What are you looking forward to GIVING this holiday season?

An off shoot to another discussion...

I'm looking forward to getting my son and his fiancée some things fom their registry.

Some UnderArmour rugby gear for college son.

Shopping a bit online for them this evening.

 

Except for a couple of rare exceptions, we just buy for those in need. I'm not saying that to toot my horn...we just don't celebrate Christmas very heavily. No tree or anything of that sort. I enjoy shopping for the children, but I also got an adult this year which I've only done once before. He needed winter overalls to work in, and I know those can be expensive. It makes my heart happy I can give someone something that is so critical to his comfort and ability to work for his family.

 

So nice, Just!

 

I love giving presents to my family! I'm excited to see my husband open his gifts: some college team apparel, a couple of video games, and some yet to be purchased.

Son will be getting a bike (hopefully) and some other things from his list.

Daughter #1 will be surrounded with la la loopsy dolls & accessories; barbie; and other dolls

Daughter #2 will have dolls, and color me a song from Crayola.

Other family members will be getting household items, inspirational, clothes, or tools.

Haven't decided yet how my family will be helping others yet. Last year I took each kid and had them pick out a toy for Secret Santa. Will also be adding mittens, hats, to the tree at church.

 

So far, I've alrady recently given 3 fellow SLP colleagues each a See's Candies gift card for a 1 lb box, not because it's Christmas, but to show my appreciation.

I spent quite a bit of time helping a pal find a facility to do her clinical work for a school program.

I drive my parents around...unless I'm at work or something.

A few toys to donate. It doesn't really matter what organization it is.

Other donations of clothing, shoes, & other items.

I love giving to my loved ones. Their look of surprise as they're ripping the presents open is joyous.

I even got my dog something...new toys.

 

My husband is a technology teacher and has been looking at tablets. He has mentioned some and added a "lower end" tablet to his wish list. He always says the iPad is top of the line, but only if you want to spend the money, so he choose other ones that were not as costly that he says still do a great job.

I made up my mind that I was going to buy him an iPad regardless. He has no idea and is going to be sooo happy. At times I feel guilty because we are still carrying the mortgage of 2 houses until our other house sells, we just got married in July and are having our first child in April, and our pellet stove just broke and then a part went on our heater (all in 1 week) and I know that some of the money I septn on the iPad could be used in other ways. However, I have to say that I have the best husband a wife can ever have. He is the perfect housewife - he does the dishes, laundry, and cooks every night. Also, he rubs my feet every other day and he has been putting up with my crazy hormones that go with my pregnancy. I just had to treat him to this extra special present, to show my appreciation of him as a husband and future father. I CANNOT wait to see his face on Christmas! :wub:

(sorry so long, but I am soo excited to surprise my hubby!)

 

When I moved here, there was a slight incident with the trailer that was hauling my stuff on icy roads. Most of my electronics didn't survive. I was able to keep the xbox going for a couple months, and purchased a Wii to replace the playstation (it was cheaper, and I had to buy a new TV and DVD player too). Sadly, the Xbox died and I haven't been able to replace it. Well, Wal-Mart had an Xbox Kinect bundle on sale for $199 with a $50 gift card bonus, and a PS3 on sale for $199. I got the Xbox, and then used the gift card to partially pay for the PS3. So, for $348, I was able to get both systems. I dug out the PS3 for my birthday (celebrated early...I couldn't wait). The kids were super excited. They don't know about the Xbox Kinect. I can't wait to see their faces on Christmas morning when I have it all set up!

 

My daughter is 2 and a half, and this is the first year she is really noticing all things Christmas. For the last month, she has told us several times a day that Santa is bringing her a purple castle (it's a 3 foot tall Disney Ultimate Fairy Tale Castle with themed rooms for all the Princesses). I CANNOT WAIT to see her expression when she sees it under the tree Christmas morning!

I am also excited about our upcoming service project at school. Each year, every classroom completes a service project around Christmas time. My class will be collecting items to be delivered to the homeless on Christmas Eve, and at least one of my students will be personally delivering the donations. I look forward to hearing about his experience.

 

I went to the store today and bought presents for the Children's Hospital Cancer ward. I bought a whole basket, used coupons, gift certificates, and discount card and spent a total of .98 cents. I can't wait to fill the box on Monday.

I bought my daughter everything on her list...it all added up to less than $100...I caught everything on sale.

And my teenager is getting a black cowboy hat...he wants it for senior pictures....

 

I love giving gifts, whatever they are. They are ususually gifts that I give with love, because they aren't that expensive. I found an awesome telescope for a great price this year. I'm so excited to give it to my niece! The other gift that I can't wait to give (ok, to be honest, I have a hard time waiting to give any gifts!) is an LSU Mr. Potato Head to a dear friend's 2 year old. She is going to be so excited!

