This year=awesomeness! :)

I got a couple of sweaters, some socks, Half-Blood Prince and Grey's Season 5 on DVD (squee!), a Princess Tiana/Prince Naveen wedding set (very cool collector's item), a Princess Tiana blanket, a rolling alarm clock, a Half-Blood Prince t-shirt, an angel figurine, and about 400 bucks. :cool:

I gave:

Mom - some houseshoes (but they're smaller than I thought, I'm exchanging them for her), a pair of earrings, and some fancy coffee
Dad - an investor's guide, a gag gift, and taking him to the movies to see "Avatar" and shopping (he wanted a shirt and pants, but I didn't want to come back with something he didn't like)
Sister - a pair of shoes, a card game, and some Godiva hot chocolate
Nephew - 2 toy cars, an old-fashioned popcorn bucket, a slinky, a book, and a B&N gift card (lol I spoil him and I know it)
Best friend - a card game

Good news! I found a store that has the jacket I want! They're gonna hold it for me til tomorrow night. Yesss! I'm really excited I can get it before I go up to the snow.

Um, WOW!!!

Oh, I forgot the most awesome gift of all...

My parents and brother are HUGE Beatles fans (I like them, but not as much as them). In fact, one of the first things my parents bonded over was their love of The Beatles (they worked together, and somehow my dad found out this tidbit, and used it to start talking to her!) Their wedding song was a Beatles song. My brother's been playing guitar for about 3 years, and recently discovered them. (He's heard them before, but always hated them because he only heard them with my dad singing along! Haha!) Anyway, when he started listening to them WITHOUT my dad's vocals, he become obsessed.

Needless to say, the only logical gift for the family this year was The Beatles Rock Band! It's SOOOOO AWESSSOOOMME!!!!

I gave:

My brother: bowling shoes and "Good Will Hunting" DVD
My mom: "Ford County" book by John Grisham and a Carl Edwards mug (he's a NASCAR driver; long story short- my mom loves him now since she won a Clariton contest getting to drive around with him in his race car, as well as winning an '09 Ford GT Premium Mustang)
My dad: 2 Jeff Dunham DVDs and a Sun Devil mascot golf club head cover
My b/f: a wine bottle sealer, ferrero rocher chocolates, and Wolfgang Puck 18 piece cookware set.

I got:

-Seasons 1 and 2 of "Will and Grace" on DVD
-Seasons 1 and 5 of "ER" on DVD
-laptop case
-a water bottle
-purple 8 GB ipod nano
-digital photo key chain
-some gift cards
-"Forrest Gump" on DVD
-a purple sweater
-desk calendar my mom made on snapfish.com with various pictures (my b/f helped with that one)
-tickets to see the final season game for the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte next weekend against New Orleans (very appropriate match up for me, since I've always been a Panthers fan since I'm from NC, but I also spent 8 weeks in New Orleans during the summer of 2007 as an AmeriCorps VISTA...and I love and miss NOLA)
-I also got a GPS, but I think I'm going to return it (my b/f gave it to me, but we talked about it...and he has a GPS, and usually anytime that we use the GPS, we're usually together and if I ever need it for me going somewhere by myself, I'll just borrow his. He's totally ok with me returning it.)

What I think I'm going to get in place of the GPS is a cross-stitch pattern maker software because I really do like to cross-stitch and I've always wanted to have patterns for some of my pictures or other things.

I think I did OK with gifts this year.

For live-in I got an HD Home Run, which apparently is the best thing to happen to HDTV since the bluray. Or something. I'm just glad I didn't mess it up. I also got him a VERY LARGE coffee mug - more like a coffee bowl!

For his mom, I got a crock pot.

For his dad, I got foodsaver bags (since live-in got his dad a foodsaver).

For his brother, I got a gift card to autozone.

For my dad (and his girlfriend), live-in and I got a gift certificate to the larger chain of theatres in Toronto.

For my niece, I got clothes, mostly, in various sizes. She's only a few months old so she hasn't outgrown any of the doo-dads and whatnots that babies have (besides clothes). My brother and SIL and I agreed not to do gifts between the four of us.

Plus there were the little things - blurays for live-in's mom's fiance', gift cards for his dad's girlfriend and her kids, etc.

I made out like a bandit. My dad sent us British Pounds (because it's a long story), live-in got me Up on bluray, Bedtime Stories on bluray, and the first season of Dollhouse on bluray, as well as a pair of boots and a Bettis jersey. I also got a pair of shoes, two sweaters, various stocking stuffers, and a new set of pots and pans (with copper bottoms, woooo!).

Live in got lots of crazy stuff from his family but it was pretty awesome, actually.

I got a few pair of socks, shirts, t-shirts, underwear, just the basic need kind of shit.

I gave my family restaurant gift cards.

Is that as depressing as it sounds or do guys actually like getting "basic needs" stuff for Christmas? Because I thought the holidays were times for "fun" gifts but my dad insists on clothes every year because he "needs them." :confused:

I really didn't ask for anything. It's just what I was given. It's shit I can use anyway, so it's not like I don't need it.

I don't mind getting essentials. They're things I'll actually use, so that means the buyer is looking out.

But never underestimate the power of some good socks lol

Haha, yeah, I agree.

Ralph Lauren ankle socks = my gift to myself.

Guess I'm turning into a label whore :o

I get socks every year. I just bought a ton and got even more yesterday. I never underestimate socks. ;)

I'm not sure where they got my socks, but they were just the basic kind. I wish somebody would have gotten me a pair of tube socks. It's fucking cold outside.

edit: Lauren socks are pretty cool, though. Expensive as hell, but cool.