My sister coming to visit!

Mini ipad was the big gift.

I got an iPad mini too. The long awaited mini with retina display.

I got two Christmases with the DH, the kids and grands- one at the wood house (the name for my primary residence which my grandchildren named- the house is brick but there are trees in the yard) with 10 members of the family, and the other at the riverhouse - all 15 under one roof for long weekend. Great fun, lots of cooking and eating, playing, and working. Weather was warm enough for kids to play outside. - lots of tree climbing, skateboarding, soccer, football. For us, our get togethers, particularly those at the riverhouse, always include drama and adventure. My grandkids have plenty of stories to tell. This weekend son-in-law took three little girls for a short boat excursion in our skiff to collect some sea glass and treasures. Unfortunately the motor died, fortunately close enough to call for help. Although they had drifted farther away, my DH successfully rescued them by towing the skiff with a little dinghy powered by a small electric motor. DH says he will never forget granddaughter standing on seat waving her arms in distress signals. The girls were cold, but enjoyed the steam bath/spa that there mothers had prepared for them. . I am so grateful for my wonderful family and the fun times we have together.

A pair of socks, five pounds of home roasted coffee, some home made lotions and potions and three of the most beautiful letters I have received to date. My best gift was a house full of people who love me enough to come over.

DH and I don't exchange gifts.

Both my sons came home xmas day, youngest leaves tomorrow night, oldest is here another week. First time we've all been under the same roof in 2 years - not a thing could compare.

I asked for wedding pics from DD's wedding that happened in August-I'd not gotten any but a couple shots posted on FB, and a new spatula. Got both! My DS works in a restaurant so he got me a professional grade spatula which had me giddy. (I'm so easy to please), and I got several choice wedding pics beautifully framed-made me cry.

I also got some of my favorite handmade soap and a glittered flying pig night light. It's amazing, and perfectly up my alley.

I asked my DH for a few Honey-do items, and he really came thru on some already. This is really a big deal-he doesn't always complete a project all the way thru, but he did and it really made me feel very valued. THAT is a good gift.

Christmas morning with my son and grandson was the best gift, but second best was tix to see Sting and Paul Simon who are touring together! Oh, my, I can't wait!

Here is a link that might be useful: My gift!

The time spent with my friends and family was better than any gift.

Happiness of being with all my children and DH under one roof, all healthy and positive.
Lots of playing games and watching old movies.
Great food and weather mild enough for walks outside.

A good friend made it through brain cancer surgery to spend another Christmas with his family.
Another friend suffered a house fire, but everyone (and pets) made it out safely.

I also have a pile of new books to read and the entire series Upstairs, Downstairs to watch.

Happy New Year, everyone. :)

We had a quiet Christmas this year, the five of us plus my mother. The highlight was definitely seeing the Nutcracker on Christmas Eve. No matter how many times I've seen it, to see it danced beautifully is still a magical experience. This year was especially wonderful.

Unfortunately DH, whose heart is in the right place but who should not be allowed to shop by himself, bought iPads for adult kids who already had their own ipads. They were all returned the day after Christmas! I received a very lovely pair of sapphire earrings that I had.....preselected.....for myself oNext year is our year to go away for Christmas, and I am thinking London or Scotland and planning already!

a neon colored friendship bracelet made by my 9 year old grandson, I will wear it proudly !!

dh and I don't exchange gifts since we buy what we want/need during the yearâ¦..
We did gift our children some fun $$ to splurge on whatever they want, and I got the girls a clarisonic brush because I love mine.

what I will get in january is a day of checking out the mark downs at my favourite stores, what usually happens is that I get tempted by new spring arrivalsâ¦..

I got some nice work out clothes from my husband using our gift system: I pick, he pays :).

And continuing my late adapter quest, we became the last home in America to get a flat screen tv, with the purchase of a honking big smart Samsung. It's definitely smarter than I am but thankfully my 22-YO daughter is helping me figure out how to use it.

Which is to say use it after my 80-year old father tipped me off that you have to find HD television stations or the picture doesn't look too good and thus one can get completely unhinged after laboriously setting everything up and then facing the prospect of having bought a broken HD tv set because one is still watching the non-HD stations one used to view....'nuff said!

I should also thank the Best Buy installer who connected *EVERY* *SINGLE* *CABLE* incorrectly when they delivered it. What a great set of mental synapse exercise I got yesterday during the 4+ hours it took to figure out how to actually get the tv to work, including almost 2 hours on the phone with the AT&T UVerse tech support person.

I know, first world problems to the max and I truly am blessed and grateful for the abundance in my life, particularly the non-material kind including my family together for the holiday, all mostly healthy and mostly happy. Life is good.

