I never thought about it from that angle. And knowing her, that sounds about right. Her whole side of the family were known tightwads 
poor you … maybe if you asked for an Intellivision or Colecovision you might have gotten an atari
that i wouldn’t of minded I liked lincoln logs better than an erector set
Not me, but when I was growing up, my mother always told us that mommies don’t get Christmas or birthday gifts, and if she DID get anything, she would grumble, “I don’t want this junk!” and chances are, it would be in the trash, broken, within a few hours. She would also “disappear” anything from my dad’s side of the family on our first day back at school.
I started a thread about this, which has since been locked.
I just LOVE Burlington Coat Factory. Have you even been in there? They have a shit ton lot more than coats, you know. I bought beautiful baby shower things, shoes, vintage perfumes, purses, and a cute black leather jacket in there over time.
Did they tell you that was the intent of the gift?
I must say that on the whole, I was very lucky. I can’t recall a time when a gift, at least one given at a time when one would expect good gifts (Christmas, birthdays) was bad on the level of getting a pair of socks. Actually, I did, technically, get socks once during the Christmas season, but this was when I would have been around 27, and it was at a company Christmas party, where everyone got a pair of sweat socks with the company logo. I took it as an ironic joke, and at any rate, I have never considered myself entitled to either a Christmas bonus or any kind of present, Christmas or otherwise, from my employer.
I can recall only two occasions when I was anywhere near seriously disappointed by a present as a child, and in both cases I managed to come around to them later. The first concerned something I got at a Christmas party organized by my parents’ employer that my family went to annually from when I was 3 or 4 to when I was 9. Each year, Santa Claus would come, would have the kids sit on his lap, and ask them what they wanted for Christmas, and then the kid would get a present right on the spot, and I’m pretty sure all the kids of a certain age got the same present. The first year, and I remember this though I may have been as young as 3, I got a really nice present, a toy reindeer or moose that when you pressed it down and let it go, its legs sprung up and it rode forward on the wheels on its feet. But I assume the next year, or perhaps the year after, so when I was 4 or at most 5, I was given my present and it was small and almost two-dimensional. I opened it up and inside was this children’s calendar that came with removable stickers that you could place in the right spots (e.g., a boy and girl in American-style Pilgrim Fathers costumes that would go on Thanksgiving Day). After the previous year’s gift, this one was a real disappointment, and I made it vocally known to my parents. I don’t know how big of a tantrum I pulled, but I think I may have even demanded that I go back for something else and have been told that this was not possible. My parents I think managed to handle the situation tactfully. They would have put away the present and let my tantrum subside.
Soon after, perhaps one, two, three days later, I expressed a desire to look at the calendar. My mother took it out, and we were soon enjoying finding the places in which to put the stickers. I don’t remember having an outburst like that again. Indeed, when I was 6, at the same Christmas party, I received a present that could have been a disappointment, on account of it being an item I basically already had - a red sled not unlike a red sled I already had. However, by now I had learned not to expect too much of the presents at that party, and took it in stride. I figured, OK, so now I have a new one, a spare, whatever, and everything was cool.
The second example occurred when I was 9. This was in the late 80s, as in, the days when the ascendant generation was being bombarded with all kinds of toys and other products that were being marketed to them via after-school cartoons that were meant to make you emotionally attached to the characters in them and then want to buy the toy figures of those characters. I wasn’t that materialistic before the age of 7-8, but then these TV shows, and the connected commercials for toy lines, took sway. I could only buy so many Transformers, whatever, with my allowance, and saw a big opportunity in the different holidays as a chance to get more of these. Up until I was 9, my birthday had been a small, largely family affair, but for my 9th birthday, I wanted a bigger party. My parents consented to invite a number of guests, most (or indeed all) of whom were not from my school but from families my family knew. I was hoping for a lot of G.I. Joes, and got some from one family, which had boys about as materialistic as I was and knew what to buy. But another family brought me a pair of jeans - which were several sizes too big - and a green sweater. This was a big disappointment for me, and I actually criticized the present to the older of the two siblings - and later told my family we should not invite them next year! I was told that the mother of that family had gone through a divorce, and was on difficult times. I did learn a lesson from all this, and in hindsight, am quite ashamed of my actions at the time. Moreover, though it took until I was 12 for me to grow into the jeans, they then fit me very well and I liked wearing them.
I know the stories I give above pale in comparison with some of the ones described above. Generally, I was quite lucky in the presents I got. I should mention that I eventually grew out of this “materialist” phase, learned to appreciate most anything I got, and that by the time I was a teenager, I was grateful for any present that was given to me, and didn’t expect to get them after a certain age, either. I had also internalized the classic holiday wisdoms such as “it’s the thought that counts” and “it is better to give than to receive”.
P.S.: As a general rule, I do think it’s kind of dumb to give people socks as birthday or Christmas presents. Unless you know they like that sort of thing. Obvious exceptions would be a cool or funky pair of socks or hosiery (a good example is found in the film “Me Before You”, when the main female lead, who likes to wear colored tights, mentions to the main male lead that she would like to have bumblebee-striped tights as when she was younger, and he actually bothers to find a pair for her and gives it to her on her birthday to her great joy, whereas her dull boyfriend got her a pendant or a bracelet with his name on it. But just giving something like a pair of ordinary tube socks or dress socks or whatever, unless you’re of such humble means that you can’t afford anything better, seems to me to smack of “I can’t be bothered to think of something that could be nice for you, I just need to tick off this box that I got you a gift”-sort of present. Just my humble two cents.
