OK, it's almost over, did Santa bring you what you wanted?

[DainBramaged]

I gave and smiling faces was my reward. I had a lot of fun.

[Myrina]

1. Lucky you.

Not one card, call, text, email, visitor or gift.
Watching rented movies in my jammies with my dogs and a bottle of rum.
As usual.
I hate this day.

[DainBramaged]

2. My heartfelt wishes for a better year.....

:hug:

[nolabear]

4. And mine.

[anamandujano]

5. LOL, sounds like me but with some style.

I did get two cards, some candy and my neighbor just brought over a ton of yummy food.

I spent last night looking at recipes and eating my same boring stuff. No alcohol cause after the first little buzz I feel sick.

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. Christmas hugs to you.

But what you described is my ideal holiday! :D

[flvegan]

11. Merry Christmas to you and your dogs.

[Raine]

16. Aw

:hug: I'm glad that you have your dogs they're really the best company you could ever have.

[hfojvt]

18. sounds like my day

but my siblings called last night.

Plus, it is too cold in my house to wear jammies and I don't drink.

Also, the day does not bother me.

[Ghost in the Machine]

24. Sorry to hear that.. I hope tomorrow is a much better day for you...

:hug:

[madmax]

30. Well hell! Merry Christmas

Myrnia :hug: :toast:

[Denninmi]

3. We were like the Who's this year.

None of the trappings, and it was just fine. With just 3 people and a dog in the household, we don't have a big celebration anyway. The various out of town relatives all come in spurts, never at the same time. And, this year, we made a decision to basically cut out most of the gift giving. We did one main gift each, plus a few cheap things picked up on clearances, etc. Didn't even cook, we picked up some carry-out Chinese yeasterday and had that for Christmas eve and today. Tomorrow, the first set of out of towners is coming, and we'll have a dinner and some gifts for them. Heck, I didn't even put up a tree. Just got out a little 2 footer that is pre-decorated (by me, at least, I used to be a florist) and got a few small poinsettias for 99cents each at Home Depot the day after Thanksgiving. Good enough.

Really, it was nice. Christmas came without the rum-tummlers and foo-fiddlers and the roast beast, and no one had a problem with it. I spent the last two days cleaning house, tending the critters, etc., and it was actually a lot less psychological pressure than in years past.

I think I like this new normal.

I did the other kind of giving earlier at work. The office complex where I work was collecting for the local domestic violence shelter, and I took a number of things in to them, plus an online donation to Michigan Radio during the December pledge drive and a donation to the no-kill shelter when I was at the pet store.

[DainBramaged]

9. Very cool!!!

I am very happy for you.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. The best christmases/holidays I had were the ones

when I worked those days so co-workers could take off to be with their families.

Habit I started around 1975, I would volunteer at the thanksgiving soup kitchen,
volunteered to staff the Women's Shelter on New Year's Eve and Day one year,
volunteered to take the Emergency on call shifts over holidays.

It kept me from feeling "alone" during those years when I was far from family, single,
and I often was involved in situations where I could make a difference.

Very rewarding.

THIS year, as every year since retiring, Mr d and I have a pretty calm, boring day, all our
"kids" are on the West Coast, we do not fly, or even travel much anymore.

Glad you had fun on this day!

:hi:

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. We quit exchanging gifts years ago

I did donate to Skinner's harvest food drive. MUCH better cause than a meaningless gift that the recipient doesn't need.

(Noting - the youngest in my family is 41)

[ohheckyeah]

10. I'm tired from

cooking and cleaning for the family get together at our house. 13 of us did a white elephant gift exchange. We each bring one gift that costs about $25 and one that is less than five as a gag gift. We had lots of food and lots of craziness but it was fun. When your parents are 84 you never know when it may be the last Christmas so we make the most of each one.

[3waygeek]

12. As usual, I got cash from my reich-wing folks...

this year it was about 10x what I expected. Don't tell them, but a chunk of it will go to progressive/liberal organizations.

[BlueJazz]

I gave my Niece and nephew tons of stuff. They said I'm the best Uncle ever.

I hope it's my time I spend with them (throughout the year) and not just the present thing. :)

[Raine]

13. I wanted nothing and that's what I got ... nothing

Seriously we didn't exchange gifts because we have so much stuff there really was no point.

[JDPriestly]

14. We celebrate Christmas Eve.

And yes, a wonderful day with my dearest ones. It was just beautiful. I'm afraid it was a lot of work for my daughter who hosted all of us. She was great.

[Raine]

17. We do too

I had a nice time at my cousin's house last night.

[Jamastiene]

15. Yes and I'm very grateful for it.

My mother got me a new mattress. It is like Tempur Pedic, but at about 1/15th the cost. I had been sleeping in the recliner and on the couch for over a year. Sometimes, I don't come up with the best ideas. I do need a bed after all. My back thanks her for it.

