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Holiday Recap?

Hi ladies!!  So, how were the holidays?? Did your gift predictions come true? What was your favorite gift to give? 

Re: Holiday Recap?

  • We had a lovely, relaxed holiday with my parents in Oregon. Normally we all go to Wichita for extended family fun (and drama) but this year the six of us (parents, brother, sister, Jen) had a quiet Christmas on our own. It was great. We opened presents on New Year's Eve, as usual, had an early dinner on Christmas and spent Christmas evening at an NBA game :) We were out there for four days and spent most of the time playing games and just hanging out and watching the snow come down. My favorite gift to give was an 8x10" cross-stitch piece I've been working on since Thanksgiving. It's my very busy sister's favorite saying - "Idle hands are the devil's playthings" - surrounded by flames and a little she-devil :) It came out pretty nice considering I haven't cross-stitched since middle school.?
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  • We had a good holiday although we were all over the place on Christmas day so that was hard.  I got the coat from jcrew that I wanted!  My fav. gift to give was Sue's ipod touch.  She was not expecting it and was so happy.  Now I have to top that for Sue's b-day in Feb.  I hope everyone had a great Holiday. 

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  • Our holiday vacation was wonderful!  I never would have guessed the things K gave me.  I got a really cool digital picture frame and a portable car starter.  Wait...I think I posted this already...deja vu? Hmmm....

    Anyway, my favorite gift to give her was a t-shirt that has a sign that reads "Out of Olives" and under the sign "Life is Crap".  K and I have a thing for olives, and she has the "Life is Good" stuff.  So anyway it was a little joke gift that she found pretty funny.

     Oh - and I loved giving my dad the framed photo of him at the rally with all of your quotes.  I had great pictures of him with the frame but somehow I deleted them...new camera...oops.

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  • Unfortunately, ours was kinda miserable. Both kids got the flu Christmas Eve since then things have been pretty miserable in our house - lots of whining, lots of coughing, really high fevers, and just general ickiness.

    As of this morning, Carter doesn't have a fever and his nose/cough are better, but he has the emotionally liability of a hormonal 12 year old girl. UGH. Grayson is still sick and looks miserable.  He didn't have a fever when he woke this morning, but it is so whiny/lethargic.  Poor L is home with them today and is starting to get sick so she feels horrible.

    The kids did have a nice Christmas (they would play, then lay on the couch, then play...)  They loved their train table!

    My favorite thing to give was a calender I created for L. It has pictures of the kids from the previous year to each corresponding month - so we can see how they have changed/grew since that time last year.  The favorite thing I received was a Cannon XTi from my parents. Now, I just need to learn how to use it!

     We are leaving for Orlando in 3 weeks - so I am looking forward to that. Smile

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  • sounds great! (except for the kiddos, sorry to hear :( hope you have a healthy house soon!)

    our holiday had its highlights and not-so-highlights....christmas eve we went to my parents' for dinner, games, and then to church for the chandlelight service. Especially exciting was that my aunt joined us for dinner - this is big because she suffers from some crippling mental illnesses and often doesnt make it out of the house (she didnt come to the weddign and we havent seen her since June).  Christmas day was at our house...food and drinks were a big hit and we had a lovely day with the whole fam on my side.   Friday we headed up to Boston to join the Hanukkah celebrations with A's family.  We always enjoy our trips up there because its great company, great wine, and lots of relaxing :)

    the unfortunate part of my holiday came friday evening...andrea and I were cozied up with Bubby and one of the aunts when we hear a terrible crunch sound. Turns out Andrea's uncle was coming home from running errands, backing into the driveway, and completely sideswiped my car.  Driver's side bumper is dented/smashed/hanging off, light cover is smashed, and there is significant damage to the side panel. He felt terrible, A's aunt (his wife) totally lost it, and we - surprisingly - kept our cool. 

    Total bummer, but thats what insurance is for and it'll get fixed....eventually....The rest of the weekend was fun but a bit tempered after friday's incident.

    As for the gifts, all the albums and framed photos we gave out made the recipients cry!! it was SO sweet, i loved it :)  Andrea even cried at the end of the honeymoon book i surprised her with because i included a cute little quote and she NEVER cries at gifts. As i semi-predicted, she got me a 5qt cast iron dutch oven....cant wait to use it!

