What did you give for Xmas?

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dad

a "Bullfinch buddy heater"

mum

coffee making stuff, caffietere etc

sis

half-life 2, 1GB SD card for her digital camera and i built her a pc although she bought the bits

bro

yoga kit, cd, travel guide to south america

what did you give?

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Monday, 26 December 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Dad
Friday Night Lights and Downfall DVDs

Mom
Have a Nice Decade box set

Sisters
All got new outfits

Tom
iPod nano, Island dvd, dock/speakers for iPod nano, Giants jersey

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Monday, 26 December 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

A flashing lighted dancing singing HEDGEHOG.

Also some Indian jewellery and two flashing disco lights that did not flash. :-(

― ALL YOUR BASE NOW BELONG TO SYCORAX!!! (kate), Monday, 26 December 2005 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Dad - New Blackberry case
Brother - Mighty Mouse
Sister - Real Fast Food, Introduction to Italian Cookery English, Seafood Cookery, The cookery Year, Malay sunhat
Dad's fiancee - Some special oolong tea and Gao Xingjiang Artbook
Dad's fiancee's daughter - Chinese Shirt, Shu Uenmura lipstick.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 26 December 2005 19:53 (twenty years ago)

Mom - a framed set of photographs of her new beagle puppy, aromatherapy neck wrap and aromatherapy slippers

Dad - new Big & Rich album, new Gretchen Wilson album, the last Johnny Cash compilation

Brother - 3/4 size human skeleton glazed to look dirty and old (he's a goth at heart - his new house is loaded with Tiki stuff, skulls, Nightmare Before Christmas crap)

Ex - autographed Toni Morrison novel

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 26 December 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Husband - two of Joel Whitburn's chart books and a dvd of his collection, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Windsor McKay: His Life and Work, the second two volumes of the complete Peanuts, complete Sam Cooke and the Soulstirrers, the Rhino girlgroup box, Black & White Roots of Rock & Roll. And I (fairly graciously) let him play with my new PS2.

Daughter - Radiohead t-shirt, poster, book, Daddy Yankee CD, Gramatica Leng Espanola

Daughter's fiance - 2 Terry Pratchett books, Game Informer sub.

Mom - Nordstrom's shopping fun, 2 Tasha Tudor books

Stepmom - Godiva (this was terribly uninspired)

Son, stepson, stepdaughter, youngest brother and youngest sister - $

Gift opening with in-laws is next weekend. Happiness reigns, because we are going to Seattle for this:

Mom-in-law - Booksfree subscription
Dad-in-law - Porkpie, Richard Rhodes book on the atomic bomb
Sister-in-law & her partner - wine, Vacuvin, some LPs burned to CD she's wanted

― Jaq (Jaq), Monday, 26 December 2005 22:46 (twenty years ago)

boyfriend and his other girlfriend: bottle of australian merlot (i got him a couple of dylan cds too)

dad: book about new zealand missing persons

mum: long patterned socks

older brother: music voucher

younger brother: ursula le guin book

mene d: pointer sisters greatest hits CD and 45 of do they know its christmas time by band aid

steve: sean paul dutty rock cassette

aunty j and uncle d: blueberry flavoured chocolate

cousin r: shower gel

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Wednesday, 28 December 2005 07:28 (twenty years ago)

Mom: fancy night tea.
Dad: 1m candlepower spotlight. He's a light fetishist.
Little sister: Creme brule set.
Niece: A Star Station, which is like video karaoke for kids.
Everyone else: DVD-R of my taste in media, which goes over surprisingly well thanks in part to klassy Jewelboxing cases.

― Litwack, Wednesday, 28 December 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

Husband - IOU for a golf club
Everyone else - nothing
Cancer Research - £50

― ailsa (ailsa), Wednesday, 28 December 2005 07:58 (twenty years ago)

to my mom, from myself and my sisters: 2GB iPod Nano w/keychain case
to my sister Alex: money
to my sister Brittany: Bob Dylan's Chronicles Vol. One, Kanye West's Late Registration, M.I.A.'s Arular, DVDs of Amadeus, Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 3, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, and Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock. Half of these were also for her birthday, which is in mid-January
I gave homemade CDs to a bunch of people as well

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 28 December 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

We haven't really given eachother xmas presents. But I did give my husband an xbox 360. I would have given it even if it wasn't xmas. I bought my dad (and mum) an In The Gloria DVD boxset.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 28 December 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

nine months pass...

Yes, yes, I know it's still only October, but I spent this last weekend sorting out some Christmas presents ..... I needed some small gifts for people I want to give more than a card to, but less than a proper big present, thus I made Vodka Chilli Cherry Tomatoes. They are completely lush as nibbles with drinks, and the remaining liquor is good to use in bloody marys too.

I got some small clip-top glass kilner jars, like this :

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c11/dragon-designs/Supplies/EmptySingleKilnerJar.jpg

and filled them with lovely ripe cherry tomatoes (which I had pricked a bit first, using a cocktail stick). I then added one clove of garlic in the top of the jars, topped it up with vodka (cheap, supermarket own-brand stuff), and a dash of Tabasco sauce. They're now sealed, labelled, and left in a dark cupboard to marinate until December.

Not the absolutely cheapest gift, but still only a couple of quid per jar.

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

i'm spending the most money i've ever spent this christmas, as i shall be buying my sister a car! that's if she passes her test next month.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 9 October 2006 11:18 (nineteen years ago)

i'm very excited cause it'll be the first time in AGES that we'll put up a xmas tree! since ophelia has arrived, we decided to celebrate xmas PROPERLY and have massive amounts of gifts around a TREE. hoerah!

