Probably the weakest present this year sadly came from my brother, he usually does better so I was a bit disappointed by this. He gave us a package of Christmas themed table decorations which included a table runner, a platter, towels and some paper plates and napkins. This isn’t really us, though I appreciated the attempt. Reminded me of a similar attempt at this my sister made several years ago. Trying to get me decorations I think may be awfully difficult unless you are pretty freaking sure I’m going to like it. Heck, most decorations tend to take me over 6 months to decide alone, I wouldn’t expect someone else to take that type of thought into getting me stuff.

My mom got me a Badgers watch. She likes to do themes where she gets everyone the same type of thing. She was going to get me a crock pot but I opted out of that earlier because we don’t really have room for appliances in our kitchen so she tacked me into the grandkid’s theme of watches. This also didn’t work for me, and she took the watch back nearly right away. I felt bad, but I don’t like to wear watches, they bother my arms and then I always know what time it is which is disturbing. It makes time go slower which I don’t like. She also got me a couple of books on the Lombardi Legacy, both of which were signed by the author, one was also signed by a dozen of the Lombardi Packers. Pretty cool

In addition, my mom got my roommate and I some kitchen stuff that I asked for. A cookie pan, 8×8 pan, 13×5 pan, and a spatula. The 8×8 and 13×5 are weird, they are ridged which I’m not entirely sure if I like or not, we’ll see.

My sister actually did better than I can remember her doing in recent memory. She got me a pasta machine after a brief discussion about how I’ve always wanted to make my own pasta the week before. She also gave me some pasta flour and homemade tomato sauce to go with it. Outside of the aforementioned appliance build-up, this was great. I can’t wait to try making my own pasta!

My roommate continued her streak of great presents as well. She got me a Nook Touch. In getting this present, she did ask me to make sure what I wanted and I did some looking into the Nook vs. Kindle debate. I decided that Nook had a couple of features that I liked (in-store support, better pdf support, better library support, more memory and expandable memory) that I tended to lean that way.  On top of that, at the end of the day I decided that I wanted to give my support to the only physical bookstore left, given that even B&N has been having hard times of late due to Amazon. And not to mention that I really don’t care for Amazon either. Well it made it a fairly easy choice.

She also got me the Blu-ray edition of Firefly which I was super excited by and have already begun re-watching the series. And she bought me a recipe book called From Asparagus to Zucchini. It is a book that is meant to help CSA subscribers make meals with the food they get from their CSAs, and it is a book that was written locally. I was really excited about this because I had looked for this book everywhere and had a hard time finding it. She didn’t even realize I knew about it and thought she was finding a new book for me. She was a little disappointed that i already heard about it, but to me it makes it better that she found it without even being remotely guided by me!

This year was unique in that I traded gifts with a couple of friends at work. I’ve never done this before but was fairly happy to do. From one side, I got an Ultimate Matrix Blu-Ray set which is great because I was considering buying it when it was on sale for Black Friday week, but didn’t. The other side i got a book that outlines the history of computer RPGs. Another great gift as I love RPGs and really do appreciate the history in them. I look forward to getting time to reading this book.

Overall this was a really good year for presents I think. There weren’t a lot of duds which is really the most I can ask for. I hope others enjoyed the presents that I got them as much as the ones they got me.

It all started at Thanksgiving where I got my gifts from my brother as usual. From him, I got his usual donation to charity, but this year I got a $50 gift card to a local movie theater. This gift was a hugely meaningful gift to us and I don’t think my brother knew how much it meant. In a year in which we have been struggling to pay the bills, one of the first things we stopped doing was going out to see movies. And seeing movies was something that we did on a regular basis previously. This gift allows us to go out and do something we enjoy doing, but at its base it allows us to get out and do something, which is phenomenal for us. We have already seen 2 movies: Black Swan and Tron: Legacy. We are rationing the card in hopes of seeing two more before it is used up.

Next my sister, who traditionally has struggled to figure out what to get me I think. This year I don’t think she did that bad. They got me a tube that they filled with Dr. Pepper (which is my favorite Soda) and they put a key to my car that I asked for. And then they also got me some Strawberry and Rhubarb Cherry jam in a jam holding container, then lastly my sister made a shaving kit for me. None of these gifts I thought were terrible. I liked the tube of soda and the jam quite a bit and will put use to the shaving kit. So I think it was all good.

