Wow! Santa (or Jewish/Athiest/Other Friends/Family) Gave Me...

Not a gift, since I bought it for myself, but it arrived shortly before Christmas. It's a kaleidoscope. The first two pictures are of it in the art gallery in Santa Fe, NM, since I could not take pics as nice. The actual coloring is halfway between the two pictures. You cannot really tell from the pics, but there are two colored-glass wheels that you can turn independently to change the image. It's quite striking.

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From the artist's own web site, (http://www.scopesmadeintheshade.com/) the view looking into it. The image appears to be a sphere, floating in space, rather than the flat image you normally get with a kaleidoscope. I don't know how he achieved this. The opening is so big you look into it with both eyes at the same time. No need to squint into it with one eye closed, as with garden-variety kaleidoscopes. These pictures do not do justice to the image, which is strikingly sharp and clear.

The artist's web site includes a list of galleries that show his work, in case you want to see one in the flesh, and happen to be near enough.

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Daniel, that is just way too cool. And congrats on playing Santa for yourself. I just love it.

This year Santa brought me a Craftsman three piece set: cordless drill, cordless trim saw and cordless light. It has two battery packs and a charger. I'll be using it to install a slab french door leading from the kitchen to the backyard. I've been putting the job off until after Santa arrived.

My brother's family gave me John O'Hurley's book "It's okay to miss the bed on the first jump." Very nice dog book.

My sister made me a stepping stone to match my fountain. I also got William Wegman's Dog Calendar. I've been collecting them for years.

Ramses also made out. He got a football squeaky from Princess, my brother's dog. He got a nice squeaky that looks like a porcupine with a baseball cap from Candy, my parent's dog. And Santa brought him a can of Lamb and Rice dog food, a bag of Milk Bone Sirloin snacks and three Fat Cat Doggy Hoots toys: Vet the Victim, Garbage Guy and Sheep on the Run. He took the porcupine to bed last night. He's sleeping on the sheep right now.

This year I bought myself a few Steiff pieces: Roly Poly Bunny, Roly Poly Santa and Lavendar Bunny. I'll probably order the Club Piece Cat on Pincushion before the week is out.

Since I turned 40 I've made it a point to buy myself a really nice birthday present. Sometimes it will be clothes or jewelry. One year I bought a Kimono. Another year it was what can be described as a glass charger from Correia studios. One year I bought a chair. I really try to make it something frivolous as my family doesn't buy frivolous presents. I think it's important to treat yourself to something frivolous even if it's only a dinner, a movie or a pretty scarf. The size or cost doesn't matter. It's a frame of mind. Perhaps that's why I'm enjoying O'Hurley's book so much. I just finished the chapter on dogs living life to the fullest.

One of the best presents I gave myself was to adopt a rescued puppy. I picked him up on my birthday in 1995.

 

I bought everyone else gifts....

 

I wasn't expecting any gifts this year because my family and I agreed (at my suggestion) that we all have the means to buy what we want throughout the year and instead of buying for each other, we would donate to a local charity in the amount we would have spent on gifts for adults. The kids(all teenagers) would still receive gifts from the adults.

My brother confirmed this arrangement about a month ago so I assumed everyone was on the same track. There is only my brother and his wife, my mother and her boyfriend, and my husband and me involved.

So we go to Christmas dinner at my brother's house, bearing only gifts for my teenage niece and nephew. We have a lovely dinner and then gather around the tree to have the kids open presents.

All of a sudden, my mother asks me to move over and sit next to my husband and then she proceeds to hand me a huge basket of food items from Tastefully Simple!

:angry: I am angry because we had all specifically agreed to no gifts and here is this huge gift from my mother, her boyfriend, my brother and his wife and we had nothing to give in exchange. The past few years I have felt that Christmas had become too commercial and last year when student had a baby at the school I work at and that baby did not have tights to wear because the girl is on her own, I decided I did not need anything nearly as much as that baby needed tights and a winter coat!

Anyone else not giving gifts? Am I really a Scrooge?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Dec 26 2006, 06:50 AM) [snapback]366675[/snapback]</div>

No, you are not a Scrooge. Giving to charity is putting your generosity where it can do some good, instead of buying useless stuff for people who don't need it.