 

As much as I don't want a furry animal to take care of right now, my youngest has been all about furry animals for almost a year now. He only wrote 5 things on his Christmas wish list and basically told me that his top wish is to get TWO LITTLE FURRY hamsters. I've been pretty insistent on no animals in the house (we adopt stray cats for a bit outside when they need us) but I admit, I'm going to enjoy giving them to him on Christmas.

 

cutNglue, that's great! I'm sure he'll LOVE them.

 

My favorite find so far this year is a Charles Darwin bobblehead figure for my daughter who is in grad school in evolution/chemistry.

 

Here are my top 3 this year:

Probably my favorite gift is the one I'm getting Peter: Lunch with an Imagineer at Disney World next summer.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/dine-with-an-imagineer/

I'm also excited about the books we're making the moms, inspired by a thread here. We've asked our siblings to email us some of the memories of our childhoods. They can be big or small. I have things like the poem my grandmother used to recite, the names of our neighbors, and the time my mom served us liver for dinner and my sister threw it, piece by piece, down the basment stairs. As of now, my mom's is 12 pages; that will grow. I'll put it into page protectors and into a binder, and each of my siblings will receive a copy.

There's also the book I got Brian. As a toddler, he was obsessed with the book Goodnight Moon. I found him Goodnight Ipad.

 

By far, I am most excited about my 4 year old niece's gift. She is a performer all the way. My DH and I bought her a small karaoke machine! My SIL hinted that my niece loved her friend's karaoke machine, so we decided then and there to get it! I cannot wait until she opens it!
I am also excited to give my son a book he requested written by his musician inspiration-Brad Paisley. If I could manage a meet and greet with him, I would.
Lastly, the night custodian and I are good friends. He is less fortunate than we are, so my husband is giving him his motorcycle bags as a thank you. (for always looking out for me at work!) As my husband said, we are so blessed, and he can't afford to buy them. I told the custodian about them, and he was so overwhelmed. It made my heart sing.

 

I love giving gifts at Christmas! So much that I usually end up telling people what I've bought them before Christmas - often by accident.

This year I am finally paying my parents back for their financial help through university - my sisters and I are pooling our resources and writing them a cheque so they can put a down payment on a new vehicle. My sister and brother-in-law are having a baby any day now, so I am going to give them some gift certificates, as $$$ will be tight now that she is on maternity leave.

 

What a wonderfully heartwarming thread this is!!

 

I love the THOUGHTFULNESS put into choosing gifts! Reading these makes my heart smile.

 

My boyfriend is a big baseball fan, and we went to the National Hall of Fame a few months ago. He was admiring the replica vintage bats, but didn't buy one for himself. The day we came home I went online and ordered him one from the 1850s I think it is. It is gorgeous..a really nice mahagony, and I bought pegs for him to display it on his wall with. It was one of the best trips we've taken so far, so I think it will be a nice reminder of that trip too

 

Even though I'm not the one giving it, I am proud of my son's gift to his girlfriend. He started out wanting to buy her expensive jewelry. We talked not only of it being inappropriate at his age but that gifts from the heart and that take time and thought really mean much more. So we brainstormed some ideas and he settled on the idea of decompaging a mailbox to store her letters from him in. He is really putting a ton of thought into the memories that will be displayed, different mediums used and putting his artistic talent to use. It is taking weeks to really prep this item. I can't to see the final product.

 

Our wrestling team presented 12 trees to Project Homefront yesterday. That made me feel good.

One of my sons scolded my husband this week for buying himself everything we were going to get him so now I have no clue....
The rest I will have to worry about when I get off school and teaching but I like trying to figure out meaningful things the kids haven't put on their lists.
Our first ever family portrait (my kids are in their 20's) so it has been a long time coming.

 

i got all the secretaries at our two schools a great cookbook, it is from our education association but I picked them out.
cookies for kids cancer cookbook

and the matching spatula.

 

For my teamies... I am getting Christmas wine from World Market. It is an inexpensive gift that everyone enjoys! LOVE it!

 

I have a secret Santa this year and I loved buying for her! I just sent her the first batch and it was lots of different cocoas and teas and also peppermint bark. She loves those types of things! I'm also looking forward to giving her two books that she really wanted.

I just picked up two great books. A White House Christmas book for my Mom and a Baseball book with lots of neat pictures for my Dad. I'm also looking forward to giving my Mom a really cool painting I found and a cute tree I picked up at a craft fair.

The boyfriend is harder but I think I'm getting him a microbrewery thing that I think he'll like.

 

Last year we made Christmas Cd's for family members of all of our favorite songs. This year, we are going to read Christmas stories (Tws the Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas etc) on a CD.

 

Soon they have an event where you can take pictures with Santa underwater. I think that would be a great picture for our first Christmas on this island. I plan to send it to family and friends.

