Friday, December 12, 2008

Christmas Presents


Continuing with my posts about "Things I like about Christmas". I LIKE GETTING PRESENTS! I am not one of those "It's better to give than receive" types! I like getting presents at Christmas. I think it's a great tradition! Don't get me wrong, I do like giving presents to loved ones like my wife and children. There are those who are hard to buy for at Christmas because they have few strong wants. My wife is an example of this type of person. Not me! I always have a long list of things I would like for Christmas. I love to shop and am always happy to give a suggested gift list to who ever will listen. Some people like practical gifts for Christmas ... not me. One year my wife gave me a leaf blower for my birthday and I must say I was not very enthused. I do appreciate it every time I go out to "rake" leaves which this time of year is a lot. I also like getting gift lists from others. Noting is worse than getting a bunch of stuff you don't want and trying to act pleased as you open the gift. In the last few years we have been giving more and more 'gift card" to reduce this problem. Of course, the problem with "Gift Card" is they know exactly what you paid for the gift. With real gifts you can find some "bargain" and let the gift receiver think you spent a lot of money on them. So if you expect something from me this year a suggested list is much appreciated. Hint for me ....... Blu-ray DVS's or a gift card for a place that has them ...... AMAZON!

Our family's tradition is to open presents Christmas Eve after we have had dinner and washed the dishes ....put them in the dishwasher and cleaned up the table. We then all gather around the tree and hand out all the presents. Both of our adult children will be home and my sister will join us this year along with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. We will all then open one present and everyone will do a "show and tell." We will then repeat the process till all the presents are open. While we do this we take care to put the trash in a garbage bag. For a number of years we have been using reusable cloth bags to wrap many of our presents. Then on Christmas morning Santa will come for the kids. They are now adults but Santa still comes ..... not as much as when they were young..... but he does not forget them.

MERRY CHRISTMAS