Scrooge was so stingy he would not even buy himself enough food to eat or enough coal to keep himself warm, let along pay a living wage to his employees. Giving your gift money to charity, or to needy individuals, is the opposite of being a Scrooge.

I began doing gift contributions instead of gifts at least 20 years ago. It feels good, everyone appreciates it, and I don't have to go shopping. (On the other hand, I now have enough money to buy nice suff for myself also, just in the last few years. - See my earlier post.)

 

Thanks daniel,
I will confess...I too had money to buy myself a gift. I bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer a few weeks ago. I didn't really consider it a Christmas gift, but it was something I have wanted a decided to buy.

 

well, i feel that Christmas is for kids so i dont expect, ask or want gifts....but i get them anyway.

by far, the best gift was from proud expectant grandparents to be who gave us a Sony digital photo center. it includes a camera, docking station, and printer. very nice. i guess its my fault for being a cheapie...i only have a black and white laser printer...

as far as gifts go, the ones i treasure the most are the perennial cookie jars full of baked goods and fudge. it does set my back 6 weeks on my diet plan though..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Dec 26 2006, 08:57 AM) [snapback]366664[/snapback]</div>

Mee Too!

I got lots of clothes, a lava lamp , a red neck fountain (stacked cascading cedar barrels), a SC desk calander, a groaning padded toilet seat, big church bells wind chimes & 12 disc cd/changer for the mustang.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ Dec 26 2006, 07:53 AM) [snapback]366692[/snapback]</div>

I had a color printer, but I print color so seldom that when I switched computers, and the old printer didn't work, I bought a nice B&W laser printer, and I use Kinko's or Kodak-dot-com when I want prints of photos. They make much better photos than my ink-jet printer anyway! And the laser printer is faster and better-quality than the ink-jet, and its cartridge lasts much longer and does not dry out.

 

that is the reason why i didnt do color. i had a part time business on computer service and repair for years and i cant tell you how much grief i got trying to explain to people that ink jets must be used a minimum of twice a week to continue to work properly.

i used to tell people, run a test page every other day, make sure all the lines are printed, no missing blocks, etc.

now laser printers dont have that issue and now color lasers are getting to the point that they are more than reasonable. however at $80-150 per color cartridge, you better have a huge printing requirement.

i have a large picture taking task ahead, but i rather carry my laptop, burn CD's, attach emails, etc and what not to get the baby pics scattered around the country.

but some will want prints and like i said, it was a gift.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Dec 26 2006, 01:41 PM) [snapback]366736[/snapback]</div>

That's the best gift for any loved ones in your life....financial stability! You're no good to any of your loved ones if you're near bankruptcy. It can cause tremendous worry. Congrats!

So far as gifts are concerned, I really don't like being "forced" to find a gift that someone may appreciate because of a day on the calander. I much rather find something while out shopping for no good reason and find that special something that I know someone would love and give it to them. I think it carries more meaning this way.

This doesn't mean that I didn't share with gift exchanges and received mostly clothes. The nicest gift I received was a small plaque that said "Chance made us sisters, Choice made us friends". It came from a sister with whom I've battled most of my life. We've just recently determined to get past the "past". To be clear, I was the catalyst for most of our problems. I was nothing but trouble. Thank goodness for maturity.

 

well this was an unusual christmas, we're not used to being on the other side of the fence so to speak. we're usually the ones offering to do things for others and we've had some very generous offers from PC members that we just could not accept because they were too much. we are much better at giving than receiving, i guess! we also had a very nice surprise arrive in a christmas card from someone who did have our address.

to all of you, thank you so much. we are so heartened just to know how many people care about us

on to our christmas day, the real treat this year was spending an entire day with DH without having to get into fixing one car or another. (that was christmas eve) :lol: we had a nice ham dinner and a fire in the fireplace, the ham being the yearly dealership christmas gift to their employees.

we did exchange small gifts between ourselves and received some gifts from family members. we will be going home in january for a visit and that's our gift to family and friends, and an indirect gift to ourselves to see everyone again.

 

My squad at the PD gave me an engraved compass and a mp3 player/FM tuner (the little teeny sansa 250) It was for my retirement 4 days before Christmas.

My youngest daughter was able to make it home on Christmas day. My son called me from Iraq. My oldest called me from NYC and said she could make it home for a week on New Years.

