What have you bought this Christmas? Or are planning to buy?

[Locut0s]

Careful not to ruin the surprise for anyone. Don't post anything if you have an SO, friends or family who read your posts. I'd hate to be responsible for ruining anything.

Anyway here's what I've got:

For my father: 3 books (The Master and the Margarita) (Oracle Bones - A travelog from China from an author he likes) (The Orphan Master's Son - A wonderful book I've been reading that I think he will enjoy)

For my mother: $150 gift card to an art supply store nearby. She wants to get back into painting. She is a painter by training and has long regretted she never made a career of it.

Various odd stocking stuffers.

We mutually stopped exchanging gifts among the other relatives a few years back as it was getting out of hand.

I know that I'm likely to get money and some other stuff. My parents will exchange money for the most part.

[OriginalGeek]

1. So far, a vodka and shot glasses gift set

for the gift exchange at work on Friday. I'm trying to get more people to bring liquor as gifts so more people have a chance at getting liquor for gifts. The first year I was the only one. Last year we had about 7 out of the 20 department members bring some kind of alcohol. Those of us that got liquor laughed at the ones that got another 14 piece multipurpose pocket tool set or fragrant hand soaps.

[Locut0s]

2. I would have though liquor would be par for the course...

For a work exchange present. When you don't know said person anything else seems odd IMHO.

[OriginalGeek]

3. Most of us have been there a good while

so we do know each other pretty well - some are just party poopers. Also, we do that white elephant thing where gifts are all anonymous and we draw numbers for order of picking from the pile and gifts can be stolen. It ends up being more fun.

[Locut0s]

5. Ahh yes that. Anyone have a crazy sense of humour?...

I can just imagine someone really inappropriate gifts being bought to get a laugh

[OriginalGeek]

10. There's a few crazy ones

but none crazy enough to try for a trip to HR.

We save that stuff for the after-work party.

[IrishAyes]

14. I've played that game with any number of groups. We called it WAR - the only kind that was any fun.

You can really learn a lot about how people behave, too. Sometimes people will get mad and hold it against you if you take something they want.

The very nicest occasion, though, happened when a social group was hosting a New American who'd never played that game in his home country. At first he hesitated, but eventually jumped in and played as tough as anyone. But when the game was over, we gave all our presents to him with due notice that that would never happen again. It was the best way we had to welcome him with open arms.

[OriginalGeek]

30. Ha! That's awesome

We have a 2-steal limit so once an item has been stolen twice it's dead to the game. But only two events let you steal - the first time you draw from the stack you can keep or trade for an already open gift (that isn't dead) OR if someone steals yours you can steal anything still live. The guy who picked first gets to keep or trade after everyone else has gone.

There's a lot of maneuvering to try and make sure you don't get stuck with the bubble bath. lol

[OriginalGeek]

31. Whoops - wait

you don't get to steal if you pick from the pile and don;t like it - you can choose to steal OR pick from the pile but you make your choice BEFORE seeing what you would have gotten from the pile. my bad.

[In_The_Wind]

4. Shopping for Christmas this year will have to wait.

[Locut0s]

6. Sorry to hear that ITW...

Will you be having a Christmas dinner at least?

You can still get something out of this time of year. I know how depressing it can be though.

[In_The_Wind]

7. We'll be enjoying wonderful home cooked meals. I'm happy about that.

The trucking company still owes me for 3 jobs. Everything will be better as soon as they find the money to pay me.

[DebJ]

8. I get to shop for two grandchildren, and I love it.

I bought my 3 yr old grandson: an astronaut suit that comes with a NASA cap and a separate helmet ... he is fascinated with the moon and told me spontaneously last year that 'we can't get up there; it's too high'. When I told him man has been on the moon,well ever since he volunteers that someday he's going to go to the moon...last time he generously added "And Grandma and PopPop can come with me". For his birthday I gave him books on the planets and he now knows Jupiter (with the 'eye') and Saturn with the rings. He explains that we send robots to the planets to send us pictures, and he points them out in his books. Those were pretty big books so I bought two smaller ones on rockets and the planets as well for Christmas.
I also bought him a soccer goal, a soccer ball, and a soccer uniform. He starts playing indoor soccer in January. I bought him The First Big Book of Why and the The First Big Book of the Ocean from Nat Geo. To go with that, we are giving him the Planet Earth set of DVD's...I had bought them for my Mom when they came out a few years ago and she no longer watches them so I took them.
And of course a few miscellaneous stocking stuffer things, and a sofa blanket with a monkey hood.

For my 1 year old grand-daughter, we bought her a mini chair with ottoman. Her brother got one this summer from a yard sale, and the minute she saw it she squealed with delight and wanted it. She gets a pink hooded blanket with a puppy's head. And two rooms of furniture for the dollhouse I bought her for her birthday. And a picture I had specially made at www.fractureme.com, etched into glass instead of printed, that shows 7 generations back in pictures with names and dates, beginning with her, and going back to her fourth great-grandfather James Kilby of Culpeper, Va who had two wives and like 17 children....most of the sons from the first wife fought on the side of the south in the Civil War, but then he named his first son by his second wife Ullysses S Grant Kilby, LOL, in 1865.

