# Christmas presents **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 25, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343 "2015-12-25T19:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/41 "2015-12-28T12:07:00Z")
I got lots of candy, a little toy cat, money, baking supplies, and books. I gave my family candy, money, a notebook, and beer, mostly. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/42 "2015-12-28T14:39:30Z")
Stuff I received: cash lotions tote bag flask Jim Beam mini collection with shot glass Yoda beer cozy Moscow Mule mug set earrings jewelry/ring holder homemade candy a silver-gray throw Scratchers (didn’t win anything) gloves and socks Stuff I gave to myself: perfume purse hair waving iron Stuff I gave to others: books for a toddler Burts bees small gift sets cosmetics travel bag hair comb and pick mugs fancy hair clips a Duran Duran mug [Despair.com](http://Despair.com) demotivators calendar novelty chewing gum novelty socks assorted stuff from Ulta ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/43 "2015-12-28T15:17:16Z")
We did our gifts on Christmas Eve. I got TheElf a bundle of new socks, a bag of new underpants, and a new sweatshirt. In the bundle of socks I stuck a $250 gift certificate to a local gun shop. He didn’t see it at first and as he is holding the socks in one hand and looking through the box for the surprise, I’m giggling at him. I even tell him it’s in his hand, so he looks at the bundle of socks (that has a large while envelope sticking out of it), then looks back into the box, very confused. It was very cute. I did finally tell him to look IN the bundle of socks, and he finally saw the LARGE WHITE ENVELOPE stuck in the bundle of BLACK SOCKS. I was amused. He was pleased. I received exactly what I asked for - A lovely black wool, full length coat with a cozy faux-fur collar. I gave him the size and the link to the website. It came a week ago, but I didn’t open the box until it was time to do the gift exchange. I was sorely disappointed when I tried it on. It was way too small! It was the right coat in presumably the right size, but apparently in the world of Ralph Lauren a size 14 is equivalent to a size 10 in the real world. So now I have to exchange it. I also got a book by Brian Froud about goblins and a copy of The Minions Movie. 🙂 I got my boyfriend a gift card for [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) with strict instructions from the Camping Faeries that he get a tent that doesn’t leak before next camping season. 🙂 And I finally delivered the pair of kilt hose that I made him. My boyfriend got me a beautiful pendant with one of those fluttery diamonds suspended in it, a large jar of blue cheese stuffed green olives (Yum!), a stocking full of candy and another copy of The Minions Movie. I’ll be exchanging one of the movies for a copy of Guardians of the Galaxy soon. What’s funny is that I bought my mom one of the fluttery diamond pendants too. Since she has been fighting congestive heart failure, it seemed fitting for some reason. She loved it. It was a nice holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/44 "2015-12-28T16:14:25Z")
I received: A Ruger .380 and a leg holster to carry it in A small tote bag A larger tote bag (what I asked for) A desktop fountain with a dragon on a castle A large makeup kit (of which I have already given some of it back to my daughter) A large bottle of white wine (we like red, but I’m going to drink it anyway) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/45 "2015-12-28T16:37:32Z")
I gave: Wine glasses to my husband A battery-powered weed whacker to Mom Vacuum cleaner to my son (welcome to adulthood, pet) A seat-heater for my daughter’s car, renewed subscription to AAA, and gift card Induction cooktop for Grandma (she’ll never use it) Crib sheets, toy phone, and books for my grandson (I don’t care if he’s only one, I give books!) A book, some really cute stuffed animals, and a wooden train set for husband’s granddaughter ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/46 "2015-12-28T17:58:43Z")
A gift bag that just shouted REGIFTING! 5th of peppermint schnapps, candy “sticks” and salted caramel cocoa mix. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/47 "2015-12-28T18:43:44Z")
I have a buddy who buys me a nice gift each xmas as pay-back for things I help him out with throughout the year. He had a heated discussion with my gf around Thanksgiving about drones. She felt they needed tighter regulations, he disagreed. He bought me a Phantom-3 drone this year. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/48 "2015-12-30T02:58:30Z")
I got what I asked for, a fifth of Jameson Irish whiskey. She got what she asked for, a bottle of perfume. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/49 "2015-12-30T05:03:39Z")
I got a bowling ball that looks like a galaxy, a steampunk corset and a long midnight blue skirt of slinky material, a new video game, and a beautiful quill pen and the notebook to pen my deepest thoughts in. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/50 "2015-12-30T07:13:16Z")
My wife and I gave new wedding rings to each other - our original ones haven’t fit our middle-aged, and fatter fingers for some years now. My sister gave me some oyster mushroom spawn (dowels to be inserted into drilled holes in a log). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/51 "2015-12-30T13:06:06Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > My sister gave me some oyster mushroom spawn (dowels to be inserted into drilled holes in a log). Oysters are fun and easy to grow if the weather/microclimate is correct. I did a batch in layered sterilized straw in a laundry basket. I put the basket alongside/under a thick growth of rhododendrons and had an amazing flush of hundreds of mushrooms. After harvesting the basket had several more flushes when the weather was right. Bon appetit! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/52 "2015-12-30T13:18:38Z")
I got lots of nice stuff, but the most exciting is that my sister came really close to reproducing my grandmother’s “brown edge cookies”, the recipe of which was lost before she died. After New Year’s, I have to try fiddling with it and see if I can get it exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/53 "2015-12-30T18:30:13Z")
I got a little cash (which I used to buy a jacket at an after-Christmas sale) and 4 bottles of wine (which I gave away since I can’t drink it with my currents medication). I bought myself a nice bracelet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/54 "2015-12-30T20:11:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Oysters are fun and easy to grow if the weather/microclimate is correct. I did a batch in layered sterilized straw in a laundry basket. I put the basket alongside/under a thick growth of rhododendrons and had an amazing flush of hundreds of mushrooms. > > After harvesting the basket had several more flushes when the weather was right. > > Bon appetit! I know a beech wood in the New Forest where I can pick them wild, but about half the times I go there, they are swarming with fungus gnat maggots - I’m hoping that growing them in my own garden, I’ll get at least one good crop before the bug population catches on. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/55 "2015-12-30T20:44:50Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > My employer gave me a nice bonus > > My brother gave me a calendar of Broadway musicals. With two tickets to HAMILTON inside! w00t! I got a long sleeved Star Wars t-shirt, a really nice, lightweight red hoodie, four book store gift cards, three movie theater gift cards, and some money (my mother is virtually blind so she can’t shop, so she gives me money and tells me what to do with it. She wants me to buy a new pair of jeans.) I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/56 "2015-12-31T14:39:37Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I know a beech wood in the New Forest where I can pick them wild, but about half the times I go there, they are swarming with fungus gnat maggots - I’m hoping that growing them in my own garden, I’ll get at least one good crop before the bug population catches on. I put my grow-basket on top of an overturned plastic milk crate to slow the insects down a bit. That, and early harvest helps. A paint brush comes in handy to gently clean as you harvest. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343/57 "2015-12-31T15:28:22Z")
My honey and I were not going to do gifts - we both would prefer to opt out of Christmas, but he ended up paying for the pair of Muck boots I really wanted when we saw them on sale, so they went under the tree for me. Random last minute $5 value village find for him. I wasn’t even sure what it was, but it looked technical and airplane related. It turned out to be two E6 B flight computers, one in the case with the manual and an extra one tossed in the baggie. He was happy. I was happy to have found something he actually liked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-presents/741343.md?page=2)