Things?, I have all the things I could ever need and I honestly forget what I got and who got it for me days after getting it. Sometimes I have found a previous years gift never opened and tucked awy. Does help w/ re-gifting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Dec 26 2006, 09:50 AM) [snapback]366675[/snapback]</div>

You are not Scrooge!! I found myself in a similar situation some years back...giving (what the receipient later referred to as "cheap" hand-knit gifts) and receiving expensive manufactured things in return, when we'd agreed that would *not* be the arrangement.

Personally, I think this sort of thing perverts the spirit of the season; to me it seems that the giving of the gift becomes more about the the person giving it -- and the gift itself -- than the receipient.

So, if it makes any sense, I felt wronged on two levels...personally, and on behalf of what I think of as the "true" spirit of the season.

As far as I'm concerned, it was a quiet holiday spent close to home. This year, despite its downturns, has been kind to me; I've received so many blessings that I expected nothing additional.

I did purchase for myself a new Dremel Moto-tool, so that I may explore further my interest in returning to work as an industrial model builder, and also a piece of Le Creucet bakeware which I've coveted for some time now.

 

My kid sent me a Craftsman 2-pack of LED mini-flashlights. They have built-in magnets, and spring-loaded clips. They will provide good light for over 50 hours! I was impressed. And they are surprisingly bright.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Renocat @ Dec 26 2006, 09:50 AM) [snapback]366675[/snapback]</div>

How did your family feel? Did they feel slighted because they bought you a big gift and didn't get one in return? If not....let it go.

Christmas is about giving, not receiving. A family that calculates the worth or effort of a gift and compares it to what they gave doesn't get it. Christmas isn't about a balance sheet.

One of the best gifts my Father got this year cost very little. His sister passed away and after some bitter legal wranglings he bought her estate and transported what he could across the country. There wasn't that much that was of any value. Mostly sentimental things. My sister took some granny squares my Aunt had started. She finished them into a lap quilt and gave it to my Father for Christmas. That meant a lot to him. It cost her very little money (less than a skein of black yarn) and not that much time. She worked on it while she carpooled to work on her passenger days.

She made me a stepping stone for my garden to match my fountain. I had made a pattern for the fountain because she doesn't like to do the designs and patterns, she cut the glass and I grouted it into the fountain with some mosaic tile. She had glass left over (that I had bought so no cost there) and made me a stepping stone for Christmas. She already had a mold. Cost was a bag of cement and some time. But I like it better than anything she could have bought.

I commited an illegal act and violated my personal ethics to give my mother something she really wanted. She wanted a video or DVD of Song of the South. There isn't one. Not in the U.S. And we can't play the UK PAL version. So I bought a bootleg UK copy that was converted to Region 1. I know I'll burn in hell for that. But it made her very happy. She brought it to my sister's house and we all watched it together.

I gave my sister some small clay Quetzal birds I bought for $1 in Guatemala when I was there with my parents for a wedding. She wasn't expecting anything because my mother and I had spent $200 to buy her a Singer Featherweight for her birthday. That was way more than either of us would normally spend and she recognized that. She didn't expect to get anything for Christmas. But she enjoyed the small, inexpensive gift. She collects glass animals, these were clay but they fit in her collection.

My brother's family gave me a book. On the balance scale it was a lot less than the three DVDs and four books I sent to them. But it was about dogs and they know I like dogs. It was on my Amazon wishlist, which I doubt very much they even knew. I never got around to ordering it and probably wouldn't for myself, there being so much higher priority books on that list. They bought me something they knew I would like, not something of equal "value" to what I would spend on them.

Christmas isn't about getting an equal amount to what you give. It isn't about a balance sheet. Read the story of the radio guys doing a stealth Santa for their less fortunate friend. They didn't even get a thank you because the guy never even knew it was them. Did that stop them from repeating the act the following year? No. That's Christmas at it's best.

If your family doesn't get that, they are the Scrooge's. If they do, then just let it go.

Remember, giving lets the giver feel good. If your family wants to give, let them and enjoy their joy. If they're fine with your donating to charity in their names, go with that and enjoy your giving.

 

to me christmas is for kids. i no longer wish for presents and dont expect any and tell everyone not to give me any.

my only real enjoyment of christmas is an excuse to get together with friends and family, tell lies, eat too much, and play with kids toys with the excuse that you are helping the kid learn how to play with said toy