, but that was ridiculous. If you are going to communicate via a written medium, at least make an effort.

And yes, everyone feel free to point out every misspelling or grammatical error I make ad infinitum - I can take it. :biggrin:

Aw, leave Zip alone! His typos are part of what make the dude special.

I like reading his stuff. It's funny and he makes my spelling look good.

Besides, he's a MarineGuy, so ya gotta cut him some slack. ;)

Originally posted by slang
Besides, he's a MarineGuy, so ya gotta cut him some slack. ;)

translation: He'll rip your heart out and show it to you... lets mind our manners. You can correct mine any time, though. :)

[COLOR=indigo]While I don't particularly care about the grammer so much, I do want to point out that the tag line o the moment is:[/COLOR]

Th Sellur: nawt thu playce to bee if u kent spel or rite gud

Fine, I'm changing it! :p

Christmas always works like this for our families:

We decide that the idea of going out and buying gifts for everyone is impractical and kind of a ridiculous tradition, so we tell our relatives we are not going to do gifts. Usually, if we get to them early enough, they agree, but as it gets closer we start hearing requests for ideas and then we are stuck in the same position we had been trying to avoid. Perth and I don't care about gifts. We wish we could do away with it completely, but our families, for some reason, don't understand that concept. It is just too well instantiated in their brains that Christmas = spend lots o' money so everyone feels loved. I think it really takes away from what the experience *could* be.

Originally posted by case
....... Christmas = spend lots o' money so everyone feels loved.

We have similar thoughts about Stressmas gifts, case. While you feel that buying gifts for everyone is impractical and kind of a ridiculous tradition, I feel that me buying other people gifts impractical and ridiculous, but I readily accept gifts. Now, how much of an ass do I sound like? Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.

I stopped buying gifts for people more than 10 years ago, with a few exceptions. I really suck at picking out gifts for people. The few times I've spent the time and money, the results have been less than satisfactory. Then I changed from giving gifts to a card with a hundred dollar bill(s) in it. That wasnt well recieved becuase it wasnt "Stressmassy". Some people just love to find other people they love, things they would love. Some don't.

So nowdays, people ask me what I'd like for Stressmas and I tell them. Along with the list, I tell them I wont be buying any gifts for anyone this year. I wont be buying anything this year but I might be stopping by (during the day, which I hate) on or around Stressmass, which is like a gift in itself because I dont like to come out and I know they like to have me come over (so that I can argue and fight with everyone , after they get drunk).

A few months ago, my Grandmother moved out of town. While we were helping her move boxes, I came across a photo album. In one of the albums was a section of Stressmas pics from 98 or 99, the year I popped in the valley unannounced Stressmas eve, only for about 10 hours. There was an entire section, separate from the main gallery, of me with everyone that day. The sub collection was from several different people's cameras, which meant that she asked that every photo taken that day be forwarded to her, although she took a bunch herself. She really enjoyed having me there that day.

So, as we approach "the big day" and my stomache churns over the increase in traffic and the disruption of the normal schedule, I'll prepare myself for several visits. Some people like to have me visit, which I cannot truly understand, being a recluse.

The upside for me is that after battling the traffic, and dealing with the sunshine that kills my eyes, putting on some nice clothes and shaving my neck............I'll have some cool gifts once I get there. Everyone's happy.

The stress of having to be "normal" for a few hours is probably the worst part. My family happens to be the most "normal" family alive. Usually, there is a look of shock as my mother opens the door to find that my hair is yet another color and length. She has stopped asking me why and just resorts to comments like "You did that on purpose?"
I should point to my dad and ask her the same question.

Originally posted by case
"You did that on purpose?" I should point to my dad and ask her the same question.

Yer dad has blue hair too, eh?

Uh...hmm. No. :)