My mom and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond shortly after Thanksgiving to buy my gift because I knew what I wanted to get, but wanted to actually go and feel it to make sure that I was picking the right brand. I wanted a couple of really nice knives and so I had set my eyes on a pair of Global knives. However, even though they said they carried the brand, BB&B didn’t have Global in store. We instead picked up the Calphalon knives and decided these would also be good and so my mom got me a Chef’s Knife and a Paring Knife, using a 10% coupon to help stem the cost. This was a very exciting present to me because our knives that we had previously were falling apart and rusting (one knife was being held together by duct tape). So we desperately needed something new to cut with.

My roommate’s parents asked me what I wanted this year, they decided on a gift card. Initially I told them Target as they have a better game department and a broader range of things to get. However, I got a $10 gift card at Best Buy from doing something good at work, so they got me an additional $50 at Best Buy so that I could be sure to get something, or a couple of things, that are good. They also bought me a tiny Italian Recipe book, I haven’t fully looked through it but I always enjoy getting recipe books and I love Italian food so this was good.

Lastly, my roommate. I don’t think my roommate quite topped the present that she got me from last year, but again for the second year in a row I think she did pretty darn good. This year she totally re-did my bathroom.  She got me new bamboo towels, bamboo wash clothes, a bathmat, shower curtains, toothbrush holder and new wall art that all matched. It was all yellow, grey and stainless steel which was awesome. It had the feel of modern without the sacrifice of color which is what I like to go for. The theme was a city, because I like cities and the buildings. The curtain was very unique and was like and artist’s drawing of skyscrapers. It is hard to describe, but it is really cool and I was thrilled by it. The bathmat is also something of note, it is not just a normal mat, it has these little cloth peg things which are funny but kind of feel good on your foot. It gives character to the room (as if it needed it but it is great).

This year had some ups and downs. My sister decided to make her year of giving about home-made bath items. Her family made some rice heat packs and ice packs for relaxing, and then gave a couple of candles and a box of chocolates. The box of chocolates I liked, one of the candles that smelled like linen was surprisingly good, haven’t tried the other one yet. I didn’t really care for the rice packs, don’t get it. She also sent a little pack of lotions which I suspect she got a bunch of them for free or really cheap and was just looking for someone to unload them. There were like three little suntan lotions in it.

My brother got his usual charity donation, this year it came with a calendar. But he also sent a box of snacks including buckeyes, sausage, crackers, BBQ sauce, and peanut butter pretzels. I liked the snack box a lot. I ate the buckeyes quickly, my roommate said she didn’t care for the sausage but I thought it was ok though not particularly good. Haven’t had a chance to try the rest due to our over-eating for the holidays anyway. He also found a biker toy with my name that I thought was hilarious and so I ran it a few times across the kitchen floor.

My mom gave me a belgian waffle iron and a box of mix and lots of flavored syrups. It was great and we have made waffles four or five times since we got it a few weeks ago. We have always been a fan of pancakes, but honestly waffles seem easier to make than pancakes with this iron and it is a really good one.

This year, we also decided to go out shopping with my daughter so that she could get each of us a present. I realize that this is something that a lot of people do at a very early age, but I have never done it with her previously. I think it meant more to her too that she got to do this. It gave her a chance to go out with each of us and pick something else for the other which was fun. Basically she came up with a general idea, and then my roommate and I specified what would be good in that category. For me, my daughter wanted to get me a video game and my roommate picked out Super Mario Bros. Wii which I absolutely love and have had a fun time playing with others as a family.

My roommate’s family also got me a video game, well kind of. They got me a gift card to Best Buy so that I could by myself a video game. I used it to buy Muramasa: The Demon Blade. I bought it because I wanted a more serious game that had ties to RPGs and looked cool. I felt that the game fit the bill, and so far it has. It is an absolutely gorgeous game. They also got me a cookbook from Graham Kerr which I really like because it is full of healthy recipes that look easy to make.

My roommate probably did the best job at finding me a present that she ever has done. This was the first time I can remember that I didn’t tell her exactly what to get me, and I even went further and told her that I didn’t really want video games this year (ironic that I got two anyway). But she got me art of Pac-Man Code from Ben Fry. I was very impressed that she was able to find this for me as it isn’t easy to find and it is something I really wanted but probably wouldn’t have bought because it is kind of expensive (perfect gift!!). She also got me an Ugly Doll. I knew she was getting me an ugly doll, but I love them so I didn’t mind.

Overall, a good Christmas I think. Not too many presents, and the presents I got I think for the most part were pretty good.