  • Glad everyone had a good holiday. But so sorry to hear the kids are sick, hope everyone gets to feeling better soon!

    I worked a half day on Christmas Eve which caused me to do my last minute grocery shopping at 7am before i went into the office. But i did start my holiday off with a good experience. I finished up shopping with just enough time to grab some Starbucks on my way into the office so i pulled into the drive-thru and ordered my festive holiday beverage. When i pulled to the window the barista gave me my drink and then told me that the car infront of me had paid for my order and told me to have a Merry Christmas. I was really touched that complete strangers would do such a sweet thing and how it really made my early morning so much better that I paid for the people behind me and told her to wish them a happy holidays as well. Paying it forward made me feel great and I shared that story with anyone who would listen for the next few days.  So work was dead, i watched movies on my computer and didnt get a single phone call or see a soul all day, but hey atleast i got paid! Then i went home at 1 to get my house cleaned up before the family came over for Christmas Dinner and when i got home I found that T had gotten the boys to do all the chores i had left to do. It made my day!  Then my parents, and my grandma came over and had dinner and opened presents. My mom is such an amazing shopper that i loved all my gifts and so did Tess, it was our first real Christmas together and my mom showed her how much of a part of the family she is.

    On Christmas day the kids woke us up at 4am and we opened presents and then went back to bed. The kids were spoiled rotten by everyone and said it was the best Christmas ever! After we got up for the second time we took the kids to their dads then spent the day with different friends coming over to exchange gifts. We went to my Moms for dinner on Christmas day with my whole family there, and T's cousin and her girlfriend and another close friend went with us. We were laughing about our big car of lesbians going to my families for dinner, but it was really nice to combine our families and that everyone was as always so welcoming and loving towards eachother.

    The best gift i recieved was probably this insane amount of scrapbooking materials, tools, and a carrier that T gave me. And my favorite gift i gave was the shadow boxes i helped the kids make for T. When she opened them she cried, which made me cry and it was just the perfect moment. She said it was the best gifts she had ever gotten. Big Smile

  • We had a really nice holiday. Headed to Trav's grandfather's from Christmas Eve dinner... then up to my parent's place for the night. Spent most of Christmas day there before coming home. After that it was just a lot of relaxing. My best friend who lives in Indy now (I'm in Philly) came home for a week, and spent Saturday night at our place. It was really really nice.

    As for gifts we got a lot of great stuff! My parents got for the both of us a DVD/VHS player since our VCR broke a few weeks ago... and our DVD player was on its last legs. To go with that, they got us a 6-month gift subscription to Netflix!! Yay! We already have 40 movies in our queue! :-) Trav did great... getting me a bunch of seasons of some of my favorite shows: House, Scrubs, and the X-files. I also got a bunch of books and clothes, and a bowl for Daisy. We were really blessed. 

    My favorite gift to give... Hmm, I was psyched to see my brothers face when we got him the full set of Monty Python's Flying Circus... he's a BIG fan! He loved it. And I was really excited to give Trav his two big presents, which both went over VERY well... tickets to the hockey game where our teams play this January, and a work bench for all his tools. 


    image
    Maybe I don't have a heightened sense of smell, but I've never smelled any vagina on my pants. -- TSD

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  • imageleapgirl8:
    My favorite gift to give was an 8x10" cross-stitch piece I've been working on since Thanksgiving. It's my very busy sister's favorite saying - "Idle hands are the devil's playthings" - surrounded by flames and a little she-devil :) It came out pretty nice considering I haven't cross-stitched since middle school.

    I love this!! What a fun gift! 


    image
    Maybe I don't have a heightened sense of smell, but I've never smelled any vagina on my pants. -- TSD

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    Bloggity Blog - You know you want to...
  • Sorry about the flu and car crunchings :-(

    Our holiday was actually okay. After the Thanksgiving debacle I was pretty scared to celebrate anything.