Ann

I consider myself fortunate that all 3 adult kids were here for gift sharing and dinner. Now that my eldest is married I know that I'm lucky - I don't ever want them to feel torn between 2 sets of parents or their own preferences.

In spite of our annual promise not to exchange gifts DH gave me the new Kindle Fire HDX. I've been wanting a tablet for a while but hadn't selected one yet.

Running...if you have cable you should have a special button on your remote that will take you to the HD station of the network you are watching. (Ours is the little red 'C' near the bottom. )

We, too, received our first flat screen this year and are in learning mode.

ML

I'm lucky to have most of my family live nearby and we enjoy the holidays immensely. My husband gave me a new John Hardy ring with white sapphires and my daughter gave me the bracelet. Neither of them were needed but I do enjoy them.

My husband and I don't exchange gifts, we buy what we want and need when we want and need it. Years ago, I read the Five Love Languages book. In the quiz to determine how much importance we put on the 5 basic ways to give and receive love, we both scored the lowest on gifts.

My family opted to not exchange gifts this year. Some years we pick a name, others we just buy stocking stuffers for everyone, and sometimes, like this year, we skip the gift part. I suspect they would all score low on giving and receiving gifts as well.

I wish my in law family wouldn't give me gifts but it's how they show affection so it will never stop. I accept the things graciously and use what I can and donate the rest. It is important to them to give and receive gifts so we play along.

And you, jterrilynn?

Hhireno, I haven't read that book but suspect we would score low as well. It was Christmas Eve when I asked DH if he got me a gift. When he said 'no', I was relieved because I hadn't purchased him one either.

We treat ourselves to things we want/need throughout the year but buying stuff for the sake of stuff has little appeal.

We do buy for our kids and grands. (We mailed Derek his gifts as it's too soon for him to visit.) We just ask for letters instead of gifts. They go into my family scrap book. Acid free, of course!

Hi all, husband and I booked our rooms and flights for the next summer vacation. We are spending a few days in an area of England I have never visited, Devon. My brother in-law bought a cottage he is remodeling. He is also building a boat and I hope itâÂÂs done in time as excluding a barge ride down the Thames I have never been boating in the UK. We are all going to Croatia after that which IâÂÂm very excited about. I am fretting about spending all that money especially since the new house needs so much work. But then I have to remind myself thatâÂÂs what the downsize was all about. I also almost got some Angle fragrance lotion. My husband ordered it online and had it gift wrapped. The package made it to the local FedEx and was never seen again. I have another on the way but this time no gift wrap. I hope the employee at FedEx enjoys my fragrance. My boys gave me a gift certificate (early) to a restaurant I go to every Christmas Eve for a giant assorted platter of oysters and a bottle of wine. I love that tradition! IâÂÂm happy about getting the gift certificate as the restaurant is very pricy. Every year my husband tells me horror stories of consumed oysters while we are in the parking lot before entering trying to get out of the expense lol.

It's an interesting book and a quick read, I'd recommend it. The premise is we give love the way we want to receive it so if you can identify what it takes for others to feel loved, you can respond appropriately and strengthen the relationship.

I just dug the book out to confirm the 5 styles (since I can't recall them without checking) -
Words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch.

How I put this knowledge into action is I know my husband scored higher on physical touch than I did so I make sure to touch him (in a non sexual way) frequently. It benefits me because we do feel more connected when we physically connect, even if it's just as simple as holding his hand while we're watching tv.

But enough of my sidetrack, besides a new house what did you get jterrilynn?

DH is always too generous on holidays (on the other hand, it would never occur to him to get me any kind of gift, even flowers, on any other day of the year, which I sometimes think is weird but that's just who he is). So my stocking contained a diamond ring from Tiffany, an Anna Sportun necklace, tickets to the play "Once"*, and a spa gift card.

I really do enjoy just visiting with family and friends more than getting gifts, but the gifts are pretty nice, too.

* DH did not check with me -- the Keeper Of The Calendar -- prior to buying the tickets, and one of my gifts to him was a pair of tickets to see a different show on the SAME night! gah! Still haven't decided what to do...

We keep it low-key for gifts for each other. We have a small house and don't have a lot of space. I got perfume, pajamas, a tagine cookbook, and some Spode serving dishes I liked. We will also get a household gift. In the past we got a KA stand mixer, a surround sound, and this year it was an air popcorn popper in the shape of the Stanley Cup, LOL. We are watching the NHL Winter Classic right now.

I am also getting my convertible top motor replaced, so I don't know if that really counts as a household gift, but we both enjoy the car though I drive it. DH does not like driving stick shift. The 50th Anniversary of the Mustang is being hosted here, so I have to get ready for the show!

