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December 20, 2018: Ope!

26 Comments

I tell my wife that my family is really bad at telling what we want for Christmas because we're Minnesotan. She says it's just because my family is weird like that. Honestly, I'm not sure which it is.

26 thoughts on “December 20, 2018: Ope!”

    1. Our church school kids love old fashioned hard candy. They also seem to love root beer. I don't know if those things are coming back into fashion or if it's just a thing with our kids.

    2. Reindeer Corn and Christmas Peeps are just abominations.
      And I don't consider cherry cordials particularly Christmasy. But Pine Tree nougats... I get it.
      I get the old fashioned candy, too. Especially if it's truly old fashioned, with mystery flavors and mystery fillings, or whatever Grandma BBS used to have in a greenglass bowl. Green and white stripes... cinnamon, spearmint, green apple, or vague "fruit"? Is that peanut butter inside the yellow peppermint? [Nancy Kerrigan "Why?".gif] The only safe choice was the raspberry-shaped, raspberry-flavored ones.

    1. Yeah, it's kind of a wierd arrangement anyhow..."I have to give you a gift to show how I care and how thoughtful we are, so please tell me what to get so I don't have to do so much thinking..."
      One could make the conclusion that it devalues the whole thing.
      But because it's obligatory, my s-i-l set us all up on Giftster to share Christmas lists. On the one hand, I can be pretty sure what I'm going to get for our exchange, but on the other hand, I can be pretty sure what I'm going to get.

      1. For my in-laws' secret Santa exchange, I never entered anything one year. My MiL or FiL got me a heavy fleece bathrobe and heavy fleece pajama pants. I am a hot and sweaty sleeper wearing solely shorts.
        For for the next few years, I was sure to enter a list. I haven't done so yet this year.

      2. This is why I hate Christmas. The obligation that gift giving has become is extraordinarily difficult for me and I don't have any religious reasons to fall back on for the holiday. My wife is always completely surprised that I always tell her the best gift she can give me (and this goes for my birthday as well) is nothing.

      3. We always try to do at least one or two homemade gifts and we often just buy stuff we know the other person wants (wine, restaurants, coffee, clothes) and just doesn't always feel right about spending money on. Rarely is there the, "Holy crap you blew my mind with the perfect present." Though I was able to do that for my father a few years ago when I got him an electric starter for his pick-up. He still raves about it and would have never spent the money himself on it.

        This is all for immediate family. Stopped getting gifts for other relatives years ago. Buying a gift for someone I see once, maybe twice per year (and talk to just as much) is just silly. Let's hang out and enjoy each other's company.

        1. "But the one time

          would have never spent the money himself on it.

          This is the way to go. Things that are fun to have, even if little ones, that I wouldn't have bought otherwise.
          Truth be told, we do a (relatively) low-value dice game gift exchange at one of our gatherings and I almost always buy something I want but probably wouldn't otherwise and see if I can get it back. Fishing lures, etc. This year I'm going for some wireless earbuds.

      4. I love the challenge of trying to find the perfect gift. I'm always much better at finding that for other people than I am at putting my list together. I say that people who expect something off of their list and/or only use other people's lists are the problem. Take the high road, fight the lists!

      5. Mrs. A and I limit our gift-giving to each other and parents. And at that, we've all agreed to just do "stocking stuffers", small things of limited expense. This year, with all the funerals, I barely had time to do that.

        1. Story for you Jeff: one year at the church staff Christmas party, they had a $5 gift exchange/swap, and Mrs. Runner was coming up blank, so I assured her I had it covered. The package was pretty good sized, and a great gag, and it was becoming even better when I saw that the lead pastor (now bishop of MO) had his eye on it. When all the swapping was done, he did in fact end up with it: a throw pillow, and a CD of his latest sermon series!

      6. We've stopped giving gifts (mostly) when the church started a program geared to replace gifts for ourselves with gifts to less fortunate (nursing home residents, children whose parent(s) is in prison, other needy families), although we still throw sometime minor under the tree Christmas day from "Santa" for each other -- this year Mrs. Runner is getting a 3rd generation Chromecast for the master bedroom TV, and Runner daughter is getting the latest edition of Quicken.

      7. I always run down to Greg's Meats in Hampton and buy a bunch of summer sausage to give to the men in the family. This year, I had the added bonus of being in Albert Lea the other day, so I stopped by Steve's Meats in Ellendale on the way back. Oh, my brothers' names are Greg and Steve, so that's part of the charm.

    2. We had our office's White Elephant (dice game) exchange and Hell's Kitchen breakfast this morning.
      One of our rules is that all gifts must be displayed at one's desk through the end of January.
      I found my contribution when shopping for HPR's birthday: an inflatable concrete block.

      My boss ended up with it. I'm going to demand he inflate it.

          1. Looks tasty. But can you be an "underground restaurant" and have a website and be open 7 days per week and be "award-winning"? Inquiring minds want to know.

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