Yes. I can’t recall her exact words. But, it was along the lines of ‘Now you don’t have to wear that black shmatta’. Shmatta is Yiddish for rag.
here’s a story ive mentioned here before I have a severely autistic brother who permanently stuck at about a 3-6-year-old lvl and yes be believed in the easter bunny Santa etc …
There were a couple of years when mom couldn’t take care of him so there was a lovely home with people who were qualified to do so Well that year that I turned 14 or 15 and mom decided to do Christmas differently she just gave my other brother and me 50 bucks to buy her and the youngest brother something and on Christmas gave us a 100 bucks in a card in our Xmas stocking because honestly, we were just going through the motions for Lil bro’s sake
Well as usual we went over the 50 mom gave us little brother had a pile of stuff under the tree and mom had a few things
On Christmas day little brother is all excited as he sees Santa left him a pile o’ stuff mom opens the vacuum cleaner she wanted and would never buy for herself and little bro opens his stuff but for some reason he didn’t seem happy like he was missing something so he finally goes over and started giving me and bro number 2 some of his toys and stuff and wouldn’t take them back and was getting quite upset when we wouldn’t keep them … and he kept saying “bad and Santa” … well right before the point where mom was going to have to take him back early it dawned on me why he was upset…
He believed that we had done something “bad” so Santa didn’t bring us anything and he was trying to make us feel better by sharing … so after hugs and tears we unwrapped the card and showed him Santa left us money and a lot of it … he accepted his toys back and they day was better
Next year we did it differently… mom increased the budget for buying each other gifts so I and my brother had to go shopping for each other and Lil bro and we put the wrapped presents under the tree mom how ever still put the cash in the card in the stocking so she didn’t have to shop but gave youngest bro a 20 in his so he knew he was getting money too
When my kids were little, one year I was stumped on what to get them. One night I was hanging out at my friend’s tattoo shop, smoking and drinking, and I mentioned my predicament. He said, “let’s go check out the basement!”
I’d never been down there. There were boxes of t-shirts with various designs. He would design a shirt every year or two and they’d sell well, but there’d always be some leftover with each design.
Ever see a tattoo shop T-shirt? Dragons, skulls, crazy designs, etc. I picked out seven for my daughter and seven for my son. Each got wrapped individually.
My kids absolutely loved their shirts, but their mom thought the whole thing was trashy and she voiced her feelings loudly to everyone who would listen. Mutual friends thought I was losing it; I’m lucky nobody attempted an intervention.
That reminded me, maybe a decade ago I wanted a new digital camera. Even though I had a well paying job, I was still kind of a cheapskate, so instead of just buying one for myself I requested one for Christmas. I was hoping for a nice Nikon or similar, but my parents bought me a mediocre Fujifilm camera. I used it for a few years and then bought myself a Cannon DSLR.
How old were the kids?
I would of thought it was cool myself but we always buy each other clothes because if we didn’t get clothes at Xmas wed never bother to buy any
I can’t think of anything really disappointing, however, I would be happy to get socks! Who doesn’t need them?
I’m partly responsible for a practical joke on Xmas
One year we bought my nephew a bunch of toys that needed batteries and we were wrapping gifts and were bored after a while so me and cousin went out and shared a real good and potent bowl or two … well at some point the(bought at) Costco-sized pack of batteries (30 aa and 30aas) were wrapped … and when we realized it we thought it might be funny tomorrow
lil nephew who was around 7 or 8 at the time didn’t disappoint … he opened it and got a look on his face like he found dog poop and said “batteries?”( in a disgusted voice just like ralphie in “a Christmas story”) we laughed off and on all-day to this day its one of the funniest things from any recent Xmas
When I lived in my old town, I was involved in their Christmas project for needy families, and one of the rules was “If an item has batteries, wrap them with the gift.” One evening, a Boy Scout troop made up of upper-elementary aged boys were there, and one of them said to me (and I remember his exact words from the first part): “You know what my theory is about that?” I replied no, and he said, “Because if the delivery truck wrecks and catches fire, the batteries won’t explode and give off toxic waste.”
One thing that never changed was that the junior-high kids always thought that the idea of giving someone diapers for Christmas was uproariously funny. I’m not the only person who told them that someday, they may be very appreciative of them, and if they aren’t themselves, that these are much more practical than fancy little outfits that will be outgrown and crapped all over in a very short time.
p.s. For many years, Walgreens’ biggest sales volume on Christmas was - you guessed it - batteries. Now that many of them are cutting hours, that may no longer be the case.
Son 6, daughter 10.
Now son 26, daughter 30.
She’s always been the oldest.
ETA: they couldn’t wear their shirts to school due to regulations, but they wore them until they were threadbare. My daughter had one she wore as a nightshirt (adult xl) forever
Did mom’s reaction encourage any of that? It would have for me. 
Yes, that’s sort of how time works. It would be really weird if your son was now the oldest.
I wanted a black trench coat. I wanted to look all sorts of cool and mysterious while walking head down against the wind.
I was over 40 when I finally got my long desired trench coat.
I live in central Arizona, opportunities to wear trench coats are few and far between. Trench coats are awkward to wear while driving but take up a seat all of their own if taken off. I have cats who have the magic ability to shed just the right color of hairs to show up on black.
I wanted that coat so much that I kept it for 15 years and would try it out every year because I had wanted it so badly.
I donated it to a coat drive this year.