Best gift you'll give this year
 

Anyone care to share?

This year, I paid for my mom's dentures. :) Yeah, sounds odd, but she's been missing most of her teeth for a while (no, she's not from Kentucky, Michelle ;) ) & couldn't afford dentures after my parents lost their business. The cost for dentures can range from $1200 - $3500. :eek:

So I hooked her up with the university dental school clinic & I am happy to say she can smile without embarrassment for the first time in a long time. I feel really good about that.

Other than that, nothing too exciting. Got Mark a weathervane for the top of our garage (we've been thinking about buying one, and I finally found a nice one that didn't break the bank on Ebay.) Brother got a Lowe's gift card since they just bought their first house. Dad's getting more Dean Martin Variety Show DVD's (he loves 'em!)

The gift....of song. Wanna hear? :laugh:

That is a great present for your mom. Tell me, what exactly do weather vanes do?

Oh, I'm not really buying presents. Maybe one for Khrista's kid. I want to get her one of those electronic drum things - they're small, about 2 ft. by one ft., and they have preprogrammed stuff, but also sticks that electronically make drum noises. You know. I wanted to get her something that would irritate the f*ck out of her mom by being really noisy...hehehe.

Naturally, my gift to my parents is that I am going to visit them. They are paying for my trip, though. If you only see your parents once a year, you can get away with this "my visit is my gift" b/s. You know, they're so fricking happy to see you for once, they get all excited, etc. Sweet.

My gorlfriend a maserati.........:laugh:

No I am giving my mom this really nice candle set thingy from Yankee Candle. Very Nice....

Much Love,
Ethan

Spent about $100 at Bath & Body Works for Deb's Xmas presents, Bought my older brother a very rare CD off of eBay (Damn thing has yet to arrive, But it is on its way), bought my sister-in-law a cool windchime (W/Parrot imagery) and bought "Burger King" gift cards for my niece and nephew (Along with gag gifts consisting of rubber buck teeth and boxes of macaroni & cheese and spaghetti...Hehehehe!!!)

My older sis is getting the last blanket Mom made (The brown earth tone 50 US State birds one...I have the sky blue tone one)

What a nice daughter! I took my son to UMKC School of Dentistry for his braces. They did a wonderful job and half the cost. They impressed me.

The best gift I'm giving goes to my mother also. My sister and I and our spouses and kids got together and had a portrait taken. She's gonna bawl, I just know it. I don't think she has a protograph of all of us together at all.
It'll be a kodak moment!:)

Edit: oh, and how could I forget, My sister and brother inlaw tickets to go see Lindsey!!!! And they get to take me, so thats an extra bonus!

Hey, that's where I got my braces! Hahaha! Nice.

I'm making my mom this:

http://www.knitsimplemag.com/images/...y/holiday2.jpg

It is made entirely of many, many, many of these:

http://www.knitpicks.com/kpimages/regular/5420103.jpg

Last night I spent two hours hand-sewing beads to the poinsettia berries to make them sparkle!@! She'd better love it. A lot. Or I'll cry.

Woah, that looks like a very tedious job. Its very pretty.

How long ago did you get your braces? Tylers had his off for about 1 year. Who was your ortho. He had Dr Roth, loved him!! They had some nice looking men in there!!

It IS tedious! Right now I'm sewing all the separate pieces on there. It's a job. I was an idiot for thinking I could (easily) do it in a month. But it'll be done. Thanks :)

It's been about ten years. I had mine on forever- they hated me, because I'd break everything. I'd have to get new bands every other appointment. And then I didn't wear my retainer. I wish I'd understood then just how much it cost and I would've been so much better about it. Going there was a great experience though, even way back then! It was such a great value, the doctors were all really friendly, and it was so easy to get an appointment.

I hear ya on the retainer. I practically had to beat him to wear it. But I guess he eventually won because he hasn't wore it forever. Damn Kids!

Good luck on the project!

Oh, yeah, I highly recommend going to a DDS school for treatment. Way cheaper (the dentures were $600 total, compared with the quotes of $1200 - 3500 we received in the community) and they take extra time with you to make sure everything's done right.