Let us start with my sister who got me an ornament that could display pictures in it and a picture album with recipes from my family in it. The photo ornament was just odd, especially since before this year I never had a tree and she didn’t know I got a full-sized one. Even though I do have one, I would never put it on the tree as it is an ugly ornament and just tacky. Unfortunately I didn’t get a receipt with it either so I couldn’t even bring it back for something useful like a candy bar. I think she had the right idea for the recipes from old relatives, but it was unprofessional in presentation. Not that I expected it to be professional, I just wish it would have been nice.

My Brother continued on with his giving to charity in the name of other people, not horrible though I do think that it is a way for him to hide how much they spend on me. They likely give like $10 and no more. Not a bad gig really, no one will question it since it is charity. He also gave me some hot cocoa which I’m excited to try as it is mint.

My friend’s family got me a $20 gift card to Borders (which was odd because they know that I prefer Barnes & Noble) which I have since spent on The Annotated Elminister. This was another book that I had been eying for sometime but never thought it as a good thing to get. But since I had some extra cash I thought it would be a good buy. They also got me a Micheal Moore book which is a fairly good idea for them because he is up my ally. I definitely have enough to read for the next year now! (I still have things from before to read.)

My mother got me a $100 gift card to World Market which was what I asked for (well not price) because I have a set of dishes that I want to buy from there. I’ve had my eye on a set of square plates that are black that I think would be really nice (would like red bowls to go with it, but I may not get those now). She also got me a little book that goes into detail about my extended family and how they relate to me. It was a really nicely done booklet and is about the quality that I thought my sister’s gift should have been.

My best friend did the best job overall on my gifts. She got me a little booklet for I can has cheezburger which is one of our favorite websites. It was small, but a very fun gift none the less. She also got me Personal Trainer – Cooking for the Nintendo DS which is really a recipe game that helps you learn how to make various types of meals. I wasn’t expecting this gift at all and I thought it was great. I had looked at it and it looked cool, but had decided I wasn’t going to buy it for mysefl cause I thought that I just didn’t have the money for something like that. This really is the best type of present IMHO. She also got me a Wii Fit which I really wanted but hadn’t wanted to stand in line for. I have loved it thus far and have been using it fairly regularly (though I’ve not done it for a few days). And I’ve even started a blog to keep track of my progress in my weight loss goals.

I would remiss if I didn’t mention that my daughter came with gifts. They were regifts really, just things that she had already (and likely didn’t want) that she decided to put my name on and give to me. Still, it was really sweet that she sat down and thought of getting me something for Christmas.

The reason we wanted to stick with fake was largely because of me. I am not a huge x-mas tree fan in the first place, and the idea of killing a tree for a month of holiday fun seems really wrong to me so I convinced my roommate to buy a fake one. Though I think she has similar feelings as me, just not as strong so it didn’t take a lot. We also bought some LED lights to go with it as well as some tinsle.

We chose one of the cheaper trees that we found that had no lights built in. It is kind of strange that these days most fake trees come with lighs built in. On some respect that is really nice, but we wanted to be able to have different lights every year and we also wanted LED which none of the trees had built in. So it worked, it only cost $60-70 which we figure we will be able to make up in two or three years from not having to buy a real one.

So we brought it home, set it up and decorated it with the tinsel and lights that we had bought. It set up surprisingly easy, I was expecting a little more work, but it was quick. All-in-all we had it set up in about 30-45 minutes.

It was a perfectly nice day for setting up as well, it started snowing midway into setting up the tree, I brok out some eggnog and my daughter sang Christmas Carols. On the way to her going back to her house, I turned on the Christmas radio station so we could listen to tunes the way home.

And like any good winter holiday, I am now sick. Merry Christmas.

So from my friend I got Battlestar Gallactica season 1, a Battlestart Gallactica Calendar, and a Nstromo N52 Speedpad. None of this was really a surprise as I asked for them, my friend isn’t that great at figuring out what I want for some reason so this is what she does… the Nostromo has been pretty good thus far. Much of my time with it has been getting used to the finger presses and setting it up to work with my healing routine.  I still haven’t set up all the buttons but I got a fair amount in. From her family I got a best buy gift card and a Dragon Calendar (her family has this weird calendar gift fetish, I think it is because they were all poor and this was a personalized present they could get each other that they could use <shrug>).

My sister’s family gave me a new Wii carrying case which was actually pretty good for them. I have been needing a case to carry it in and was eyeing some, it isn’t probably what I would have chose (given that it is small and carries only 2 remotes), but it was a good gift none the less.

My mom gave me a big gift card and a copy of the new monopoly with the credit cards (version #3 not including junior for me!!!!), and then she also made a photo album with the family history in it for me which was a fairly nice gesture I thought.