 

Our 7 year old wanted a real desk for Christmas. Thanks to a great salesman at Office Depot who gave us the 45% off discount a day early, we were able to get her a beautiful desk/shelf unit that will grow with her though high school and beyond. I'm so excited for her to get it! I'm also excited for my kids to get their Leap Pad Explorers from my in-laws and the extras from us. And for my mom and sister to get the scarfs that I crochetted for them (Tunisian style crochetting). My husband picked out his new tools so I know he is excited to be able to use them. I love picking out gifts that I know my family will appreciate and love.

 

My now 8 year old wanted the same thing (a desk) for Christmas last year too!

 

I got a cup cake maker (and a few other things) for my boyfriends daughter. the cup cake maker is so cute because it looks like Hello Kitty's head and it makes like 6 small cupcakes at a time. Takes about 8 minutes (kicks the EZ Bake oven's single light bulbs butt!)

So when she comes over for Christmas Eve, I'm planning to let her open it then and we'll make cup cakes, frost them and eat some while watching Rudolf and probably Santa Clause 2.

We'll probably leave some special ones out for Santa too.

 

I've already given my favorite gifts. In the spirit of DH's family's Christmas calendar, I gave my mother 24 gifts for December. Included in that are 6 scrapbook pages made with pictures from her 80th birthday party.
I also made stockings of my sons' college colors with 15 gifts. 1 for each day of Dec that they'll be at school. My youngest (who lives in a VERY small dorm room) says Mom, where am I going to put an inflatable reindeer?

 

A comfortable home for my mother to live in for the few years she may have left. We are looking into assisted living and it's not going so well for many reasons.

 

This is a strange gift, but I've been positively giddy about it since this summer. My ten year old daughter loves to hunt, and goes often with her dad and a friend of ours. This summer, they would get up early, and take off for the marijuana patch to hunt dove, with five gallon buckets to sit on. Well, they aren't comfortable, and my skinny daughter would practically fall in the bucket while sitting! So I got all of them those padded seats that attach to the bucket. They will be so excited!

Hubby gets a hunting license every year, which he loves. And, dd is getting her very first shotgun-a youth 870, if you know anything about shotguns. She shoots competitively with her pellet gun, so this is a step up.

Dd 2 is giving me fits-I can't find the perfect gift yet. One thing she is getting is a release for her bow, from Santa. She is going to start archery soon.

My sister is getting a karaoke cd with Journey songs on it (our fave to sing).

I love giving!

 

Granddaughter a huge Minnie Mouse.
Terri a TV
My Son, I am not sure
My DIL coal

 

I'm sorry, but I'm totally out of my element here; I know of only one person in the world who hunts, and I haven't seen him in 20 years.

But that phrase just jumped out at me. Could you explain?

 

Ah, Grammy, I'm so sorry.

 

It jumped at me too.:huh:

 

A family friend works at the Sheriff's Office and she is letting my brother know of a young child in need of a "Christmas".

This year my siblings and I have decided that instead of exchanging gifts with each other this year, we are going to give the little kid a great Christmas!

I'm excited to shop for him/her, I think my brother was getting some info on who it is today.

We are also baking a basket of goodies (I think I'm going to make homemade Apple Pie Cookies - they are the best!) and giving them to some friends/family. We did it last year and it was fun, so I'm looking forward to it again this year

 

I love these ideas! I just wrote my HR department and asked if we could get a giving tree this year. I'd love to help out a family or specific person in need with a gift like the overalls or motorcycle bags.

Dh is tough. He wanted a TRX Pro, which I found new on Craigslist for half the price. Of course, he's already opened it and is using it. I'm stumped on what else to give him.

I'm going to Disney with my mom in February, so I'm trying to figure out if there is something low-cost I could give her while we're there. Tours and character dinners are kind of pricey when multiplied by 2, but I might bite the bullet.

I'm most excited about my secret santa partner at work. I adore her, and am having a great time picking out little treats to leave her next week. I have a slap watch (shout out to when we were young), wire necklace in the shape of a camera (she is a photographer as a hobby), little soaps, some homemade cookies, a book I think she'll like (her degree is Library Science) and a fondue pot with Melting Pot chocolate as her big gift. I wish I could get that inspired for dh!!

Baby Jem will get some seed money in it's 529 savings plan. We're not going to tell the kid they even have it until they need it for college, but we're hoping to add each month and let it grow, grow, grow!

 

Marijuana grows wild in these parts. It's a noxious weed. But dove love it. At our place at the lake, the lane entering our property is lined with the stuff...therefore, we have a lot of dove.

It would look something like this:

 

Interesting, kc.

I wanted to get a dress-up kit for my little cousin (she's almost 3), but I couldn't find one that had a variety of multi-purpose pieces as opposed to having one or two specific 'costumes.' So, I decided to use my new sewing machine to make a bunch of things. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I raided my mom's sewing room for scrap fabric, and made a tutu, some skirts, the most adorable apron, a couple vests, a cape, and a few other things. I also raided my sister's closet for old belts and scarves and things. I still need to hit the secondhand store to round it out, and will probably buy some jewelry or shoes as well.