Along with a couple of shirts and a digital picture frame I decided to have a little fun.
The jewelry store called Jareds’ runs a series of extremely annoying commercials where a woman shows off some bauble she got from her loving SO and tells everyone, “He went to Jared’s.” The friends and family keep repeating the line ad nauseum, the implication being that if your SO doesn’t go to Jared’s then he is a useless, uncaring, insensitive brute who isn’t concerned about your feelings and desires and probably has a tiny winkie as well.
My wife hates the commercials and every time they would come on she would turn to me and say, “Did you go to Jared’s?” So, yes, I went there and bought the cheapest pair of earrings they had. After my wife had opened up all of her other presents I said to my 7 YO daughter, “I think we’re missing one of mommy’s presents.” My daughter, a budding Meryl Streep, went, “Oh my! I think we did forget something.” She ran to her bedroom and came back out with her hands behind her back. She then said, “Mommy, we have a surprise for you. He went to Jared’s,” and she brought out the bag. My wife started laughing hysterically. After she opened the earring box and saw the crap earrings that were there, I brought out the sapphire stud earrings I bought at our favorite jewelers.
I got my husband Dark Chocolate Champagne Truffles from Teuscher Chocolates, a Christmas tradition at our house for over a decade. Well, the Champagne Truffles are a tradition–they only added the dark chocolate version in the past couple of years. They are awesome.
He also got 2 games for his Nintendo DS–Picross, and Puzzle Quest. He is now totally addicted to Puzzle Quest and stayed up way too late defeating giant rats and spiders.
I got him George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and Joseph Ellis’ new book (he’s a total early American history geek), and tea-making supplies from Upton Tea Company, with teas, of course. He loves his new electric kettle–he says it makes him feel Very British.
My boy got me the Eee PC and a book; I got him a few DVDs (The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth, Kids in the Hall Season 2), a few books (Ceremony by Leslie Silko and something about zombies), a teddy bear with a Zodiac Killer costume (his hero), and some money for the car he will be getting soon.
I gave him a drill, a tin of pistachios, a dress belt which will have to be returned (too big), and that doohickey you’ve seen on TV that dices onions. He likes to chop stuff when we cook, but the onions always get his eyes watering terribly.
He got me some nice pajamas, a wonderful robe, the free gifts which came with the robe and jammies (tote bag, body spray, etc.), and he pre-ordered the Stephen King book which comes out in January. Yay!
We’ve just recently gotten together so I haven’t really had time to find out what she does and doesn’t like. I know that some people would say jewelry but that’s just too impersonal.
A couple of months ago she mentioned that she couldn’t find her favorite candy Twin Bing since she moved down south. I went online and bought her a box and the expression on her face when she unwrapped the box just made my year.
And a gift card to Starbucks. She seems to be addicted to that stuff or something.
because I could (finally), madpansy64 got a new set of taylor mades, the big kitchen-aid mixer, and a sapphire ring she adored. good thing i paid attention in stores.
I got her a serger (a special kind of sewing machine that does finished edges), nice pinking shears, Black and Decker power scissors, a couple of T-shirts from Threadless, a bottle of Chambord, and some stocking stuffers from Toys in Babeland.
I got Airman a copy of *Two-Lane Blacktop*, which he’s wanted but which only recently came out on DVD. His family loves Christmas and tends to go overboard, so we decided to give each other one smallish gift that the other really wants.
Absolutely nothing and tomorrow is her birthday and she’s getting even less. Since she left a couple weeks ago I have paid over 2 grand in bills I didn’t know about and have another 4 grand or so to pay. I will be giving her some divorce papers to sign here in the near future, hope she enjoys them.
A change sorter is an interesting idea. I have a bucket I dump my change into every once in a while, as I tend to find piles of toonies, loonies, and other smaller change lying around my house as I empty my pockets after work, after going out with friends for drinks etc… I brought my (full) bucket to the grocery store the one day, and dumped it all into the machine they have there. Only downside is they take 9% or sometihng like that. I still walked away with a little over $450. Had I had one of those machines I could have walked away with $500+.
As far as what I got the SO for christmas… well, we’ve only been dating a couple months, and she’s not huge on gift exchanges, and limited me to a $20 gift, so I limited it to $40 and got her a nice gift basket from Laura Secord. Very simple and very effective
and got her a nice gift basket from Laura Secord. Very simple and very effective