I got gift cards for their parents (my daughter and son-in-law) and a seven generation poster for my daughter with pictures names and dates for a good number of the people on it.

My son got a new cellphone because his is too crappy to work right.

For my parents I got more fracture pictures: a copy of the seven generation one, a copy of a parent's picture neither of them has for each of them, and for my Dad a picture of his great-grandparents that I got from another member on Ancestry.com...he's never seen a picture of them before at all. And for Mom a picture of her at the age of 3 with her very young Mom (my mom is 85)

For my sisters-in-law, more heirloom pictures engraved onto glass by www.fractureme.com. Those gifts won't ever be replicated. Their pictures are a collage including each of the them and my husband, their parents, and grandparents on both sides, and a great-grandparent and group pictures of them as very young, as teenagers, and then as adults.

For my sisters-in-law's husbands I bought baskets and put in a DVD and 2 popcorn holders, plus popcorn, nuts, various little bags of candies, low-sodium crackers, fresh fruit, and cheese, and hot chocolate packages with peppermint sticks.

For our one close friend, I did a fracture picture going back through 5 generations of women/all maternal lines, with the oldest generation being the immigrant ancestral Mom. For her daughter, we bought a Princess Barbie and we are making a castle for her out
of a Lowe's packing box (that came with the castle printed on it, how cool!), and adding some things like a stone floor printed off the internet (from a dollhouse site) and a coat of arms for her family name.

We really can't afford anything (not buying anything for ourselves), but I love doing this, so I give up getting things (including things I really should be getting, like new shoes for winter) because I just love doing this too much. Especially the grandchildren. They are the light of my life.

[IrishAyes]

15. Would you like to adopt me?

I don't eat much!

[DebJ]

26. LOL. n/t

[DebJ]

29. Ha this article just came up on nbcnews.com

http://www.today.com/money/grandparents-scrimp-save-still-want-splurge-grandchildren-2D11741835

Grandparents may cut back on their holiday party treats, throw a little less tinsel on the tree and recycle last year's holiday outfit, but they don't want to stop indulging their grandchildren.

“People will do a lot of things for their children. They will do anything for their grandchildren,” said Peter Francese, a demographic expert who has studied grandparents’ spending habits extensively.

That’s especially true during the holidays, when it should come as no surprise that grandparents often want just one thing: To see their grandchildren’s joyful faces on Christmas morning

[mokawanis]

9. Robot for the grand-kid

Tickets to see Richard Thompson for my wife.

I know my kids would all prefer cash, so that's what they're getting.

I'm done shopping and I'm ready for Dec. 26th.

[csziggy]

11. A whole bunch of books for my great nephews and a brother in law

Still have to get a gift certificate for a niece and something for my husband. What he needs most if time off and that is already scheduled for later in January.

Ordered a new computer for myself since mine has been giving me problems (blue screen of death among others) - but that is not really a present, it's a necessity.

My family doesn't exchange gifts; my husband's family draws names so we each only give and get one present, except for the little ones. It makes life easier.

[magical thyme]

12. a new dog blanket for Luna...

so he'll have his own new one, and Jake will have his old one and Luna's hand-me-down. I'm also hoping to find good boots for them both; their feet get so cold they can't last long when it's single digits and below zero. And for Jake, I'm thinking it's time to get him a ramp. For the first time, he's started having trouble getting down from the bed in the morning, so I've been having to help him.

[Demo_Chris]

13. Nothing. We cannot even afford to fix the hole in our bathroom floor...

We have to save everything to try and get the business going again next January.

If we can make it through this winter, next year will change everything for us. But we have to make it through first. If we fail, I guess we lose everything. I don't know.

[IrishAyes]

17. Bless your hearts. Best of luck to you.

What kind of business do you have? I know you don't want to say too much, to avoid violating TOS.

[Demo_Chris]

18. Link inside...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1018&pid=535629

This is our business. We travel most of the year, next year beginning at the end of January and running through November.

The issue is saving enough money during the year to make it through our down season and then get it going again. This year we did very well, and would have made it easily, but we got rained on for five of out last seven events. Even so we are VERY close. Next year, of we can make it through this down period, we will be packing in more and longer events, and starting earlier, so if we can just make it through the winter we will have FINALLY turned the corner.

I know, it sounds like a silly business, but two years ago we grossed thirty, this year we grossed fifty, and next year (if we make the winter) we are on track to hit 75 plus. So not too damn bad.

[IrishAyes]

20. Wow.

[Locut0s]

21. Doesn't sound like a silly business at all...

Just not one of your run of the mill cookie cutter types

Here's hoping you get through the winter and things are better next year!

