My dad's girlfriend is...eccentric. I have never received a new gift from either of them since my dad met her. Two years ago was a bunch of old gardening stuff, one year was a Yankee candle snowman with no box, just the Styrofoam packaging, and when my son was born they brought a really beat up Christmas candle (he was born in July).
Oh I just remembered, we did get New gifts last year! My H, son and I each got a pair of pajama bottoms.
My dad bought me one of those portable tool bench/sawhorse things for my birthday this year. He was all 'It's for your business! If you can't use it then H can!'. The 'business' was my H doing odd construction jobs on the side after he got laid off. Like, he knew I wouldn't use it but he got it anyway because H could use it. Sooooooo my H got a nice saw horse for my birthday. It still ticks me off.
My parents gave me rocks "from Santa" when I was 6 or 7 years old. Apparently my brother and I had had a bad December and that was my dad's idea to punish us. It was traumatic.
It was sent to me by the same SIL who sent me her Xmas gifts for my whole family (and ILs) to wrap (2 years now) because she is too busy. She does not work outside the home and has two teenagers. I am sure that she is busy, but not THAT BUSY.
My parents gave me rocks "from Santa" when I was 6 or 7 years old. Apparently my brother and I had had a bad December and that was my dad's idea to punish us. It was traumatic.
Just rocks? Or in addition to real gifts?
No, we had real gifts too. But they definitely brought the shame when we opened the rocks. "SANTA KNEW YOU WERE BAD THIS YEAR" etc.
My parents gave me rocks "from Santa" when I was 6 or 7 years old. Apparently my brother and I had had a bad December and that was my dad's idea to punish us. It was traumatic.
I am sad for you. ETA: Even if you did get other stuff. Christmas Morning is not the time for kid shaming no matter what happened prior (unless you like robbed a bank?).
For H's family, we've done $5 gifts the past few years, and we've gotten some doozies of gifts. The "best" was my BIL giving us all mugs...with his face on them. We have 2 mugs in our cabinet with his face on them.
My sister got me a siamese slanket. I did turn around and sell it for $30 my work classifieds. The guy was so thrilled to buy it and was worried someone else had bought it. I could not tell if he wanted it for a real or gag gift.
Once a work Secret Santa gave me a book on raising biracial children (I was not pregnant nor had kids) and a workout weight loss video.
What on earth did you say? That's awful!
I forgot the best part-- he didn't give them to me til February. On the exchange date he gave me a card that said they were coming soon. I didn't say anything. Perhaps he was psychic since I do now have a biracial baby (5 years later). I should have kept the book. The 30 Day Shred is still in the plastic wrapper!
My parents gave me rocks "from Santa" when I was 6 or 7 years old. Apparently my brother and I had had a bad December and that was my dad's idea to punish us. It was traumatic.
I am sad for you. ETA: Even if you did get other stuff. Christmas Morning is not the time for kid shaming no matter what happened prior (unless you like robbed a bank?).
Yeah, if anyone on this board ever wonders why I am always banging on the hippy-dippy positive discipline parenting drum....
I am sad for you. ETA: Even if you did get other stuff. Christmas Morning is not the time for kid shaming no matter what happened prior (unless you like robbed a bank?).
Yeah, if anyone on this board ever wonders why I am always banging on the hippy-dippy positive discipline parenting drum....
I don't blame you. Although I don't think you're all that hippy-dippy. The stuff you post I generally agree with (and I'm not remotely close to hippy..ha) or do myself. The stuff I didn't I learned from you and successfully applied. The "You have one more request" thing has worked wonders in this house this week.
I have a relative who told their children that bad kids get reindeer poop in a bag. Then put a bag of melted chocolate clusters outside their kid's door on Christmas morning just to see them lose it. Not cool, a-hole.
My parents also took away all of my 11th birthday gifts as they felt I was not sufficiently thankful. I said thank you, but my elementary school BFF was over for the family celebration and I guess I was not as effusive as my parents deemed necessary. My mom also admits now that this was a gross overreaction and that she thought this BFF was a spoiled brat and did not want me to have the same attitude. It was like my 11th birthday did not exist.
We do a gift exchange in H's family with a $50 limit. one year I got a $50 check from the person who drew me. What is the point of that?
While disappointing, at least it's better than "Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul" and a Shania Twain Christmas CD the giver bought at a gas station on the way to the party , which my friend got in a similar gift exchange. (Note: she hates cats and is allergic to them. LOL, we were just talking about this at dinner.)
The worst part about this is, you can't really donate it, can you?
Nope, not really a "donate" item. Though, my dad did use one of them as a water cup when he was doing the murals in the nursery, so yay for some use.
The joke after we all opened them was that we were all going to give him mugs with our faces to him the next year. We didn't, but that was mainly because we didn't think his wife (who always comes up with great $5 gifts) wouldn't appreciate 8 mugs with photos.
I get some WTF things from my parents. A few years ago I got a burger press because I made burgers for them when they visited. Uh thanks? My hands work just fine. The burger press was the size of a dessert plate too.
Last year I got a tire pressure gauge. It lives in H's car now.
Gift twinsies, lol! I got a tire pressure gauge and a tire pump from DH last year!
I got a digital tire gauge this year. I added it and a seatbelt cutter/window breaker tool to my Amazon wish list, mainly for my own reference. I had several "want" type items on there, too, but yeah... my MIL bought those two things for me. And I know because she had them shipped directly here, so I opened the Amazon box without a second thought.
Yay for saving $15 because I won't have to buy them for myself...?
I got a set of crappy plastic cookie cutters from dh's grandma. And they were used with dough still hanging on em.
To be fair, the woman will sometimes gift us a check with a grand in it but other years we get stuff like that. It really runs the gamut.
my grandma was like this.
she was thrifty to a fault, but also incredibly generous. i would get these wild, often bedazzled shirts from the JC Penny clearance rack that cost <$2 (i know because i would try to return them for store credit, lol). i am, and always have been, very much a plain, solid coloured t-shirt kind of girl. one year i got a set of nail polish that had a colour for each day of the week. except some of the bottles were half used. my mom remembered her buying it that summer at a yard sale. every birthday and christmas was like this.
then, when my parents built a new house, my grandma declared that none of our furniture was suitable for such a nice new space (she wasn't wrong, our furniture was 3rd and 4th generation hand me down stuff that was awful) so she took them shopping to the tune of $10,000. when i went to college and again when i got married, she basically opened her checkbook to me. they had the money because she was thrifty though. i've always been fascinated by when and how she spends her money.