holiday presents thread

[minxnim]

what did you get?

i got a ton of stuff. unfortunately i can't take them back to NYC with me right now because i can't carry them on the train b/c i have to carry fred and a giant suitcase :/ but soon i will have a new ezquest cd burner for my laptop (YES ALEX FINALLY) a sewing machine (yay!) and a ton of books.
my grandfather and i, inexplicably, got one another the EXACT same thing. i gave him a leadbelly cd and he gave me the same leadbelly cd and we opened them at the same time.

bizarre.

 

[avi]

thankfully, I had a very very lowkey xmass and just exchanged photos and other such things with the inlaws. But I did cook up a massive indian feast for them with kofta, samosas, biriyani, dahl, and a cabbage & tomato dish.

 

[deadair]

all i'm going to say is "FOOSBALL TABLE".

...and other stuff.

 

[Baliset]

1. the two towers extended version
2. a jeff foxworthy "you might be a redneck" day calendar
3. Lord of the Rings datebook
4. $25 Borders gift certificate
5. a new hoodie
6. money towards my recording sesssion or car repairs(whichever comes first)
7. a stocking filled with bubble gum and anti-perspirant

not much for me.

 

[FrostGiant]

Digital Camera and some socks.

 

[FalseTodd]

1. Paintings by Ruben from Nationale Blue received via Yankee Swap.
2. Finding Nemo DVD from mom
3. "Lemon of Pink" by The Books from sis
4. "I Am" by Scout Niblett from sis

 

[Josh Seipp]

1. my own present back (which I already had) via yankee swap
2. Golden Compass hardback
3. Tintin wall calendar
4. new wallet

 

[FalseTodd]

7. a stocking filled with bubble gum and anti-perspirant

Is that a double odor hint? Ouch.

 

[deadair]

sam what do you think of that Books album?

me... so-so

 

[TheNewChupe]

1. sweater i will never wear
2. tall tower of misc. Mikasa stuff (serving dish, bowl, candlesticks, ornament)
3. Outhouse calendar (for work to replace my one from the chinese restaurant)
4. Paul McCartney live dvd (given to me by my dad who mistakes my sister's love of The Beatles and Paul McCartney to be mine every year)
5. really awesome quilt made by my mom
6. box of chocolate covered cherries i just put out at work
7. another sweater i won't wear
8. socks (which i actually asked for and picked out)
9. blockbuster card


best gift: finding a sega genesis in my gf's basement. bought a $3 hockey game and just need a controller or two.
not to be a grumpy pants jerk, but i really think my family (other than the quilt) needs to take a lesson in "thinking of what others really want" before they go buy presents. all people buy us is what they want. not that i'm being ungrateful, it's just that we put a lot of thought into our gift buying and would like others to do so as well. or at least include gift receipts. is that wrong? it sounds bad, but this has been building for many years now, and so much crap has piled up it's impossible to recall who gave what and there's nowhere to put it all.

 

[FrostGiant]

I got a sweater I will never wear as well, however it was too small so I can return it without alerting anyone to the fact that I would have never worn it. I also got an optical mouse that works like skank that I need to try to return.

 

[FalseTodd]

sam what do you think of that Books album?

me... so-so

Haven't listened to it too much...First reaction: Both that and the Scout Nibblet album reminded me too much of other stuff to get over at first. It was like getting a record by Laurie Anderson (ala Big Science), and one by a somewhat lower-fi Cat Power.

 

[xfer]

the_preppy: HOORAY

avi: what was the cabbage/tomato thing like? i made a heavily coriandery dish with the same ingredients recently.

sam: what exactly is a Yankee Swap?

my major gift was a plane ticket to san francisco for february. now i just need to work out couches to surf, heh heh.

i also got
the Clash's "Sandanista!"
Khanate's "Things Viral"
a book of collected Wallace Stevens poetry
"Gigantic" they might be giants DVD documentary
a sack for my toiletries from LL Bean
an Orson Scott Card book
Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome game
a book of essays about Russell Hoban and children's literature
another lint-roller
toothpaste
a little booklight
and i still haven't gotten anything from aysha or jenna yet so i think there's more to come. i got aysha a featherbed and jenna an ostrich egg, though.

 

[FalseTodd]

Yankee Swap: Buncha people get together, everybody brings a wrapped, cheap gift. Numbers are drawn from a hat. The person with number 1 picks a gift and opens it for all to see. Number 2 picks a gift and opens it. If 2 likes what 1 has better, 2 can swap their gift for number 1. Number 3 picks a gift. If 3 likes what either 2 or 1 has better, they can swap it for what they got. And so on so forth until everybody has opened a present and decided if they want to swap it for something else. At the very end, the number 1 person can swap for any gift that anybody has, if they want to. Obviously, number 1 is the best number you can get, number 2 is the worst.

 

[avi]

I forget the indian name of it, but it's pretty simple: cabbage and tomatoes fried in mustard oil with mustard seed and some other spices. the wife makes that one, so she knows better than I. and if you want a couch to sleep one, you better tell me some dates or you're gonna be SOL.

 

[lizard]

he'll balk if he has to sleep with the hounds.

 

[xfer]

ohh i've heard of that! just not by the name.

avi, it will be around the 14th-20th of february...i'm trying to figure out what night(s) in particular, which depends on other people, which...gah, it's a mess.

 

[mindspell]

Hate Yankee swap. Always takes hours to finish and I always end up with a shitty gift that I don't want. The only time I got something decent was a set of six small porto bottles..

 

[avi]

the main things to remember about staying with me:
1) 3 dogs
2) 3 cats
3) spare bedroom = catbox room, but is safe haven from 2 out of 3 dogs
4) I get up at 4:10am on weekdays

 

[xfer]

i stayed in a ferretbox room in New Orleans for a week. it sucked, but i dealt.