Sunday Girl, my 18 year old cat, got well too. She had had a swollen tooth and I was worried about whether she would be able to come through that. She is spry as ever now. She is getting a little on the senile side, but she's still smarter than I am, lol.

I can't think of anything else I really want than having a home, good food for dinner, my babies to be well and my back to not hurt so much when I wake up. So, this Christmas, I am truly blessed and really grateful. :)

[Denninmi]

19. Oh, and I should add ...

for me, it's only beginning. One set of relatives tomorrow, another set New Years weekend, and the last set now isn't coming until January 15th/16th since her New Years weekend off got rescheduled as a New Years weekend on work -- the life of a nurse, I guess.

[qnr]

20. I wanted nothing and that's what I received (and I say that as a good thing) n/t

[tabatha]

21. I gave more than I received

and what I received was very nice.

(My wants are always zero.)

[IMATB]

22. I needed nothing, asked for nothing

I got a new laptop because my other one had a bad screen. I love it. It was a surprise.

[mrcheerful]

23. Well I got 3 shirts and a piece of ass, saddly all 4 were

6 sizes to big. Merry family times people.

[madmax]

31. LOL nt

[anamandujano]

33. .

:rofl:

[old mark]

36. ...and had been previously worn out....nt

[BlueJazz]

39. LOL!!

[handmade34]

25. no gifts here...

I would have liked to be with kids...:(



...but, I got lots of paperwork done

[csziggy]

26. Got to spend time with some good people and had a nice day

Most of my in-laws are great. I had the evil satisfaction of seeing the fundamentalist bro-in-law suffer from straining his back, without the karma of having caused him any pain.

The presents sucked. We screwed up and lost our list of who we were supposed to give to so they just got money. We got (1) a $50 card to Olive Garden, not a place I would normally go to eat; and (2) a portable firepit, not something I have ever considered owning. I dislike open flames, having had third degree burns and see no useful purpose to lighting fires as decor. We did not even put a fireplace in our house, why would I want a fire on my porch? And we have no patio to put it on so :wtf:

[DainBramaged]

27. Firepit, maybe there's a message in that.......

I don't understand the concept either, and the ones I've see don't look like they would last long.

[applegrove]

28. My sister gave out books. My father and mother gave out gift cards to the book store. My two

brothers gave out books. I gave everyone gift certificates to another book store. All and all a typical Christmas in our household.

[madmax]

32. Psssst, don't tell anyone but,

'they' hide information in books. :evilgrin:

I love books. :toast:

[applegrove]

40. LOL! Merry Xmas.

[TommyO]

29. We had a very low key Christmas gift giving this year

We focussed on the kids, and the adults got to pick the name of another adult from a virtual hat to see which of the other adults they were buying for. I got my sister-in law and she was very happy with what I got her (it's almost as if a little birdie, who happened to have a name very similar to my brother, dropped some hints. On the other hand, I was very happy with my one gift that fit in our price limits, a new Apple TV. I have plenty of media on my Mac, now it's going to be easy to play it on my LCD TV.

Best of all, we had a great time together today, good food, good family and friends, and sitting around the fire, watching one of the movies that my nephew got for Christmas.


So yes, I would say that Santa brought me what I wanted.

[Codeine]

34. I got books, games, a hoodie, and a killer Star Wars t-shirt.

Geek Heaven.

[DainBramaged]

35. NICE

I gave a bunch, but I got a gorgeous NASCAR limited edition book, a sweatshirt, a hand made kitteh paw print scarf, and some trinkets from my sweetie. I see my kidlette tomorrow. I got her a Kindle and her last semester at school along with a huge stocking with silly stuff in it....

[SoCalDem]

37. I didn't want anything, and Santa brought me exactly that..

We quit trading gift-cards with our adult sons a few years ago.. and of course my husband loves the "new plan".. He pretty much soured me on Xmas years ago, when it was blatantly obvious that I always knew exactly what he would like, and searched high & low to find it..and a kamikaze last minute dash to get me "whatever" was fine for his shopping..

He knew that I was "in charge" of all the remembering of holidays, birthdays etc, and even at 40 yrs of marriage, he would have to stop & think to remember our son's birthdays..

He shrugs it off as "being busy", but I chalked it up to being an only child in a rather stand-offish family.. His mother was past forty when she had him (her one & only), and her idea of a perfect christmas gift for a child was socks & pajamas:)

For years I tried to "change" him, but to no avail, so I ended up "Scrooged" into doing less and less.. I give cash to the kids & have since they were teens.. Cash is what they really want anyway.

Throughout the year, as I see things I know they would like, I just buy them and just "gift" them whenever:)

At Christmas time I bake & send them a care package, but no real "gifts"..

No tree either since it would just be a plaything for our naughty kitties:)

[Codeine]

38. "No tree either since it would just be a plaything for our naughty kitties"

People used to ask me why I put up a tree even as a bachelor. I told them half the fun of Christmas was watching my cat go batshit crazy trying to knock ornaments off the darned thing. :D