Amber - a real working weathervane tells you the direction of the wind. You know, those metal N/S/E/W arrows with roosters on top of them on barn roofs? Yeah, I got him one of those. No rooster, though - it's a Buffalo. :thumbsup:

The most expensive gift is sending my mom on a 7-night Mexican Riviera cruise. But, probably, the best gift for her is an electronic "deal or no deal"...that will get her bawling. ;)

Very cool gift for your mom, Paula.

I dug out some of the old records my brother and I grew up listening to and decided to try and make CD copies from them. Three were K-tel and in fairly ugly shape and had I known the expense and frustration I'd encounter in getting half decent recordings from them I'd probably never have started. Some had skips and awful scratches so I went on ebay to try and find reasonably priced better copies. I finally found all three for $2 but the person charged a massive amount of postage and then put the price of the postage plus records on the customs form so that I had to pat almost $10 tax and duty on top of that when they finally came to my door a month and a half after I paid the seller! I figured out each one ended up costing me over $10, not $2 and for k-tel records not much better than what we already had, but the real kicker is they were U.S. editions without some of the songs on the Canadian editions we had. So I still had to try to get some of the songs off our old copies we kicked around or used as frisbees or something like that as kids.

Well, I finally got all three done a couple days ago. The scanning of the covers was a ton of work too but man, do these things ever look cute, even if a few tracks had to be screened more than I'd have liked for clicks and pops. Luckily my fingernail managed to repair a few skips once I figured out exactly where the skip was. Girl record collectors rule I tell you!

I also did a fairly beatup old Nazareth record I know my brother loved. "Bad Bad Boy" had skips galore (I wonder who played the heck out of that track?), but I got an almost respectable copy made.

One last thing is I might make a slip-case for the k-tels, and maybe buy a real copy of his other most played '70s record the Fleetwood Mac white album of 1975.

I now feel a bit bad I haven't gone to a tenth of the trouble for presents for other people... and I worry the weather is supposed to be bad and he might not even make it home for Christmas. I will never make copies from k-tel records again though. Their kitschy appeal is pretty much gone for me now.

^ That? Is an awesome gift, Becca! I remember those old K-Tel records.

My favorite gifts I am giving this year are two home depot gift cards to my friends who are landscape fanatics. They are always at home depot. The thing I like about these is that they each come in these cases that look nothing like what you would put a gift card in. I spent 40 dollars each for them so they cost a lot. I can't wait to give them.

nazareth...hairofthedog...I shredded that album.

Can I be your mom next year? :wavey:

I thought that was what it was, and so I couldn't figure out why you would want/need one. :confused:

Hehe, I got a gag gift for a party on Sat, it was a whip. :eek: :lol: And this crazy crowd thought it was a good idea to use it in the restaurant and take pics! :lol:

I got Dad a nice faux suede front zip up sweater in choc brown. Bro and his GF a gift cert to a nice restaurant. Mom a fleece vest, that is what she wanted. Kenzie (my nearly niece) two Care Bears. She loves them. Etc. No expensive gifts this year, I just don't have it. Oh yeah, and Grandma Boyds Bear ornaments from Macy's.com which she loved. :thumbsup: She's so picky. Omigod, they're down to 6.99 each now! http://www1.macys.com/catalog/produc...xx.esn_results They're adorable.

Barry Zito bobblehead for my dad. He's a big fan and sad that Zito is leaving the A's.

paula, that's a really sweet gift for your mom! i'm not getting anyone anything fab this year ... seinfeld dvd's for my friend, a mag subscription for my mom, the new who album for my stepdad, still have no clue what i'm getting my bro. no frickin' clue. better figure it out soon!

Paula that is such a nice gift to give your Mom. I really hate to say it but I don't feel like giving any gifts this year. I mean my Dad is not a problem but the thing that I really hate the most is that I have to get gifts for 9 co-workers. Not to sound cheap but if I spend just $5.00 each on them that is the price of a Lindsey ticket.:shocked: Now I have to bring everything in tomorrow for our party and I have nothing done and I am at work right now.:distress: When I get out of here I have to go someplace to get some kind of gift. I know that I am at least getting a few people a gift card to Dunkin Donuts.

