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Best and Worst Presents???

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  • Best and Worst Presents???

    What were your best and worst presents in 2017. We all need a reminder to be grateful that someone at least gave us a present. For me the worst present was a birthday dinner cooked by a young family member that included six different foods that I hate or am allergic to. He made his favorite meal not mine. All I could do was bite my tongue...say thank you because this family member doesn't usually cook and appreciate the good thoughts behind the effort. As for my best present...my sister found the missing lens from my regular eyeglasses that fell out three weeks ago. I had searched the house on my hands and knees and was convinced it must have fallen into the toilet and was lost forever. She spotted the lens when the sun reflected off it. It had rolled into a room I didn't check because I never go in that room of the house. No need to use the back up glasses any more.

    Your turn...

  • #2
    No real bombs. The ones worth a shrug are a case of 'well, at least they tried.'

    My stepmother gave me a gift pack of Dove brand stuff. The only thing in it I can use is the shampoo and the bar soap, but I imagine dad saw that brand in the bathroom. Can't use aluminum-based antiperspirant, and those moisturizing body washes aren't my thing. (So mom got it. I know she likes it. *shrug*.)

    Mom's 'shrugs' were a butter bell and one of those over-the-door jewelry organizers. The butter bell? Yeah, I do have to soften a pat of butter when I bake bread to put on a hot slice fresh out of the oven. Mom has noticed this when she rearranges her visit schedule to mooch a slice. So it shows she does pay attention. And the jewelry organizer? Well, I do have quite the collection of dangle earrings arranged on a ribbon across my dresser mirror, and they're sometimes hard to search. The pockets in the organizer are awfully big for swarovski crystal dangles, though.

    Hits? Microwave popcorn maker from mom. I use an ancient bulky thing I inherited from my dad's mom. & dad's given up and gives me cash. Cash always fits. He used to take me clothes shopping on my birthday (December 21st) but the shops are so hellishly full at that time of year.

    I gave handknit socks to mom and her boyfriend. Mom had specifically requested hers, and praises the fit. He wears wool socks in his work boots, and likes the fit and colour. (I hope it occurs to him to appreciate the limited edition italian spun merino wool in the end, but pettably soft may be lost on him.)

    Dad actually hasn't got his gift yet- I haven't seen him since before my birthday. But he did say he can't find an egg separator in the shops. I hunted up one of those silly mugs with a face where the white comes out the nose. If that doesn't work well I'm contemplating letting him have his mother's. (I inherited the contents of her house, and at that time I let him have a lot of his requests.) I hardly ever use it- I'm fairly good at the shell juggling trick.

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    • Colleengael
      Colleengael commented
      Editing a comment
      My really tall brother would definitely appreciate hand knit socks. That was the only way we could find socks for his very large feet. Mom always paid a local lady to knit him a dozen pairs of socks each year. I knit garter stitch only and have never been successful with socks. As a left-handed knitter...they never quite turn out.

  • #3
    Some neat new running gear. Suits. Couple bottles of expensive vodka. Nothing much else exciting.
    Highlander: Dark Places

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    • #4
      Best: A Jayne Cobb hat from Firefly. Very shiny, cunning and warm
      Best: Firefly stickers for the van and a set of Firefly pint glasses
      Good: Candy - specifically a Reese's set that includes two mugs, a box of the pieces, a pack of the regular cups and something else
      Good: Gift cards to local restaurants
      Indifferent: A wolf t-shirt. I love wolves and the shirt looks great but I don't like shirts with big designs on them. I'll be looking for a way to make it a decoration
      Indifferent: A wallet. I needed one but don't like the design
      Undecided: A tracking tile. I got this because I lost my last wallet a few times. Haven't set it up yet to test it
      Worse: Coughing and a fever throughout Christmas. I still have the cough
      Gonna change my evil ways...one of these days

      Comment


      • #5
        Check out the dollar stores for a framed art piece that would be the right size for the artwork on your shirt. Then replace it with the shirt design stretched out and secured over it. Or you can go to a craft store to buy a large quilting hoop to use as a frame. If you want to make the wolf look like part of a dream catcher you could also cover a hula hoop with rope or leather laces, feathers and some wood beads with the wolf design stretched out in the center. Another option for the shirt is to turn it into a throw pillow for the couch.

        Comment


        • Haplo
          Haplo commented
          Editing a comment
          The problem was solved by the wife stealing the shirt. She loves wolves too and doesn't mind a big design.

        • Colleengael
          Colleengael commented
          Editing a comment
          I get it...any excuse for you to avoid crafting.😄

      • #6
        My neighbor very kindly gave me some gifts. I didn't get very many. Father gave me a $50 Amazon dot com gift card, and that's made me very happy. I already bought three e-books with it.