My brother sent me a food pack with all sorts of treats and a candle holder, as well as a donation in my name to some African fund (yeah they are those type of people which honestly I don’t mind so much but it is kinda sad cause now they just buy the same thing for everyone they know and I feel like they have lost touch).

I feel that I got more, but I can’t remember anything else honestly. I know for my graduation I generally got cash and gift cards as well, which is leaving me with quite a nice sum that I could buy something nice with if I wanted, though I don’t know if this is what I should do.

Overall, it was an ok christmas… I still would rather do without the gift giving in general but I do think everyone would get overly pissed off if I stopped giving them presents which sucks.

So the following week my sister’s family came down to spend Christmas with my mom, but on the way, my Uncle (one who also shouldn’t have known about the commencement) called her and told her about it. This left me with really quite an odd dilemma… I knew she would find out eventually, but I never really thought it would occur less than a week after the ceremony and just 3 days before Christmas!!! I at this point no longer even wanted to go to my mother’s house for dinner, and I certainly didn’t want to go for just “hanging out sake.” They convinced me to go for dinner, and luckily (or unluckily) they got a call from a neighbor saying their furnace went out and rushed back up directly after dinner. They were worried their pipes would freeze and burst which is a worthy concern! Because of this I didn’t have to sit around too long in the awkwardness.

For the record, when she was asking why she wasn’t invited, I didn’t really say it was because I didn’t like her or anything. I just said she didn’t do anything and I wasn’t really upset with her for anything. It is kind of implied obviously that I don’t like her in that but I didn’t actually SAY that.

While we did have dinner at my mom’s, our actual celebration is held off till New Years. The reason for this is largely because it is easier to get my daughter during this period for a longer time, but it has also made their Christmas’ easier to deal with as my sister can then go to their in-laws without concern for ours. So the following week, we drive up to her area for her to host Christmas this year. This turned out to be the real disaster…

On the Sunday, my mom calls and finds out if she has anything plan. Our thought was that we would likely eat at my sister’s that night and come back to the hotel with her family to swim. So my mom calls, and finds out that we should head over. We get there and spend 2 hours sitting around watching a Vikings game that no one cares about and then we eat. Afterwards, we go and begin to open presents (something we just assumed we would do the next day as we had about 14-16 hours to fill with new years!) By this time my daughter is tired, and cranky, and apparently sick as she puked later that night at the hotel. My daughter stops opening presents after opening half of hers before she gets bored and whiny and stops wanting to open presents. We quickly finish off the rest of the family’s presents, and pack up our stuff and head out. Only to find out that she wants us up, ready, and back at her house for breakfast by 9am in the morning!!! This is far too early as if we are lucky all of us will be up at 8am which would allow us just 1 hour to get everyone showered, and drive there just to eat a breakfast we would prefer to eat at the hotel at our leisure! So I quickly ask her if we can’t just eat the breakfast for lunch and then we would come at like 11am, a time much more reasonable for us to handle. She kindly lets us out of this and we actually return to the hotel angry that she has us all so harshly scheduled at her house that we can’t get a break and my daughter is crying because she thought we would go swimming that night, and then of course she pukes!

The next day starts out better, my mom takes my daughter to the pool early in the morning to get her some of her swimming in and we decide that because we missed swimming the day before, we should go that day, and we quickly realize that sledding needs to be left out as two huge physical activities and the swimming was far more important. So we get to my sister’s about an hour early, and tell her that we’d just rather not go sledding and we would prefer going swimming in the afternoon. My sister gets really pissed, slams her cooking around in the kitchen, refuses to talk for like an hour or two, and then forces her family to go sledding without us later in the day.

Luckily after that, the trip got a little better, we went swimming another time the following day, and my sister decided to go for a short time with her family. My daughter was extremely happy to have had the chance to swim and play with them so I’m happy we actually got that opportunity.

So yeah, the whole thing was an utter disaster, and I’m thinking likely in part due to the timing of the commencement thing. I don’t htink my sister would have gotten as huffy about the sledding thing had it not been for this issue. After all, she didn’t even particularly want to go sledding in the first place. I don’t know what is going to happen in future family events with get-togethers. As it stands I no longer wish to go up to their house. Maybe next year I will travel to see my brother with my daughter so that she has a chance to really visit with their family and maybe my sister will not be able to do such a trip and I can avoid a year. At the very least, I likely won’t see or hear from my sister for a few months, which I’m more than a little happy to know.