    We spent the first night of Hanukkah with S's family. Everyone behaved for the majority of the night. There was a brief bit of stupidity from her brother who said, "Why would anyone want to be a foster parent?" when we mentioned we had gone to a meeting. I shut him up really fast though.We spent Christmas with my family. No drama at all. A true Christmas miracle LOL!

    I loved giving S all of her gifts. I knew she would love them.

     

  • We had a nice Xmas with my family here in MA.  I have lots of family, so it's always a bit of a whilrwind, but we had a great time and ate lots of great food.

    C totally surprised me with an iPod Touch!  I had the old original iPod Mini and it was slowly dying.  I was completely not expecting her to do that, and was not expecting to love it so much!  I didn't realize that it does everything the iPhone does except for the phone and camera - which means it is a very fun toy!  C is now joking that she has created a monster because I'm already using it all the time Smile  Today I downloaded a list-making application so I can store and use lists for grocery and Target shopping - ooooh....ahhhhh......!

    I was really exicted to give C her gift - tickets to a Holiday event at the Breakers mansion in Newport RI, and one night's stay at a local inn for this past Saturday night.  She is hard to buy for because she's not very into "things" and I was really excited that I had thought of something good!  She was really surprised and very happy.  And in spite of some nasty wet weather, we had a great time in Newport this weekend.

    Mrs._F
    sahm ~ toddler breastfeeder ~ cloth diaperer ~ baby wearer

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  • I love Newport! What a great gift. It seems like most of you got and gave some pretty great things.

    We had a great holiday as well. Just spending time with our families and luckily our parents live fairly close so we are able to spend time with both sides on Christmas day. Over the past few years it has become much more of a relaxed holiday which is awesome. M and I didn't exchange gifts this year but she did suprise me with a gift for the both of us on Christmas morning which was tickets to the grinch Christmas musical for saturday and dinner in Boston. We had the best time and even topped it off with meeting up with friends to go see the band that played our wedding. It was such a fun day!

    My fav gift to give was the digital picture frame I gave my parents. I had preloaded it with our wedding pics and they seemed to love it. I also really love the fuzzy crocs I got. I don't care how ugly they are, they are the most comfortable/warm footwear!!!

  • we had a good holiday. we spent christmas day with my family (well, the afternoon). it was crazy, 20+ people in my brother's old farmhouse, but it was lots of fun. we went to c's parents' house for the weekend, heading up friday late afternoon and coming home on sunday.

    i was right about my gifts from c. Big Smile i got a hat, a zip-up sweatshirt and a jersey for my hockey team (sorry, meegs, for kicking your butts the other night Wink). i also got 5 new discs for golfing, which is awesome.

    the best thing was that i totally surprised c with her gift! it's nearly impossible for me to do because she reads me so well. go me!

  • I had a stressful, exhausting holiday. Please keep my stepdaughter in your thoughts/prayers. She's having a really rough time right now.

    Christmas morning was... different. My family has a much more subdued process than S's family does-- we go around the room and open gifts one at a time and stop to thank whoever gave the gift; S's family does the frenetic rip-n-tear that I've only seen on TV. We had three little girls careening through their present opening, barely even stopping to see what they'd just opened. It gave me a headache.

    Best gift I got: my KA mixer from DW (close second: the GPS my BIL gave me, which is awesome). Best gift I gave: spending the holiday supporting my wife.

    married 03/08/08 -- ttc with PCOS (dx 2005) & DS
    IUI #3 gave us the best 2nd anniv. gift ever: 2 babies! (born 03/09/10)
    Peanut and Little Man are getting so big! 2 years old already!
    image
    finally blogging again at This Will Be: An Adventure
  • imagethiswillbe:

     My family has a much more subdued process than S's family does-- we go around the room and open gifts one at a time and stop to thank whoever gave the gift; S's family does the frenetic rip-n-tear that I've only seen on TV. We had three little girls careening through their present opening, barely even stopping to see what they'd just opened. It gave me a headache.

    i know exactly what you mean - my fam also does the one at a time and A's does it all at once...i hate it b/c i like watching people's reactions as they open my gifts...and it just seems so anti-holiday.  

    many positive thoughts coming to your step daughter - its so tough to see family members struggle. ((hugs))

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