[Demo_Chris]

27. Thank you. nt

[fizzgig]

16. i am pretty much done shopping

sister gets a cardigan, a tshirt and a dr. who mug. i also got socks and a mini tardis for her stocking.

dad gets a shop vac and the world's supply of chocolate. i'm also making him a corned beef, a pastrami, sauerkraut and a loaf of rye bread.

husband gets pajamas, underwear, a bathmat and some ultimate pacman game for the wii. i want to get a few more things for his stocking, though. there's a shop that has all sorts of off the wall stuff. last year i got him a wiener cleaner - round soap with a hole in it. he was not nearly as amused as i was.

mom still lurks on occasion, so not going to talk about what she gets.

i have no idea what husband got his folks this year, i'm just glad i didn't have to try to find something for them.

[Locut0s]

22. wiener cleaner...

Hay maybe he wasn't as amused at the time, but I bet he got plenty of fun out of it

[IrishAyes]

19. Mostly I got 'little somethings' for my friends here since most of them don't do much about

Christmas anymore at their/our ages unless it involves family; all my first degree relatives are gone, and I keep a blessed distance between myself and the few remaining ones who refer to themselves as good conservatives and me... well, we'll leave out what they call me. Though I will raise a glass to their absence, among many other blessings. The dogs are getting even more Kong toys, the only kind the JRT can't shred. The house already has its gift, a new dishwasher. I didn't get myself anything... much. Just a refurbished e-reader in case I ever stay off DU again long enough to resume reading books. The house got a new roof about 5 years ago, and I'm still paying off the USDA 1% loan on that. I can pay ahead on the loan but only $60 a month's required. Even I can handle that easily. Everything else I save up for until I have cash because debt scares me.

[No Vested Interest]

23. I buy little things throughout the year and store them in my "gift closet".

I'm talking hand lotions, calendars for 2014, various kitchen pieces, tote bags, etc.
If I get time I intend to get new pillows for my four adult kids.
I also bought a copy of the First Ladies book CSpan is offering at cost, though the delivery charge was 60% in addition of the book cost. I may order some more - it is a nice book with one page on each First Lady.
They will also each get a nice check, larger than last year because I didn't go anywhere this year or otherwise spend much.
Three of these adult kids need cash; the fourth has enough money but just had an unexpected medical issue that will cost plenty as that problem was not covered on his insurance.
Christmas dinner will be at my home; we'll get a 1/2 ham from Kroger, as well as sides. I have 2 Marie Callender frozen pies - one is pecan, the other pumpkin.
We'll have a guest my kids age; she has no local family so we'll have plenty food and a few gifts for her too.

[No Vested Interest]

24. Sorry, Irish - this should have been a "stand-alone."

[Decaffeinated]

25. Xbox One, Multilayer coat, garnet earrings, bakeware and a robe...

XBOX is already set up though.. ha...

[Locut0s]

34. How is it?...

I have a feeling I might get a PS4 for Christmas. Between the 2 I'd lean towards the PS4 myself. But the One looks like it has a lot of potential.

[intaglio]

28. Well ...

Bro in law is getting a drone - a quadrotor with camera, nominally because he can use it to inspect the rigging on the boat they live on.

Sis has some good noise canceling headphones for Christmas and a copy of "Jack Speak," a glossary of naval slang for her birthday.

MIL has a massage cushion, FIL a fly tying kit, SIL and niece 2 separate presents from Lush and SILs sigoth a collection of edible seeds from Halzephron Farm

My best Beloved might see this so no dice ...

[BainsBane]

32. Different things for family members of different ages

a big floor puzzle of the solar system
maracas--both of these are for kids
a super cozy blanket
a super cozy throw
Sterling silver hoops
a nifty trunk organizer
cleat type things to put on the bottom of your boots to avoid falling on the ice
a really lovely scarf and a clear glass Christmas ornament/table décor with a candle inside
a gift card
A Christmas basket with cookies and a pretty ornament

I often make handmade Christmas cards but didn't get to it this year.

[Locut0s]

33. Is the floor puzzle for kids?...

I love large jigsaw puzzles. More pieces the better, so long as the picture isn't infuriating like an all blue sky or something

[BainsBane]

35. Yes. For a Four year old

The pieces are very large, as is the whole puzzle. The maracas are for a toddler who loves music and dancing.

[Locut0s]

36. Cool. I was hoping it was something like this ;)...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jungle-Animals-Ravensburger-Puzzle-Pieces/dp/B00EUBU744/ref=sr_1_43?s=kids&ie=UTF8&qid=1387537302&sr=1-43

Not that I'd spend that much but a 9000 piece puzzle of the solar system sounds amazing

[BainsBane]

37. That's not age appropriate for a four year old

It's not 9000 pieces. You have to realize they don't have the manual dexterity or cognitive development for a puzzle like that.

This is the one I got: http://www.amazon.com/Shure-Solar-System-Floor-Puzzle/dp/B000W4IUCE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1387537913&sr=8-2&keywords=solar+system+floor+puzzle

[Locut0s]

38. You do know I was joking right?...

I didn't know when you first posted it that it was a kids puzzle. Once you mentioned that it was I was just thinking of the types of puzzles I like to do. Was never trying to suggest that was the type of puzzle you would get in this case. What you got looks neat though