Hahahahha that's hilarious. We did a Yankee Swap and you had to bring odd gifts (nutty family), suffice it to say my husband, who got the number one ticket and could pick anything came home with a LEG LAMP from the movie A Christmas Story. LOL Believe me it's going in his hobby room.

Well, just check this out.....I gave my DH a bag of honey roasted Peanuts, DD a bag of raw cashews and DS a bag of special trail mix. We got sspecial french chocolates, MATCHING boxes of "no fat Cheese" crackers and some H&D boxes of fruit. DGS 23 years old (but about 12) got a bowling ball and bag and a lego thing. We are all delighted with our 'thought full' gifts, enjoyed a Christmas movie on TV, a wonderful dinner with each other and jazzed around to Mannheim Steamroller for a really wonderful day. We have a warm home, food, family and love. I just wish everyone had that. Happy Holidays everyone.

PS....I also got a lovely t-shirt like sweater (warm and decorated) that I bought for myself, DH got warm sweats, that he bought for himself, DS got a 2 new Yoga mats, one he bought for himself and DD got two lacy scarfs and a cute apron that I knitted and sewed......many other aprons for others as well and DH and DS have put in requests for aprons as well. I call that a success. (and no remaining clutter, if we can work off the pounds)

We decided not to exchange gifts.....but DH didn't listen. He got me three jars of Montmorency cherries from Trader Joe's....he said he wanted to buy a case but they only had the three. I love them and was touched by his thoughtfulness.

DH has me make a list and then he picks a couple things from it. We had already "bought" each other new smart phones and always buy what we want anyway. He got me a Cuisinart Hand Blender, a new Tervis Tumbler with lid, some lottery tickets and we will be going to the jewelry store for me to pick out new diamond stud earrings. I wear the ones I have all the time, and love them, but they are small enough that they want to go all the way in the pierce hole. LOL

We don't normally exchange gifts but this year hubby needed a few things badly so I picked them up for him and he was given a couple of options, one was practical and the other pretty. Hubby went for the pretty one and purchased me my first Pandora bracelet with 3 beads. He doesn't realize I made birthday's, anniversary's etc. much easier for him. Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. We're back to work now and it's really hard to get in the swing of things but we work together so that makes it a bit easier.

I was gonna ask "how long have you been married", but maybe the better quesiton should be, "how much longer will you be married"? At least he makes you laugh!

(BIG grin)

-Robin

DH does not want to exchange, he says I am too hard to buy for! My DD's say HELLO have you ever met mom, just look around the house;) I ordered books from Amazon, he paid for them~~I got a Macy's GC and a new big ole Buddha for the yard~~~he got me one for Mothers day and saw how much I enjoy it so he got another;)I also picked up a new purse at Macy's while shopping for others, that he will pay for~~he does not know that yet HA!

(((Marilyn Sue))) I'm sorry. I remember your posts about his polishing his change with your undies and about the major *machinery* he's bought 'for you'.

These Christmas gifts certainly show he sees you In The Kitchen. "...pumpkin eater...and there he kept her very well."

Have courage!

Reminds me of a few gifts I have received form Larry over the years. When he used to go out west hunting I knew what he brought back for me was from a truck stop they stopped at on the way home. Many laughs now when we all think about them. He has improved greatly these later years due to help from our daughters.This year I got a new cell phone. YEA!!! I have just learned over the years how he is but he is so wonderful in so many other ways..

My kids, on the other hand, are wonderful to us. I got an ipad from our son's family, a Garmin GPS( I guess they don't want Ole Grandma to get lost ) from our daughter's family and a couple really nice bedside tables for out house down south ( we have been using TV trays for longer then I want to even think about ). Plus other goodies, too. But the best of all is the family time together..

I'm going to resist commenting on Susie53's gift for the "out" house:!!

We don't exchange gifts any more, but do the Dirty Santa thing, and it is surprising how it usually works out, and is so much fun.

The best comment I heard over the holidays was from my youngest DGGS. He told his mom he liked coming to Mamaw's house for Christmas because "we play games."

Marilyn Sue, I look forward to hearing what your DH gave you each year. Always makes me smile. "Gotta love him."

Sue

Thanks for the laugh, Marilyn Sue! He probably thought he did a great job..... Poor dears, most of them just don't have a clue. I finally learned we're all happier when I give dh a list to choose from, a very specific list.

Yogalady, my dh is similar in that when something works once for him, it's definitely worth another try. :)

Very funny post and funny responses. I enjoyed hearing about your "gift".

Robin....BIG grin from me too!!!

Hi Sue... what a guy you're married to! My DH said that he heard about someone who bought his wife something HE wanted himself for Christmas, and the next Christmas she bought him a dress! He said "I learned my lesson"! LOL!