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

C J, I may well do that, that looks like a terrific idea. I will do some preserved lemons as well which always go down a treat.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:08 (nineteen years ago)

What's your recipe for the preserved lemons, Ed? I might like to try doing that too.

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:18 (nineteen years ago)

I will look it up when I get home, can't quite remember the exact mix.

― Ed (dali), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

Lovely - thank you :)

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and another idea for inexpensive Christmas gifts (which I did last year) was to buy a pack of A4 sized magnetic card from WHSmith. It has a white card front and a magnetic coating to the back, but it's thin enough to go through a printer.

I then typed out a whole page of suitably naughty words which were relevant to my friend (plus her name, and the names of her friends and family. I think the words 'flange' and 'poo' were included, too), sliced the pages up neatly with a guillotine (that part took a lot longer than I had imagined) to make personalised Very Rude fridge poetry magnets. They went down a storm.

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

that sounds pretty awesome.

i'm currently knit knit knitting away presents for the kids. I also wanted to restore an old photo album for my aunt but I need to get on the ball if I'm going to do that.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:34 (nineteen years ago)

Cranking out inexpensive handmade gifts is even more stressful, I think.
My mother and siblings have a no-gift pact, with a few slips here and there. I get gifts for the kids, but when does that stop? When they turn 40? They both claim not to care about it any more, not that they don't like getting cards with enclosed cheques. But actual gifts? Who the hell knows what other people want, especially your siblings or your adult children. Don't even try.
My husband's family does NOT observe a no-gift rule, much to my dismay. I dump tons of crap in the trash as soon as I can get away with it. I mean, we're 50 years old, not 5! Why do they think we want to eat a mass of crappy fudge? And the fucking bath salts! I get dermatitis just smelling the stuff.
Feh.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

Crappy fudge sounds okay, Beth. My mother in law buys me absolutely enormous frumpy flesh-toned old-lady underwear for some inexplicable reason (and has done, every year, since I was in my twenties). Huge knickers, Bridget Jones stylee. I thank her graciously, and use them to wash the car with.

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

And slippers. She buys me slippers. Not even in my size! (not that I'd wear them anyway).

Maybe she just doesn't like me :(

― C J (C J), Monday, 9 October 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

i'm making herbes de provence for peoples, in cuet jars like above a few xposts.

― ai lien (kold_krush), Monday, 9 October 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

CJ, I'll re-gift the fudge to you and then the knickers will fit!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 9 October 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

hey beth!

you're pretty scrooge-y! I'm not big on xmas either as a whole but my knitting is almost exclusively for gifts. I think I can't see doing it just for myself (too indulgent) so I have to be productive and actually make things for people.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Monday, 9 October 2006 13:26 (nineteen years ago)

Beth is not scroogey. She is SENSIBLE. Like me (see my list above).

I should mention what I received = an MP3 player. Oxfam received money (grudgingly) from my in-laws who sound suspiciously like Beth's in-laws because I told them any crap they bought me was getting donated to charity so they might as well cut out the middle man and donate money directly rather than showering me with cheap and pointless crap. I HAVE a job. If I want socks or shower gel or a scarf that doesn't go with any of my clothes then I will buy (or not) myself as I see fit.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 9 October 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

it's the thought that counts!

I was calling beth scrooge-y with only love. I have a scrooge sweatshirt i'm quite fond of wearing around the holidays.

― Sam: Screwed and Chopped (Molly Jones), Monday, 9 October 2006 15:11 (nineteen years ago)

It's a waste of sodding money.

Yeah, OK, I'm a scrooge.

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 9 October 2006 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

Im giving all my friends and family this...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000HT3920.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V40658770_.jpg

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

For a half litre preserving jar

10 medium unwaxed lemons
4 Bay leaves
15 Peppercorns
15 Coriander seeds
6 Cloves
salt

5 of the lemons cut 8 wedges per lemon, layer of salt and spice, layer of lemons layer of salt and spice etc. until you get to the top. Then pour on the juic eof the remaining 5 lemons.

I've seen variations where you don't slice the lemons into wedges but open them star like and also where you don't add any liquid, you just pack the lemons in salt and let the salt draw the juice out. I'm wondering if a Scandinavian style salt sugar cure might work and whether a dollop of black treacle might be an interesting experiment.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 09:17 (nineteen years ago)

I am definitely going to make some of those at the weekend - thanks for the recipe, Ed!

The landlord of our village pub is a bit of a foodie, so I think I'll make some for him for Christmas - I've got a recipe for a lovely Moroccan Lamb Tagine which I could print out, laminate, and attach to the jar of preserved lemons. It'd go brilliantly with that.

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

couldn't find the more recent thread, so reviving this one...

the present i bought for my guy just arrived last night -- a 4gb cowon iaudio7 mp3 player, which i just filled up with music from my collection. he gets it when he picks me up from LAX on monday!

― get bent, Saturday, 5 January 2008 06:19 (eighteen years ago)

I got Jude a Slanket and it might be one of the best gifts I ever got her, judging from the fact that it's on her 24/7.

― Rock Hardy, Saturday, 5 January 2008 06:35 (eighteen years ago)

ipod (for my husband and for my dad)
ipod cover
books
toys (buggy biggest hit)heroes boxset

― stevienixed, Saturday, 5 January 2008 11:19 (eighteen years ago)

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