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        • #7
          Oh, dear. My bomb of the year was a bird feeder pole, seeds, a mouse-proof can to put the seeds in and two feeders that I got for my house-bound mother-in-law. I was going to set it in the garden where she could see it from her favorite chair. Sounds good, right? No! She has bears!!! PA Fish and Wildlife actually issued a no-bird-feeder advisory. And there was a big pile of skat in the back yard. Can you believe it?

          My brother-in-law loved the bird feeders and took them back to Portland CT, where there are no bears. Still... I think she'd have enjoyed watching the bears at her feeder...
          “A sinner can always repent, but stupid is forever.”
          Billy Sunday

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          • #8
            I don't generally get gifts these days. I mean, my dad gives me $50 each for my birthday and Christmas purely because I'm his only child that isn't married with children, and thus doesn't have someone to exchange gifts with, but that's about it. My oldest brother also does a lot for me financially (e.g. let's me live with him rent free, gives me his video streaming service logins, etc), but none of it is really presented as a gift. So yeah, I suppose that defaults the double down of $50 from my dad as the best present by definition, while my brother's kindness would take it otherwise.

            As for the worst present, while also not technically a gift, it certainly was a holiday surprise so I'm gonna count it. A group of vandals decided to bash in my car windows right around Thanksgiving, and it took most of my available funds from December to get them fixed, leaving only enough scratch to buy cheap food for my cat and me throughout (this Thursday will see my first check since then that won't be affected, so I'm gonna get a big meaty pizza and some fancy feast, lol).

            Here's hoping this year will be better than the last!

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            • #9
              Oh, I suppose this also counts, though I didn't think of it initially as it's just something my oldest brother and I do. We give each other books periodically. No reason, just because. This year he gave me a leather bound Sherlock Holmes collection, and I gave him a copy of Lionheart (a novel about King Richard's crusade) and some old Song of Ice and Fire paperbacks (I got him and his wife into Game of Thrones so I thought it only fair). The Sherlock Holmes collection proved quite timely, though, as I was working on a short murder mystery when he got it for me. He didn't know that, as I'm typically pretty quiet about what I'm writing day to day, so it was pretty neat. Certainly worth mentioning.

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              • #10
                Originally posted by Takk View Post
                I gave him a copy of Lionheart
                Decent, but not as good as Bloodsport... and it's basically a remake of Hard Times.

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                • #11
                  Originally posted by Firkin View Post
                  Decent, but not as good as Bloodsport... and it's basically a remake of Hard Times.
                  Wrong Lionheart, lol.

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                  • #12
                    Originally posted by Takk View Post

                    Wrong Lionheart, lol.
                    I had no idea there was a novelization of that.

                    Comment


                    • Colleengael
                      Colleengael commented
                      Editing a comment
                      Not the movie. The historical king from England.

                  • #13
                    Takk, my family tends to be pretty casual about gifts, but my mother-in-law wants a potlatch. She had a very broke childhood.
                    “A sinner can always repent, but stupid is forever.”
                    Billy Sunday

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                    • #14
                      Gave G some coins for his collection, he gave me some sampler patterns and a ring...we each know what the other wants. Nothing bad, our gifts were well received. Worst ever was years ago...a porcelain unicorn with a pearlized glaze in pink from my mom. God love her, she has no taste....but she means well.
                      Ye know why they`re on the internet don`t ye? `Cause ye wouldnae speak to them in the fecking pub! ~ Billy Connolley

                      Comment


                      • Colleengael
                        Colleengael commented
                        Editing a comment
                        My mom used to gave me clothes that were too short for me. I took up sewing my own clothes when I realized that she wasn't doing it on purpose. The fashion industry just wasn't malfunctioning clothes for any women taller than five feet eight inches at the time. I wrote a lot of letters to stores and clothing makers to complain about why the thought all women were short and wide instead of coming in tall sizes too.

                    • #15
                      Originally posted by ~mj~ View Post
                      ...a porcelain unicorn with a pearlized glaze in pink from my mom. God love her, she has no taste....but she means well.
                      Do you still have it?

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                      • #16
                        No...it has been purged with a lot of stuff because of such a long distance move from Nova Scotia to Colorado...
                        Ye know why they`re on the internet don`t ye? `Cause ye wouldnae speak to them in the fecking pub! ~ Billy Connolley

                        Comment


                        • #17
                          This Christmas Pina got an expensive Dumbo snow globe with her name on it, that says, "Your Grandmother Loves You," suitable for a seven-year old. For those of you who don't know her, Pina is 26.
                          “A sinner can always repent, but stupid is forever.”
                          Billy Sunday

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