I play with my friends and their house rules allow for looking in the dictionary, partly because it was a way to teach the kids new words. Also if you are stuck you can “go public” and ask for help from the other players. We’ve already decided there can be a “go electronic” option, but you take an automatic ten-point deduction. That’s because not only does the electronic gadget have words in it, but you can feed it the tiles you have and it will generate words! Or you can tell it what’s been played on the board and it will fit the words from your tiles in for you. Talk about cheating!
All in all I am feeling very blessed and VERY spoiled! It was a hard year with the illness of my brother and grandmother so that could be why my parents are so generous!
My parents and the Tashaboy and I are all kind of broke this Christmas due to all kinds of medical and mechanical problems in the past five months - so we’ve all mutually agreed to not buy anything for each other, and instead focus on all of the kids we know (Christmas is about the KIDS, not adults, dammit). My sister ignored this rule and got me a new gorgeous winter jacket because the one I had I got when I worked at Domino’s, and it still had the logo on it - and it wasn’t doing it’s job right. The jacket she got me is amazing. I love it. It’s three jackets in one - An outer windbreaker style jacket and hood and an inner liner that looks like a ski jacket; together they make the most awsome winter jacket imaginable (it negates cold); separate they make a decent windbreaker for cool weather and a ski-style jacket.
My sister can sometimes be one of the most selfish people I know, and at others the most selfless. I was like “But I can’t get you anything!” and she said “I don’t care, you need a freakin’ jacket!”
I got a $50 Staples gift card from someone I haven’t actually met. I converted her wedding video from Hi8 to DVD with a lot of editing, transitions, titling, chapter stops and custom DVD menus with some bonuses a few months back. It was all set up through a relative of hers who is a friend of ours, and it was a paid gig, so the gift card was an unexpected bonus. Apparently they really liked the video.
I got a dog too*: a ghastly singing puppy from my stepmother-in-law, a lovely woman, but one for whom “taste” and “Christmas” are not synonymous.
If anyone can help me work out what the HELL the dog is singing, here’s a fairly uninteresting video of my cat totally failing to rise to the bait. It sounds like:
Frosty the Snowman
Was a happy collie woh
With a boyndap eyes
And a button nose
And a loy dee I don’t know.
Wow, gigi, you and my mom are practically the same person! Except I know you’re way younger than she is. You even shop from the same place I buy her xmas and birthday presents.
I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to buy her the Scrabble electronic dictionary, but now I’m pretty sure I’ll get it for her.
Thanks
A blanket. I really needed it. I only had two sheets and a comforter that are not thread bare.
I apparently will get one more thing, since I’ve been asked. I need underwear, so that’s Christmas for me a blanket and underwear. Also one card that is the identical to the one this person gave me last year. The funny bit with that is 11/24/06 I found the last card in junk on the dresser, and threw it out. A week later I get an exact replacement.
My family already had Xmas on Nov 30th, as that was the only time we would be able to see my wife’s brother. He’ll be on the road until spring. So we’ve already got most of what we’re getting for Xmas, though there are a few more items in the works.
Let’s see, among other things, I got the 3rd volume of WB cartoons, “Christmas with SCTV” and “Police Squad” on DVD, and a gift certificate from Amazon, which has gone toward getting me CDs by Steely Dan and one by Todd Rundgren that was only issued in Japan. My wife’s grandma, who I talked about in the thread on clueless glft givers, gave me an onion chopper this year. I’ve actually used it a couple of times, and it works like a charm! (Hey, at least it wasn’t another fiber optic angel!)
None so far. My friends all lament that I am tough to buy for and so I often get nothing, except whatever Mom buys. I don’t mind, I enjoy the giving probably more than the getting anyway.
That may sound bizarre, but it’s very expensive here - a member of her family was passing through duty free, and then she couldn’t bear to wait until Christmas to give it to me.
It’s currently sitting down the side of my desk. Must remember to bring a lime on Monday and utilize it in pre-Christmas celebrations.
Heh. My father is very picky about what cards he sends out and since he doesn’t find good religious ones very often he is sometimes stuck sending the same one twice.
But for my birthday my parents gave me a card and thought I would think it was cute. Unfortunately mom had told me about the card when they gave it to my brother for his birthday earlier in the year. It didn’t feel so special when I got it.
I was like “But I can’t get you anything!” and she said “I don’t care, you need a freakin’ jacket!”