Well, I suppose that I can now reminisce about Christmas.

Christmas was good. Good company, good family, good gifting...all good. I've discovered that my niece has no problem wrapping me around her little finger...I'm going to have to learn to say "no" to her...My theme gift was a hit (for those who want to know they were Kazoos. I got a good deal.)

The L00t list is as follows (please bear in mind, this is just the L00t that came to me, everyone in the family got pretty impressive lists):

From the Guy's Night gift exchange - 1 2009 desk calendar. "Occupational Hazards" - very cool, it's sitting on my desk right now.
From my sister K (and i think the rest of my sisters also chipped in on this): 1 Nintendo DS Lite
From my Mother and father - 4 pairs of underwear and the Nintendo DS game "Brain Age"
From my Wife: 1 Nintendo DS Game "Brain Age 2" and 3 spare styluses (Light Saber style!)
From my in-Laws: 1 pair Reebok sneakers and $50 cash (this is split between Christmas and birthday and is specifically for the DVR project I'm currently building...very cool)

That turned out to be a nice little Christmas. So nice, in fact, that I supplemented the gifts with a couple more pairs of shoes, a carrying case and screen guards for the DS Lite, and a few other games...

I'm looking forward to the new year now. Christmas was very very nice.

Hope everyone had as good a Christmas!

Tags: christmas
Current Mood: chipper

A quick note:

The Guy's Night gift exchange took place last night, and my theme gifts seemed to go over pretty well. This is a good sign for my other friends.

MUAHAHAHA!!!!

It'll be Awesome!

Tags: christmas, secret santa, theme gifts
Current Mood: cheerful

I am feeling kind of good. My theme gift arrived, BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and I'll be able to give it out before the Guy's Night gift exchange. Bonus!

It's seriously the silliest theme gift I've ever come up with, and I've had a few beauts! Let's see,

I once bought my friends a drink (Of course, since all of my friends couldn't be at the same place at the same time for Christmas, I had to buy them drink "parts", glasses included, and they had to mix them. This sounds cooler than it turned out - mostly due to 1 ingredient. NOTE: for the wise person who wants to duplicate this, SKIP DRINKS WITH TABASCO)

I once gave Christmas ornaments.

There was the year I gave out MP3 players (Thanks, www.woot.com) {Not all friends were hit on this one, but it was on the pricier side}


There was the ONE NAPKIN RING (one ring to bind them...yadda yadda yadda)


You should be getting the point. This year, I saw an online deal that was absolutely perfect, and well within this economy's budget - And now, I just have to wrap them.

MUAHAHAHAHAAHAHHA!!!!!!!!!!!

Tags: christmas, theme gifts
Current Mood: chipper

OK. I'm starting by reminding myself that I LOVE Christmas. I always have. When I was young it was the "getting presents" business, and that's still nice, but as I've gotten older, I find I enjoy giving the gifts even more. And not just giving the gift, but hunting for and capturing a good one.

A gift doesn't need to be "perfect", but that helps. I do settle for "good" gifts, mostly because you can't top "perfect". I've succeeded in getting my wife 3 "Perfect" gifts in the ten years I've been together with her..."Perfect" is tough. "Good" works just fine. For me seeking and finding a fitting gift for the people I know is a way to show them I care.

On top of this, I tend to do a theme gift, sort of as a joke, but also to reflect my personality to them.

So, all of the above still applies - BUT - (c'mon, you knew that was coming) then we get to these Secret Santa initiatives. The concept of the Secret Santa is nice enough, but I prefer not being involved in this type of gift exchange. When I buy gifts for people, I prefer it to be people I know, because I like to think I know their tastes. Secret Santa exchanges have the extreme potential to put me in line to purchase a gift for someone I not only don't know, but also don't like.

At the businesses where I have worked, I have always declined to be part of Secret Santa, specifically because I find it unfair to me to find a gift for someone I don't know, and equally unfair to that someone. Yeah, sure, you're supposed to get to know that person better by being their Secret Santa, but how can you get to know that person better when it's supposed to be a secret?

This brings me to a small bit of embarrassment. The Guys' Night crew have decided on a Secret Santa gift exchange this year. Let's face it, the economy is pretty bad, and people might not be able to afford a large Christmas gift-getting frenzy this year. This is true for the Guys, and for myself, so we all agreed on the Secret Santa exchange. After all, buying one gift is more economical than buying six.

After we determined who was assigned to whom, we promised to keep to only one rule: We will not tell each other for whom we are buying a gift.

Now, you would think that the Secret Santa situation for the Guys would be the perfect blend of my Christmas loves and hates. After all, I'm not buying for strangers, right? Right. That being said; however, it is still possible to be given the one person you know the least about. Did this happen to me? Why, yes, yes it did. I know the guy, he's a nice guy, but I know practically nothing about him.

This isn't really an issue, though because I can just ask the other guys who know him best about what he likes....Oh, sorry, it's SECRET Santa, and we have this ONE rule -- and clearly, asking such a question will point the finger at whom I'm assigned to Santa for.

Did I mention I don't care for the Secret Santa thing, and regularly don't participate?

Since not participating isn't an option, I went out shopping last night. I got him something. I hope he likes it, because I can only guess what his tastes are. I went on this theory: All of the other guys would think this was a cool gift - Hell even I think this would be a cool gift - so I can hope that this guy will think it's cool, too.

We'll wait and see.

Tags: christmas, secret santa
Current Mood: blah