Some years he buys me nothing and I don't think he really picked this out and bought, I think he got them free when he purchased some coins for the kids, he goes overboard for the kids with cash and his coin gifts. He never remembers a birthday or an anniversary. December 4th was 59 years.

Sue in the big snow storm and he is home from work today :)

Sue, for years I use to go out and buy myself whatever I wanted for Christmas and wrap everything up and put it under the tree. To tell you the truth, I would shop early enough that I actually forgot what I bought and would be pleasantly surprised when I opened the packages, The good news is, I liked everything, and everything fit. The kids all laughed because I would be so excited and thank DH profusely after every gift. They all knew I bought it for myself. Usually every year he would buy me a watch but this year we just said enough, my gift to him was no gift so he doesn't have to worry about returning anything and his gift to me was a couple of jackets I bought a few days before Christmas. It works for us.

Men really have no imagination~~~~it is a sad truth;)

When we were first married he would give me gifts that I didn't like or had to exchange. He decided that he wasn't going to try anymore to please me so his simple solution was not to buy anything. So, many years ago we quit giving gifts to each other. We buy what we want when we see it all during the year.

For Christmas this year we got a stainless French door refrigerator, stainless dishwasher, stainless range hood and each of us got a Samsung Galaxy 10" tablet. I would say that this was the best Christmas ever and we are both happy.

Next year we just might not get anything but that is our choice. Life is good and we are happy after 45 years together.

I really can't complain, we will buy stuff if we want it and can afford it when we want it, that does make it harder to find something special. He is always telling me to get what ever it is am yearning for, I am the one that says no.
This year when I saw the tablet I had been wanting go on a great sale, I jumped on it and told him he just got me my special Christmas gift. He was so excited since it meant he was done before he even started lol.
I have been asking him what he wants, oh nothing! Then a week before Christmas he says you know I would like one of those things we saw on the tv show I want that. Um ok who makes it? don't know. I searched for days (thanks for the new tablet!) and finally find the stupid thing only to find out it is made in the Netherlands and I can't find it anywhere in the USA. The question now is why the heck did they tempt him with this on the tv show only to find we can't get it.
So he gets nothing for Christmas from me except a card. I am more upset about it than he is. But I am determined will find one eventually.

At least the gifts he gave you are things you can use lol

My oldest DD always takes her Dad (my DH) shopping about 2 weeks before Christmas for me. This year, my TV got replaced with a new flat screen and a DVR player. My other TV was giving me problems, but cheapo me would not replace it. This is a father-daughter thing they do every year. I give them some ideas. Am pleased for this year.
I gave him a student desk with one drawer to put one of the printers on to replace a old card table. He liked it. Had son in law put it together.

So...Marilyn Sue...I can't really say here what I'm thinking, but it isn't how funny or cute this is. (Where does your DH think those precious kids came from -- stork brought 'em and raised 'em?)

My DH and I have actually become much happier together over the years. Rough beginning...happy ending? We're two years from our 50th.

No exchange between myself and DH. We had Sears put a new vinyl floor in our kitchen a couple weeks ago. We gave our two daughters cash and they got us a nice flat screen TV 46 inches. It's like being at a movie theatre only you're lying in bed with a pillow under your head. Very nice of them!

OOPS - I meant our house!!!!!

One year a friend of mine got a dish strainer from her hubby. Believe me he never did that again..

I bet we can all remember some crazy thing we received at one time or another. Wonderful memories for some of us.

usually dh gets me one gift i get "teary" over, but we had gone to best buy, and got a couple of puter related things..howevr he did manage to surprise me with gold earrings, and chain..took that back today..omg couldhave shot him for what it cost (and tiny!)

however it was my dgd alex who made me cry...her lego engineering project was apicture book family trip to mt rushmore which we took 2 years ago...it sent she and her team to states...(they got an honorable mention) the letter that came with the gift was so sweet...couldn't help but get teary...

Hummm...dishtowels? Not too exciting, I agree. It would have been better to get hand-written certificates offering for him to do the dishes for X number of times throughout the next year. Maybe 365 times? LOL

I recieved a knife one Christmas, too; but I had asked for it. DH came in the kitchen while I was trying to chop veggies with a very inadequate knife. He said "What do you want for Christmas?"

I waved the flimsy knife about and said "A real chef's knife that can really cut and chop anything."

I got a lovely Zwilling J.A. Henckles knife that is still going strong. I'm fortunate that he keeps all my knives sharp.

