Christmass - What are you buying this year?

[LAiffricaine]

[quote user="Hoddy"]   Coops ... this from you "We stopped buying presents for our nieces and nephews when they stopped sending us thank you letters." ... Hoddy [/quote]

My son (now married) was promised by one of his aunt a present on his 8th b'day but he didn't get it for some excuse or other but she promised it at Xmas. Didn't get it either...     So little 8 years old took pen to paper and wrote : 'Thank you Aunty for my lovely present, not sure which it was as I had so much this Xmas. I was really spoilt. etc....' He wrote the address on the envelope and went to the post office with his pocket money for the stamp all proud with himself. Never heard of that aunt again on the subject of gifts and presents. 

My best Xmas present ever ?... I had a black doll when I was 9 or so. He was a baby boy doll, with his craddle and some clothes my mother had made. I called it Totolitoto. I loved it, thought it was so cool to have a doll not like any of all my friends at school had had for their Xmas. Never thought in eons of years that one day Africa would enter my life in a big way... I think the doll is still in some cupboard at my parents... Must root for it when I next go and give it to my grandchild as and when it arrives...

My Xmas nowadays ... I give everyone a huge meal. I go to town on the ingredients, fully realising that for some it is strawberries to pigs but eh! season of goodwill and all that ... This year they don't know it but I am gunning for a caribean feast. Daughter lives but yards from Brixton in London so I'll be fetching her and at same time fill up the boot with all the weird, wonderful vegetables and other strange offerings. MIL and one of the SIL are fully expecting a turkey with all the trimmings. So they did a couple of years back and they got offered a huge indian banquet. They were extremely well fed, watered and wined and still they bitched that they didn't get their turkey [:-))] 

I just can't be bothered with the buying of silly nik-nak. The recipient is never pleased. Fed up with complaints of wrong colour, wrong style, wrong taste, wrong size, too cheap ... Thought that counts ?... my [Www]   If they want it so bad they can buy the darn article theyself! is my thinking.

as to me receiving presents... I return them all as I don't want anything. What I want is unobtainable. The material things just do not interest me, I can buy them. Other things I would dearly like to have that can not be measured in £.s.d.  ... Call me miserable if you wish ... [:P][:D]

[Lou]

When times have been hard (and still are!), my husband and I have a silly challenge for Xmas. We like to have presents to open on the day, but can't afford to spend a lot of money so we set ourselves a budget (say 20 euros - or has been as low as 10) and the challenge is to buy as many presents as possible for that amount.

We usually end up with a dozen or so little packets to open - and the sillier the present the better! So we spend Xmas morning surrounding by wrapping paper and laughing ourselves stupid.....

Lou