The other thing I said I really want for Christmas is a day off! They close our campus for he entire week, so I just put my email on "out of the office" auto-reply.

This post was edited by gsciencechick on Wed, Jan 1, 14 at 15:10

You will enjoy Devon, jterrilynn. Much of it is picture postcard pretty with winding country lanes flanked by high hedges. It has village after village with thatched cottages with gardens bursting with flowers. Perhaps best of all are the Devon cream teas!

Hubby and I spent the week of Christmas in Hawaii with our daughter, her hubby and their 9 month old daughter. She was young enough that the most excitement she got out of her first Christmas was tearing up the left over Christmas wrap. She's such a happy sweet baby.
We Skyped with our son and his son on Christmas day from the beach, which our 6 year old grandson got a kick out of. The "things" I got didn't compare to the time spent with family. Just wish our son and grandson could have physically been with us.

gsciencechick - One of my favorite old cars - what year do you have?

We had a really nifty one - a 1964 1/2 black convertible with red interior. It wasn't all original parts so the price was reasonable when we bought it in 1990. It was an automatic and DH and our neighbor (mostly our neighbor) turned it into a stick. And as a bonus to me also gave it power steering. That was our nice weather, Sunday afternoon go for a drive car. We had that until our oldest was ready to drive then we sold it - much to his dismay - it just wasn't safe enough for a teen.

Then to add insult to injury we gave him my old station wagon - complete with fake wood paneling.

My sister has an all original 64 1/2 Mustang. It's a nice one in very good condition. It's just sitting in her garage where it's been since her DH passed away.

I agree about gifts not being important. We celebrate the religious aspect of Christmas. We also love the time of celebrating with family and friends. Being together, all the little traditions, etc. of the holiday. Right down to unpacking the tree ornaments and remembering where/when we got the ornaments.

My side of the family quit doing gifts years ago. I wish my MIL would also, but we humor her.

I do LOVE getting gifts for my husband and we always do something for each other. Even though I could care less if I have a gift, I truly enjoy picking out special things for him. It's just the two of us and we also buy what we want/need (within reason) but my husband isn't as good about buying things for himself (as he is about giving), so I love "treating" him.

tina

It's a 1994, so it's just "old" vs. a classic, so a lot of original parts like that need to be replaced.

It looks and drives like the day I got it though.

I think my husband got me something unusual, cool and interesting for Christmas. He got me a special aquarium and three pet jellyfish.

I love jellies, and am very excited about the gift. When the tank is balanced, the jellies will be shipped to me express. I'll post pictures when I'm all set up.

I think, if I have two boys and a girl, I will name them jack Aubrey, Stephen maturin, and Diana from the master and commander books.

We celebrate the religious view of Christmas and family and friends are better than any material gift I could ever receive.

But since you asked...
Sander, sandpaper, levels, wood files, set of small screw drivers (Dad was so happy to go Christmas shopping for me this year, lol.), perfume, lotion, wire cooling racks, loaf pan, hand potato masher, hand grater, Two seasons of The Office, gift cards, money, books, plaid fabric button earrings, a few neat decorative items, and a scale. The best material gift was a landscape painting done by my sister.

DH & I didn't exchange gifts this year. There were specific things we each wanted so we just bought them. I bought myself a Pottery Barn throw, Etsy necklace, makeup, and some fabric for pillows. We decided next year we're going back to buying stuff for each other since it just wasn't the same as a surprise.

Kiki, that is an awesome gift. Good luck with them. I didn't know you could have pet jelly fish. Post some pictures when you get them settled!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Jellyfish are hard pets to maintain

This post was edited by golddust on Sat, Jan 4, 14 at 14:46

Well, I didn't get the gift I wanted most, our son home for Christmas. He's out of the Army now, but works for them as a civilian contractor. Like so many others, when the government furlough happened late last year, he was forced to use up all of his accrued vacation days in order to keep money coming in for rent, etc. But, that said, he did give us our other requested gift, a donation in our names to the Wounded Warrior Project.
DD was here, though, as she's on Winter Break, and that made our Christmas very special.
Like so many of you here have already mentioned, we're at that stage in our lives where we don't need much and what we do need, we buy it for ourselves when we need it. Plus, our anniversary is January 15th and our birthdays are February 4th (mine) and 8th (DH). So, there's a lot of celebrating happening in a short period of time!
I did get some casual clothes from DH from my favorite store, Talbots. DD got me some great new kitchen accessories from Williams Sonoma, another one of my favorite shops. My parents sent money to have our latest piece of art framed.
The biggest gift, though, was just the happy times celebrating with my DH, DD and our close friends.
Lynn