I don't have a matched "set" of knives but he's added versions of several of his "game knives" that work beautifully. I have a short, fixed-blade Schrade that is perfect for taking apart raw chicken; two sizes of boning knives that are wonderful for carving cooked meats too, and the 15-year-old Zwilling is still going strong.

This is the year of "no presents but lots of love", and not by my choice LOL. For 11 years, I've spent the entire year trying to figure out exactly what I should get Dave for Christmas, but he just DOESN'T care what he gets..a few books, maybe a puzzle or a crossword book..he's fine..yes, I am the saddest person ever, when my "I've aced it..I KNOW what to get him, only to find turntables for the comp, weather stations he mentioned a million times, the teak shower bench that he said he'd spend cold winter nights sat upon in our brand new slate and stone shower with power jets beating him into submission (only to find he only uses it to stand his shampoo bottle on!) gifts still in their boxes, partly assembled, or just given away.

The past couple of years I've given in to his wishes/wants.. and he's been happy with the books he's shopped/bought himself. I'm not, as I love the shopping/surprising/amusing little tags on/thought of you gift giving, and yes selfishly, I wish he liked doing the same as well.

When we bought this house with the woodstove, I mentioned that some of the wood that I was splitting and stacking in the woodshed needed a splitting wedge..lo and behold, come Christmas morning, I received a 5lb ice cold wedge of steel..wrapped in a paper bag, and no tag, no name.. yes, I did ask for it, and he's still as happy as a pig in.. whatever ;) lol at the surprised look on my face when that was my ONE gift for the year! Guess I fooled him with my acting skills..so well that the next year I got a Lodge cast iron griddlepan to cook his steaks in for the winter times! Yes, wrapped this time in real wrapping paper and the price tag on it so I'd know how much he appreciates me!!!

This year, he asked in November for my list.. I know, gasp! He's cracked it, he's figured out I like to receive AND to give. I'd secretly had books shipped by his parents from England, and a couple of neat things to surprise him, but not over whelm him.

On Saturday, December 22 DH Dave went out to the garage to bring in one of the last pieces of door trim we were doing as one of my begged for gifts, and he fell in the snow on a slick of ice. He broke the ball off the top of his humerus, dislocated his shoulder blade and broke his collar bone. After surgery to pin everything to gether, locate the shoulder blade and arm bone, he's home from the hospital now. With his sling and pain meds in place, he's mostly comfortable, but he won't be able to hold the massive hardover books he so wanted, he can't drink the lovely wines and beers he bought, or do the shopping on the list he asked me for in November. He will be able to start therapy in about 2 weeks, and with at least 6 weeks off work that we can ill afford, he has lots of time to think of gifts for next year! Guess I won't be asking for door trim or a splitting wedge! I do love him..honestly! LOL Sorry for the novel! Off to shovel the snow so I can bring in a couple of bins of firewood that I split, with a great wedge!

I only wanted he and Rachel back, just for 5 minutes. I only lost him 3 weeks ago, and Rachel 1 1/2 years (feels like FOREVER). My only comfort is praying they were able to spend it together up there.

Oh Jamie....what a sad time for you. It makes my heart hurt to think of you and the other recently bereaved facing your first holiday alone. I hope that you have many happy memories of many Christmases past that you shared with your very loved ones. Nanny

Jamie, I feel the same - I would give everything I own if only my DH was still here to give me dish towels - like you, I hope he looks down and knows I love him and miss him.

My husband doesn't buy gifts for me....married almost 47 years. And that is fine. I got my teeth fixed this year...that should cover about 50 years of gifts. I will tell you one thing....if he came home with a card and flowers, I would throw him out of the house. There isn't anything that would interest me any less. I like flowers...I buy plants and he has been known to bring me cuttings off of a rose he saw some place and that is great. I like that. To me that shows more thought than card and grabbing a bouquet somewhere. But, hey....I could always use dish towels, and if I were you, Marilyn Sue, if there was something that I wanted, I would go buy it and that would be my gift to myself.

Didn't get anything for my housemates ... the mice.

The little beggars had chewed holes into several of the squash that I'd stored in the basement, when it got rather cold in the barn.

And they dug a hole at the bottom of the large operational bag of cat food in the back porch (not what one would call an "out" house, whether in the south or not) ... and when it was pretty well finished and I went to open the second bag (special price if one bought two at once) ...

... the little beggars had chewed a hole in the top of that one, too!

Plus, they chewed a hole in a plastic bottle of catsup ... and a bottle of pancake syrup, in the kitchen: that's about enough to make the air blue, for a while.

My letter to Santa suggested a lump of coal for them!

ole joyful

Looks like Christas comes ...

... twice a year?!

(Anybody interested in some computer stuff from China?).

(What's that - it's almost all from China (or the vicinity)?)!

o j