I had two main things I wanted this year, Magic Line pans and Josh Groben tickets for Feb. I got neither, even after my hubby was asking about exactly where the decorating store was that carried the pans. I can not complain too much though, he never buys my jewelry and he got me a gold bracelet- that money would have bought A LOT of cake pans though!!!
So now I will have to save up to get some good pans.
Happy New Year all!
Tracy

This has been a hoot! I've enjoyed reading it, and I know that no one here is being ungrateful, just having a giggle about how silly people can be sometimes!! I also am not ungrateful, but had to wonder what my MIL was thinking when she gave me this box... one of those that you store pictures in... it's covered in shiny paper to make it look like blue denim, and has a few hippy daisies on the top in pink and orange. A totally hippy type look, and I am totally into black and new age stuff. It's not ugly, just NOT ME!She knows this. But the funny part was when she said she knew that I had tons of pictures of the baby and that this would be a good place to keep them. Except... she KNOWS they are all digital pictures on my computer. In my head I was like, "Yah, I suppose I could print them all out and put them in here... " Her heart was in the right place... she said she just wanted me to have something to unwrap because the rest of my gift was a check. She wasn't trying to be mean or anything, she just had a total brain fart and didn't know what else to get me I guess! Bless her heart. Otherwise, I got a lot of really nice gifts, and this box will make a great gift for my neice or someone who likes that style. I do have a SIL who is famous for saying "Oh, your gift didn't come in time, but it's on it's way!" Then it magically never shows up! So this year I told her we are not exchanging gifts at all. I told her we should save our money and then hit the after Christmas sales and buy ourselves what we really want!

I'm so upset with my DH's side of the family I could spit!!! His mother passed away over a year ago and he has more money than God!!! Last year we all had to pitch in $80 for his gift and this year they wanted us to do the same because HE wanted a dishwasher! We all decided we would pitch in what we could and my husband and I decided we'd put in $50. A few days before Christmas, my SIL called and told my DH that everyone owes $80 and he reminded her that it was decided we would pitch in what we could and we decided on $50. She was upset but too bad!!!! The man could buy 10 dishwashers and 3 of his kids owe him money they can't afford to pay back right now anyway. The thing that really bothers me is that the man REFUSED to buy my MIL a dishwasher the whole time she was alive! He got the thing....it overpowers his kitchen and did he even say thank you to my DH or I? NOOOOOO. He said at one point, "I got a dishwasher!" and I said...."you're welcome!". I just couldn't stop myself....but he's too ignorant to even realize it was not a nice comment. I told my husband that it's not fair to my parents to get them a $15 gift and he gets something for $80 every year. We've already decided that next year I'm making something (I sew and he loves flannel sleep pants and polar cloth pullovers - so I'll make him one of each!!!) and we're going to have it done by September so when my SILs bring up what he wants, we'll have our gift done and can't be returned. Sorry, just had to vent about that!!!!

On the other hand, my DH and I decided, since we're trying to save for a downpayment on a house, we would not go over $100 for each other. I learned very quickly (we've been married 5 years), that it's better to take him to the mall and show him exactly the things I like. One year he bought me a candle from the dollar store in a flowery fragrance that makes me sneeze.....socks from the dollar store,.....a printer cartridge....a webcam that I would never use.....and a tshirt that was about $3 at walmart. Well, he did so good this year. I took him to the mall and showed him many many things I'd like to have. I went over the budget by about $40 but he went WAY over and bought me just about everything I pointed out and then some. I'm very lucky to be treated well by my DH and although it took me to age 40 to find a great guy, it was totally worth the wait!

ya know, after reading all the posts, I sit here with aching heart. I know many have somewhat 'laughed it off', but there is still a void and a hurt that accompanies the lack of gifts or thoughfulness. Until I met my husband now, I very rarely got anything from anybody. It hurts!! I, too, am estranged from my family, but with the new year, I am seriously contemplating writing them and making peace from my end. Once I do that, it will be up to them to reciprocate. How sad it is that people insists on hurting others, regardless of whether they are blood relatives or not. It's a new year, maybe it's time to turn a new corner and make peace. Lord knows we can't make peace in other parts of the world, but maybe we can in our own little personal world.

Happy New Year everyone, may peace and love surround you this year and in the coming years!

I was very disappointed with my family this year. It sounds ungrateful, I know, but usually we put so much effort into each others gifts, and this year I got a blanket from my mom and dad, a blanket from my sister and a blanket from my brother and his wife. They even told me that they all knew the others were getting me blankets too....why not try for something else then? So I figure I will donate them to people who need blankets.
I also got a pair of pants called "Aloha Fushia" from a company called Tanjay. They are high wasted fushia capri pants with palm trees and little jewels on them.....so bad. They are from DH's grandma who said that if they didn't fit, she'd buy me a bigger size - no thanks! She said it was from one of her favorite stores....well, that's fine for her, but I'm only 24! I don't think I'm supposed to be wearing high waisted palm tree pants until I retire. Oh yeah, and it's winter in Manitoba....-24C with the windchill - won't be needing capri pants today!
Also, my gift from DH was....well, not bad, but not what I wanted. But it was so thoughtful. He bought me a printer to use for edible images - and Epson was the only one he could find in Canada. The thing is, I don't do enough cakes for it to be worthwhile, and it's not something I was really interested in getting into, and I told him that before. He was such a sweetheart about it, and so I felt awful telling him I couldn't really use it. The ink is far too expensive, and you can't actually buy supplies anywhere in Canada so the shipping would be pricey too. I felt just miserable, because he walked around with a list of compatible printers for 3 weeks! He took the printer back and got me some slippers and the Cake Mix Doctor - 2 things that were actually on my list.

Well I have read EVERY SINGLE post here. I laughed I cried and my heart aches for some of you who are having real problems with you families and children. The thing that made me cry was the post that no one has yet to comment on... the mother was given the christmas wish to eat shit and die by her daughter.... I want to say as a mother and as a human... I'm so sorry you had to endure such a heartless moment with your daughter. I'm sure she's just going thru a phase and she'll regret saying that. I hope you had a better christmas otherwise.

As for me.... I got very nice gifts this year however it was NOTHING I asked for. I asked for very specific things because we are going to be moving, sometime in the near future I hope!, and since it's hard to tell mom what to get me and have her get it right I did up a Wishlist on WalMart.com and gave her the info to access it at the store or online so she could know what I wanted. I grabbed one of her mags and folded down some pages and wrote a list of what I wanted and prices and page numbers and also a list of DON'T NEEDS!!! Well on the "I do NOT need...." list was dishes... she buys us dishes almost every year for christmas either myself or my husband, and two years ago it was christmas dishes... well I'm not like her I don't change dishes for christmas along with everything else in the house (she changes towels, shower curtains, pictures, rugs, bed clothes, etc just for christmas lol) so this year she gets me all white dishes.... 3 years ago I got a set of all white dishes.... I like purple and black everyone knows this purple has been my favorite color since I was 3.... I hate white lol also she tells me just before christmas that along with the dish set thats in her will to me she is giving me a set that I've been eyeing for years now as soon as we move and they are collectable as that's why she has them but can also be used as everyday dishes like she does with the other set (she collects Bucks County dishes yellow is everyday set and a brown set and two green sets one with scalloped edges is in the will and one that is regular is what she's giving when I move very expencive hobby she has lol) so I didn't need another set of dishes lol.... Also I wanted a specific type of griddle that will help me and hubby lose weight and eat healthier well she got me a very nice one but it wasn't the one I wanted (the one I wanted is called Tilt and Drain or something and is really neat and was the same price) also I asked for a KA mixer or a Cook's mixer or an equally nice one/stand mixer of any type.... didn't get that but got a nice set of luggage.... can we afford a vacation? NO lol... do we have luggage already? YES but we needed new... so I love it! But would've rather had the mixer lol... I asked for dark colored towels since hubby is a carpenter and I have a 7 year old daughter and hubby works alot outside on the car and stuff and gets very dirty I wanted dark colors.... well she buys me off white... wth is with the white lady! lmao but I like them. Also a bag of socks... nice needed them but would've rather bought them myself and had something else from you lol.... she bought my daughter and niece a REAL diamond necklace (on sale at Boscov's for $20.~ 1/4 carat total weight) but didn't get me any jewlry I had asked for

Hubby got me a really cool tool box for my cake stuff and my brother gave me a basket of home made bath stuff... really nice but I'm a really big woman and can not get in a bath tub lmao mainly because of my back problems but hubby is installing a large whirlpool tub in the house before we move in so it'll be easier then a normal tub to get in and out of it with my back problems... but he spent ALOT on this basket of stuff from his friends girlfriend and mom got one too a little larger then mine and mom doesn't take baths either lol.... but it's the thought that counts....

My MIL gave me a 100 dollar bill lol, same thing she gave hubby, and bought our daughter 2 babydolls a pack of hair ties and a water bottle with spongebob on it. She loved it!!!! But what erks me so bad is that his sister is the baby and is spoiled beyond!!!!! what my daughter is lol.... she had about 20 gifts under the tree as did her fiance and his son... but we only got 100 bucks each and Susie got 4 gifts.... She said she didn't know what to get us and I mean don't get me wrong I love this woman so much! she's done so much for us in the last 10 years but you could do a little more for your REAL blood grand kids.... I dunno I guess it's just we resent his sister for what she's done... long story short she took advantage of mommy when she was ill, thought she was dying and his sister took over everything canceled our cell phones (in moms name) and cut us off from the family completely!!!

Anyway all in all we had a great christmas! I can't really complain because it could be worse

Oh I agree the worst give is nothing.... We bought our god daughters each something.... our oldest has 2 girls so we bought her an apple cookie jar for her new house, and got each of her daughters something total spent on the 3 of them was $30.~ spent up to $10 on each of the other god daughters... got nothing!!! from them except the youngest one whom wanted so bad to get us all three something and cried for days because she didn't have any money and neither did her parents to give her to get us something so she took her last $1.~ and went and bought me a small candle. When she gave it to me I got all teary eyed because her mom told me about the whole thing... they had bought us one thing each already from the two of them as well as the two girls that live at home so it wasn't like she HAD to get us something she just wanted to and didn't want James and Susie to feel left out... was so sweet... but our oldest with the 2 kids.... the kids said thank you and gave hugs and kisses and we soooooooo happy! their mother.... didn't even say thank you... really upset me because I went thru hell and back trying to find the stupid apple cookie jar and when I did I got it home and it was shattered I had to take it back and find another one and everyone I did find was shattered so I finally found on on the bottom shelf all the way in the back and pulled something in my back getting it and got kicked by some old bitty who wanted it lmao oh well....

Happy New Year everyone!!! Sorry so incredibly long lol

i have been reading this thread and some of them are SOOOO funny.... which i LOVE. I cant say i got anything this year that was not great! ANd in the event that i Do get something hideous or tacky, i save it to regift at a Yankee Swap the following year! This year's Yankee Swap yielded the movie Barbarella and a tray with nuns all over it! LOVE IT! (i wont be regifting the tray... its' too great) The usual prize is a blinking Virgin MAry nightlight that is regifted every year in this group...... Tis the season to eat drink and be merry! More people should enjoy the spirit!
having said that, my mom ALWAYS gets my DH horrible gifts. I think she does it on purpose. He is pretty serious by nature and well, i'm not and neither is she. Last year she got him a Flapping Flamingo Plant Hanger! I cried i laughed so hard and i LOVED putting it out this year! (next year, i'll bring it to the camp this year.....) This year, she got him an authentic Carved Tiki Man figure.... 18" tall..... (she also gets him a gift card to best BUy but whe insists everyone needs to unwrap SOMETHING).

You guys are hilarious!!! I don't know if I can't top some of the bad gifts you've received but here it goes...

When my sister and I were little, my grandparents (dad's side) went on lots of trips around the world. Every time, and I mean EVERY time, we got either the soap from one of the hotels they stayed in or the puke bags from the airplane (that was a favourite of them). If that wasn't bad enough, they always got my cousins candy or something cool.
One day, my cousins (bless their soul) shared their candy with us and my grandmother caught them and shouted: "I TOLD YOU TO SAVE THEM FOR LATER!!!!!!"

I laugh now but when I was a little girl, it was very dissapointing!!! oh well...

The gifts I did receive this year were wanted and appreciated. The only thing that I did want and not get was to spend either Christmas eve or Christmas day with my mom. She spent it being very sick and being isolated from others (dialysis patient with crappy immune system) She had pnuemonia on Christmas day. My brother is shocking us this year though and is making an effort to get together with us and celebrate Christmas on the 7th. Letting some of you know that there is hope for making up with family after a big fall-out. He was mad for years that mom did not just hand over the house and cars when dad died. She had to sell everything and spend everything on her medical care. I think it sank in this year that I finally told him that I have been giving her money I make on cakes--which isn't alot to buy Christmas presents for us so she doesn't feel bad. She thinks it's her money since I take care of her bills ect now. I don't mind doing it either!

Oh my goodness! Thanks so much for this post. I really need to vent this.... I am so upset with my hubby's family. His mom is the kind of woman who only ever gives money to show love. She will not go out and buy gifts, solely money. Well, my hubby is one of 4, 2 boys and 2 girls. The oldest brother is in charge of his mom's bank account, she is Korean and never really bothered to learn English well enough to handle bank stuff.

Well, last year the older brother calls and says, "Mom has said that she has $1600 to split up between the 4 of us". She said to give the 2 sisters $500 because they were both having financial troubles. That left $600 for the boys to split. My hubby was like ok thats fine. Well a week later the older brother calls back and says, "Mom is having finacial trouble and can't give you the $300." Mind you, all the other siblings got theirs. Come to find out she never said that and the older brother just wanted to keep the money for himself.

Now to this year, the older brother told my hubby that mom is giving all the kids $500 and that he put a check in the package he sent for us. (We live Italy). Well yesterday, his brother says the package was returned to him because he wrote down the wrong address... THEN he says "Bro, you don't really need this money do you?" Are you kiddding me!???! My hubby is so sad that he is being treated like this, I am just appalled.

Don't get me wrong, my husband and I dont care about the money. We just cant believe how his brother did this last year and is trying to do it again. To me, if the older brother wanted to keep the money, why say anything at all about it. Just keep the money and don't tell what the other siblings or he got... it's just cruel I think. Especailly since we are so far away from all of our family members, my hubby feels like they kind of brush him off because he isn't there. ERR! I hate it when my hubby is sad.

I know that wasn't about me, but it was still a crappy present. The worse present I ever got was from my husband's sister. A cheapo set of Feng-shui(sp) candles. Granted my hubby is part Korean and I do have a few Asian accents in my house, but nothing so cheezy or that makes my house look like a Japanese steakhouse.


Happy New Year!

Kat

Wow after reading these posts, I am realizing how very blest I am to have the family I have! None of us are estranged (we are all a bit nuts so it works fine...LOL) and we have our health. While we don't go crazy over the holidays (with gifts and such) we always have plenty of together time with the family...which I love.

Hope everyone has a happy and peaceful 2007!

This is really a fun topic! This year my DH gave me a bunch of clothes, with the intention of knowing I would take them back and look for something else, because he knows I love to open presents, yet things rarely fit me right, so I have to take them back for things that fit. But I love shopping for myself, and he knows that, so that's fun for me. My youngest son gave me a rice cooker, because he loves rice and I don't make rice the way the Chinese restaurants make it My oldest son gave me a Yankee candle and some Bath & Body Works stuff. I really have enough of that stuff and didn't need it, but it was given in love. My boys knew everything they were getting because they told me exactly what to get, so nothing was a surprise. But that's okay because I didn't have to return any of their stuff this year.

I'm sorry, but I haven't found the humor in this post yet. All I have found is hurt upon hurt upon more hurt. Am I missing something? I don't know, maybe I just expected to see more things like.."DH bought me wrong size undies" or soemthing...I didn't expect to see/read so much heartfelt feelings in this.

I agree with Charb31. Although these posts are funny, there are quite a lot of ones that just make my heart hurt. No matter what, I hope everyone has a joy and love-filled New Year!

The worst gift I've been given was from my husbands grandparents: a pair of crushed velvet pajama pants with vanilla scented body spray and lotion. I DESPISE crushed velvet and the smell of vanilla flavored things makes me nauseous. I guess that's what you get from people that don't care to make an effort to get to know you and what you like, etc. This year was much better from them, a pair of slipper socks. Hey, at least they're warm!

I don't think this thread is about hurt at all...even the heartfelt posts. Everyone is expressing themselves here because this is a safe and loving place where we can get a *hug* of sorts.

So....this thread is about the Christmas spirit on CC and I say THANKS!!! Christmas is a difficult time for lots of us.....we can get through it together!

This isn't about my gifts..which were all pretty good..but I just had to tell you.
My aunt ( mom's sister) was in the dollar store getting wrapping paper the night before Christmas Eve. She told me this story. She said my dad walked up to her and whispered..I need your help with some women's stuff. Just by the way he said it-she thought OMG I HOPE he is not asking me to help him find ...shall we say ...feminine necessities!
Then he asked her what size underwear to get for my mom! She wasn't thrilled with helping him with that one either, but she did - hoping she wasn't telling him a size too large. When my aunt was telling me this story..she said " I hope that's not ALL he got for her". Later, when I told my mom the story, she said that he'd already gotten her gifts( from the mall) , but she'd mentioned that she had to get some new socks and underwear-she just didn't mean for Christmas! Well, I guess he wanted to get her EVERYTHING she asked for!! You can't say he isn't thoughtful
We got a good laugh at that one!
P.s. my parents have been married for 44 yrs-you'd think he'd know what size-or would at least take a peek at her other underwear before going shopping!
Gotta love 'em!

I feel like we are all friends here. Friends laugh and cry together but most of all they listen.

Thanks for sharing your stories.

Luvin Cake,

I just read your reply. Forgive me but I can't stop laughing. What a goofup. That is something I would do. My mind is thinking one thing and my mouth or writing comes out something different.

Well, you asked so here goes. This is definitely more funny than upsetting, although it was embarrassing. My dh & I went to a Christmas party this year...I grew up with the hostess but didn't really know many of the other guests (I was asked to bring the cake, so you get the picture there) ....everyone was to bring a $10 gift. We did the exchange where you draw a #, pick a gift from the tree, but if you like someone elses gift you can steal it & they have to get another, etc. Well, I was the 2nd to last to go so everyone had opened gifts & there were some really cool things I could have 'taken'...but nooooooo I had to get one of the last 2 boxes from the tree........what was it you ask. A bottle of KY warming liquid . Need I say more?

Cakerer, that is hilarious! Of course, if it were me, I would have said something like, "Oh man! I already have a gallon of this at home, anyone want to trade?!" or even worse, turned to my husband and said, "Hey babe, it looks like you're gettin' some tonight! That's been a while, eh?!" haha! When something like that happens you just have to laugh!!!

the ky story and undie story...now THAT is hilarious!! With our chinese exchange at our club, I grabbed the gift that had Eeyore paper on it...turns out it was a big ET looking massager. The one jokester there kept saying...look...Charlotte got a big vibrator..after about 4 times of hearing that, I said..nuhh uhh...its'a massager!!! Tim said massager-vibrator...all the same.

Well I believe I have the worst gift of all!!!! I got a useless "as seen on TV mop" & and a glass cleaner (Not a gag gift). Need I say more??? This was given to me in a gift exchange that had a limit of $40. Could you really not find anything better???

And get this I think I may have received an even worst gift for my B-day from my in-laws which is close enough to Christmas...I got an old lottery ticket, & the only reason I noticed it was after I open the card & saw the ticket my MIL yells out "does anyone know what numbers came out in the lottery LAST week" I was speechless

Wow, lots of unusual stories out there. Fun reads, though. This year, I did ok. I didn't really ask for much, mainly gift cards to AC Moore, and other local cake supply shops. Of course, I didn't get any. Only thing I got cake related was from SIL in Kansas, sent me a book on how to do extention work! Cool stuff, but I'm not that brave!

I did ask DH for a new garage door opener. So I find two huge boxes and one medium box under the tree with my name on it. No garage door opener. Turns out to be a big set of gourmet pots and pans (DH doesn't believe in removing price tags, it seems). My jaw dropped.

Now, what I got from this is A. Honey, we're sick of pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner every night while you make cakes or B. I don't like my scrambled eggs seasoned with flakes of teflon from your old pans or C. you can bake real good, but can you cook?

My sister regifted this year. She got a large gift card to a local day spa from her coworkers for some occassion last year. So she treated the two of us to a lovely massage and time in the sauna afterward.

Happy new year, everyone! Hope its a sweet one

I think, that the worst christmas present I got, Is for my family to forget my birthday, and call two days after to say I am sorry, and believe me this happends to me all the years. (was born dec 25)

So material stuff well i can deal with a lot of unwanted things, but the hurt to feel forgotten that can not be topped with anything.

Happy New Year everyone, best wishes to all



Adriana

Adriana I'm sorry they forgot your birthday but if it makes you feel any better at all HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! I didn't know so I couldn't forget My birthday is January 22nd and my parents have actually forgotten a few times but with good reason I guess.... But none the less Happy Birthday and Happy New Year!

1 year my MIL gave me men's Jovan muck cologne. I am sure that it was on purpose.

Sorry I meant Musk.