When we were little kids, my brother and I had our braces done at Emery Univ. in Atlanta. You're right... that's almost one of the best kept secrets! :D

OK. Well, for Sara, I got a kid friendly digital camera. I am also having my old computer fixed up for her to use. I bought her some "cool teenager clothes" because she thinks she "dresses lame". :laugh: She totally cracks me up. She wanted curtins for her room, and some bed linens. I can't believe an 8 year old asked for that stuff. For Samantha, I bought a pair of Nike's that she designed online herself. She was absolutely in love. She even had her name put on the heel of them. So cute. I bought her a pair of "Dorothy" flats from Nordstrom. Why? I dunno? What the hell would you wear those with? :laugh: And I'm giving her $100. Mom and I went in together and bought my dad a really big ladder. He needs one to reach the roof, but is too cheap to buy one for himself. I bought my mother a gift certificate to an hour long full body massage and a pair of earrings. Then I bought them both a big fire proof safe. And! The best one of all... I bought myself a 19 in flat panel LCD monitor! I can't wait until Christmas morning!!!

She will love that. And Paula, that is a great gift for your mom.


My favorite present is the blue glass vase (she collects glass) I bought for my roommate.

Meh we don't do huge gifts around here...so it's all pretty uneventful stuff...a 20Q for my nephew (he reeeeeally wants one). He likes to "win" by having the things it's trying to guess be things like Quidditch, Hippogriff, a Phoenix :rolleyes: He's a little geek and I love him.

I got him a couple of Harry Potter related things...but yeah not really giving anything extraordinary this year....except my time and patience ;)

Uh...
 

I could plead the fifth, but there's a whip & riding crop hanging on the closet door as I type this...Wanna guess who owns it? Not me :rolleyes:

The funny thing...
 

about the blankets, My Mom made (I still hate using the past tense when referring to my Mom) is that some of my relatives (On my Dad's side of the family) seem to expect me to give them some blankets for free...Yeah right, Those same relatives are the same ones who said the following to me in May: "When your Mom was alive she was selling those blankets for $300 which I couldnt afford, But can I have one now?"

Do I look like some putz or some brain-damaged idgit (Well, I shouldnt say 'brain damaged' :lol: ) I'm sorry but if my relative wanted one they should have PAID for one while Mom was among the living, not think they will get one free since its the cheapest route for such a tightwad as they (My Mom made several blankets for all her children-I own 4: 1 ol' patch square one, the sky blue 50 US State birds one, the 9 square patch one and the one she made for our anniversary present, a gigantic double wedding ring...She was going to start on yet another custom one for me during her hospital stay in March 2005, but we know how that turned out....And it will be brought up in the upcoming wrongful eath lawsuit!!!)

A pair of tix to see Aerosmith.

Gave it to my best friend.

The show was on Sunday (12/17) and Aerosmith ROCKED! Their opening act, Hinder, on the other hand, sucked big fat ________ . (Fill in your preferred expletive) I couldn't understand a damn thing the guy was singing, he was completely devoid of charisma, and the only word I could really make out in all his horrid screaming was the constant use of the F-bomb.
'Cause that makes him cool, or something. :rolleyes:

Hmm, well I got my mother a gift certificate to a seafood place that's VERY NICE. shes always wanted to go there so I picked up a $150 gift cert for her and my stepdad to go. The place is called Oceanaire.

I got mom a Coach wallet that she wanted and a big box of godiva chocolates.

There's a reason theres a god in godiva. The best chocolates ever!

How many years are there between you and your wife? I just met someone way too young for me but I think we might date anyway.

The whip I got was a rubber, fringy one, lol. The hostess wound up with it. My brother was like, "Oh no, my sister did NOT bring that." :lol:

I sent my sis $500.00 to help her get on her feet out West.

that's cool...where does/will she live?

She transfered to the Tuscon Airport in late November.

That is where my brother lives... does she work at the airport then?

Deb is 43, I'm 36...So that's 7 years (We've been together since the summer of 1991).

People who know Deb doesnt think she is 43, most think she is in her mid 30's (Weird, she had grey hair before she did the radiation treatments for her Hodgkin's Lymphoma...But afterwards all her grey disappearred, and even more appearred in my hair.)

Hmm, he's 12 years younger (23). :o Probably not going to lead to marriage I'm thinking. :lol:

That is weird that her grey disappeared. At least she got something out of that treatment though. I'd love for my grey to disappear, although no thanks on the cancer. Cancer scares the hell out of me.

Yes. She works for Southwest Airlines.

Tell her to get Southwest's asses here to Minnesota so we can have some competition amongst the airlines and cheaper flights!:lol: