I love posting questions because the answers y’all give me are always so much fun! And if you need a bribe, remember that next Tuesday I’ll choose the name of the winner of that pretty dragon mug from all commenters!
I was making my Christmas list yesterday. It’s Christmas in this house, although some of us are atheists/agnostics, some Christians, some Catholics…some still exploring our options. Off topic, but do you know some Protestants don’t recognize that Catholics are Christians? I get, “What church do you belong to?” “Not any at the moment, although I’m baptized in the Catholic church.” “Oh, so yer not Christ-y-in?” When I get that from someone that ignorant, I want to say, “To Catholics you’re all a bunch of cultists!” But I refrain—especially given my ambiguous relationship with any higher being.
Anyway, I’ve bought a few gifts, but not in any organized way. In fact, my daughter had to remind me I had some things tucked away I’d bought during the summer. So, now I know what I have and who I still need to buy for. I’ve made notes for most of the people on my list, except for one.
My father’s gift is ALWAYS the hardest one to purchase. He loves tools, but he has every tool known to man. He loves John Wayne, but he owns every John Wayne movie ever made and has a collection of John Wayne clocks, lunch boxes, coffee mugs, toilet paper—yeah, rough and rugged stuff for the rough and rugged man. I’m still stumped about what to get him, but I’ll figure it out.
So my question to you is who is that person in your life for whom you can never find the right gift? What have you gotten him/her in the past
that he/she loved or hated?
Comment
The persons i find har to find a good gift for are my twins. As they are autistic it is a hard thing to know what is right for them. THey are 14 this year and normal teenagers you could buy books or something like that, but with autisum its harder
Comment
Richard! I know a little about special needs children. The 7-year-old in our family is ODD and ADHD, and so moody she makes everyone crazy, but Autism, I know, is very hard to deal with. Hope you find what lights them up.
Comment
::snort:: As a Catholic, my response is always that is it referred to as The Church, capital T, capital C, for a reason and that refusing to pay tithes does not a religion make. lol
My MIL is impossible to buy for. She’s very well off and has no impulse control so if she sees something she wants, she buys it that second. She needs NOTHING and if she does she buys it before we even hear about it.
My kids have started making her stuff at a local ceramics studio, which she fortunately likes. 🙂
Comment
My parents are terrible. My Dad buys everything he wants and it makes it difficult. This year I got him a gift certificate to his favorite restaurant, but it wasn’t what I really wanted for him. He never seems too excited but what he gets, so it’s tough to know if I made a good choice.
My Mom never wants anything. She always tells us she has everything she needs or wants. I usually give her “an adventure”. We go see a play, go to a nice restaurant, the zoo, or I take her somewhere else she thinks is special. She loves it and we get to spend time together.
Comment
Grace! Wahaha! I like you! Truth is, I started out a non-denom Protestant (Air Force brat), but converted to Catholocism when I married an Irishman. (It was still a big deal in his family since they’d lived in the same parish for 1200 years without a single “blemish” in the family tree :)) I loved the traditions though. Mass is this beautiful, artful production with mysterious rituals that makes me feel all warm inside. Although my daughter’s pagan handfasting-marriage made me feel the same too.
Maybe MIL would like what she might not be able to get for herself—photos of your family doing family things.
Comment
Lisa! Sounds like you have your mom’s gifts pegged! Your dad sounds so much like mine!!! I usually try for something funny, like a “multi-tasking redneck” t-shirt. You know, the one where he’s sitting in the outhouse with a long fork flipping the meat on the barbeque outside?
Comment
Oh, that is easy–the hardest person to buy for is my mother-in-law. I have tried everything. The first year we were married, after the birth of her first grandchild, I made her an album and filled with with pictures of my daughter. She acted thrilled. Then that summer when we visited, I found the album in a plastic bag on a closet shelf. She had taken all the pictures and put them in a plain brown album. When my husband asked about it, she told him she put the album up to preserve it. (For who? Unknown future archeologist that will be facinated with late 20th century crafts?) I have in the years since tried gift cards, clothes, and auto parts. The only gift she ever raved over was a cheese box! The woman seriously puts the frugal into New England thrift!
Comment
This year we made her a calender with pictures of the kids in it and they also made her ceramic ornaments for her tree. They are little gingerbread people they painted and instead of the ginger face, it’s got a pic of each grandchild’s face in the circle. They worked very hard on them and are quite proud of them!
Comment
Love the t-shirt idea.
Comment
Kala! Have you been online to those “thrifty” sites? Maybe you could buy a frugal book, or one of those hangers to dry used plastic bags and sandwich bags. 😆
Comment
I will answer some of your dilemmas since I am a “tad” older, maybe! Yes, when you get to be “older”, you are hard to buy for, because we go out through the year and get what we want. And, we have done so for more years than you have. GULP! Lol
BUT, I am one of those MIL that if Kala had given me a beautiful album of pictures she had made of MY granddaughter, I would be thrilled! And, would display the album proudly! The MIL has a problem… Don’t try so hard anymore, Kala. I don’t think you can win with her! My DIL are lucky; I am sweet to all 3 of them and to my SIL! I display family pictures on every space possible. All my kids live out of state. I was just talking go my 3 1/2 year old
grandson and he asked me what I want for Christmas. I told him to wrap himself in a bow and come visit me and Grandpa! They are… This Sunday; my son, his wife and my 2 beautiful
grandchildren, Aiden, 3 1/2 and Chloe, 1! Best presents ever, especially since my husband has terminal cancer and we can’t travel like we used to.
Merry Christmas, Everyone! 😯
Comment
Kathleen! (That was my name for the first three days of my life before dad decided to name me after an old girl friend :)) I’m so sorry to hear about your husband, but how wonderful you’ve managed to keep good relations with all your children’s spouses! Have a happy celebration with the wee ones. You’re right, spending time together is the best present!
Comment
the person hardest to buy for in my family is my babt sister. it’s not that she is really picky it’s just that she has what i call champagne taste on a beer budget. if you try and get her clothes it is hard because she wears a size 2 and she is tall so pants are impossible to find in her size at a reasonable price and shirts are about the same way. then she is huge into adidas for her shoes because they fit her feet(size 5) the best.
she doesn’t wear alot of jewelery and no perfume. so what do you get her? this year i am hoping to get her some music. she is a big Barbra Streisand fan and i found a box set of all her songs for $60.00 which is a great deal as it use to be $150.00. 🙂
this way i can also get her some of the other music she likes too. along with some small fill in things. and that should be enough, i hope. 🙂
trvlagnt1t@yahoo.com
Comment
Ummm..that would be my Dad. He tells me not to get him anything but if I don’t then the stepmother then fusses saying we don’t love him. WTH?! So he liked particular movies, music, so got him those but then he would call and say where did I buy it so he can return it or he’ll send it back to me so I can…umm okay. So then tried making him things but most of the time he tried to give it back later. I patted myself on the back when I decided to go with sending him those lovely giftsets from Harry and David which he actually ate. So I did it again, thinking that this was something I could do each gift giving time until this last time when he called and told me not to send him the food either as he just didn’t eat that much anymore and to just save my money.
So this year I am stumped…but I believe I’m going to try a digital frame to display pictures of the family especially the new great grandbaby. After that??…who knows.
Comment
MY HUSBAND, HARRY. WE DON’T EVEN EXCHANGE CHRISTMAS GIFTS ANY MORE. I WAS SURPRISED THAT HE PURCHASED A PINEAPPLE HEADBOARD, THIS CHRISTMAS FOR ME. I POSTED THIS A PICTURE ON MY WALL, IT’S GORGEOUS!
Comment
My dad and boyfriend. I would ask for hints and they always say I dont know. They are no help at all. My dad Last year I got him a Cabelas gift card. He likes their clothing and hunting supplies. So he was happy with that.
My boyfriend on the other hand is extremely hard. He never wants for anything. He says he is happy with what he has. I am happy he is happy with that but I still want to get him something. So I have to play sneaky and get things when he is looking at getting them. Like this year he wanted a one of those firesafe gun safes. He was going to buy it on Saturday but I beat him to it. I bought it and now I have it stashed at a friends house. He had the manager at the store order one…but was told it is on back order. B-) He is still waiting for it to come in. Little does he know it was never ordered.
Comment
The person i can never buy for is my dad. Hes impossible. He doesnt want to need anything and whenever you ask him, he tells you nothing and he has everything he could ever want. A couple years ago, we stopped doing presents all together and instead have a big dinner and watch movies while decorating the tree. Picking a dessert that my dad would enjoy is so much easier. lol
Comment
My dad. He’s not an easy man to buy for.