Whew! (How we're doing Xmas this year)

[Ms_Cellany]

<bg> I find The Sweetie hard to buy for. She's got pretty much everything she wants, it's hard to buy books because if she wants it she probably already has it, and our tastes in clothes, decor, art and knick-knackery are such that if she likes something, I'll probably like it too, but the reverse is definitely not true.</bg>

This year, I asked her for gift guidance, and she said, "Oh, let's just do stockings. That's cheap, we get to buy each other lots of little cool things, and it's fun! Maybe we can buy one big thing as a joint present to ourselves."

Yay!  We're talking a new couch as our joint present, and stocking stuffers are always win! Wind-up toys, snacks, cool tools (I put an LED headlamp in her stocking last year, and she gave me a Leatherman). Stress level just plummeted.

ETA that even her stocking was a win for me. I still have my childhood stocking, which is a very fancy handcrafted one that my mom made. The Sweetie is Jewish (but celebrates a secular Christmas), so I found her a blue-and-white stocking.

[siamesecat2965]

YAY - makes it a lot less stressful!  I really only exchange big with my mom, and we have lists, so its pretty much a no brainer.  I buy things on the list, and then maybe one or two that aren't.  Like the stuff I found at the Elizabeth Arden outlet for her. 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Hooray for Sweetie- great idea!!

[Jobiska]

Smart.  It's a lot easier to deal with external holiday-related frustrations (or even internal ones you can't help, like catching a cold or something) if one's own closest relationships have come up with a smooth and satisfactory way of dealing with issues!

[Outdoor Girl]

Well, the Sweetie sure made both your lives easier in one fell swoop!

My nephews are 19 and 17.  So, in other words, impossible to buy for.  I've been doing cash gifts for them but it is no fun to just give them a cheque.  So far, I froze a bunch of twonies in layers of ice in jars and tied bills inside umbrellas for them to open and have it 'rain' money.

This year, I was going to buy some pre-lit 3 ft Christmas trees for about $12 and fold the money into ornaments.  Except when I went to the store to get said trees, I couldn't find the cheap ones that were supposed to be on sale.  But I did find these little trees that are about 1 ft tall and are made out of tinsel (garlend), rather than green looking.  I could get gold, silver or red.  And they were less than $8!  I chose silver because I thought it would show off the blue colour of Canadian $5 bills the best.  Now to find a website to show me how to fold money into origami...

My brother and SIL generally give me a good list to work from and if they don't, they get cash, too.  Although not quite as creatively as my nephews...

My Dad is actually the easiest to buy for.  I can make him a sweater and he's thrilled.  He loves to wear the ones I've made him - I've done a whole bunch of the Mary Maxim nature themed ones - loon about to take flight, wolves, bears, beaver, polar bear, mama loon with babies, Great Blue Heron, eagle, Canada geese - and some of the original ones I did for him years ago are getting ratty.  Plus, he's lost some weight and the original ones are a little big.  So I'm going to start remaking the older ones.  The loon about to take flight is this year's project, which I won't be starting until the first of December.  I hope 3 weeks is enough time to get it done!

[O'Dell]

This is exactly what my husband and I do....stocking stuffers and occasionally a larger joint gift. Makes for a fun xmas morning too since a lot of the gifts we opt for are silly little toys and fun snacks amongst the more practical gifts.

[pendragon1980]

Dh and I are doing something similar this year. We each already gave each other our big gifts. I got an electric fireplace for our bedroom (which is always cold to me), DH is getting his Ipod this week since he joined my gym now.

I have some little things "Santa" gave both of us this year:  board games (Ironically, Scrabble because he fell in love with Words for Friends on Facebook), a popcorn popper, calendar...

And we always go in the mall once (usually Black Friday in the afternoon) with $50 cash for little stuff for the stockings.

[Snooks]

We've had a budget for years (with a little wiggle room), initially due to financial constraints but I've insisted on holding onto it because the limit's big enough to allow for three good presents e.g. games, DVDs, CDs, books and it prevents us accumulating too much "stuff" in the house.  I'm a big meanie with a "no stuff" rule as this avoids the 5 minute entertainment followed by years of sitting on the side.  Plus, I enjoy the challenge of making the budget stretch, this year I've managed to get four presents out of it.  I'm firmly on the "it's the thought that counts" side of present giving (and receiving) so it doesn't have to cost a fortune.  Lists are used in my family but you don't have to stick to them they're just for ideas and I haven't written one since I got married, I really enjoy getting gifts that someone's thought about for me, admittedly sometimes they miss the mark but I'd never tell the giver that.

[Bijou]

<bg> I find The Sweetie hard to buy for. She's got pretty much everything she wants, it's hard to buy books because if she wants it she probably already has it, and our tastes in clothes, decor, art and knick-knackery are such that if she likes something, I'll probably like it too, but the reverse is definitely not true.</bg>

This year, I asked her for gift guidance, and she said, "Oh, let's just do stockings. That's cheap, we get to buy each other lots of little cool things, and it's fun! Maybe we can buy one big thing as a joint present to ourselves."

Yay!  We're talking a new couch as our joint present, and stocking stuffers are always win! Wind-up toys, snacks, cool tools (I put an LED headlamp in her stocking last year, and she gave me a Leatherman). Stress level just plummeted.

ETA that even her stocking was a win for me. I still have my childhood stocking, which is a very fancy handcrafted one that my mom made. The Sweetie is Jewish (but celebrates a secular Christmas), so I found her a blue-and-white stocking.

This is such a a good idea! 

[Sterling]

Leo and I do Yule on Dec 18 and then family Xmas on that day.  We exchange our gifts in private and the gifts are not huge.  Usually books (typically rare harder to find ones) or games.

My family has always done Xmas really early in the morning but there are no small kids anymore so we are doing it a little later.  We all reduced the gift giving to smaller items.  I'm lucky in that Leo's family is so far away and he only gets Xmas day off so we can't travel and therefore only have to do one holiday.

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

We normally choose something for the house that we'll both use/benefit from, and then a stocking stuffer or two, as well.

[KenveeB]

I think that's a great idea!  I love finding fun stuff for stockings every year.

[ZaftigWife]

This is a great idea.  We have talked about possibly getting a new tv this year and only exchanging small gifts; sounds like a perfect excuse to do a stocking!  Plus, as a wedding gift we received two lovely embroidered Christmas stockings from a friend of my mother's; we've hung them as decorations but never filled them.

[Ms_Cellany]

I think I'll buy myself some slippers. I'm very fussy about slippers, because I like good traction and most have slick plastic soles. LL Bean, here I come!

[LovesWater]

Leo and I do Yule on Dec 18 and then family Xmas on that day.  We exchange our gifts in private and the gifts are not huge.  Usually books (typically rare harder to find ones) or games.

My family has always done Xmas really early in the morning but there are no small kids anymore so we are doing it a little later.  We all reduced the gift giving to smaller items.  I'm lucky in that Leo's family is so far away and he only gets Xmas day off so we can't travel and therefore only have to do one holiday.

Hey Sterling, I'm interested in knowing more about this - what is the significance of Dec 18?  I have celebrated the solsitce (Dec 21) and growing up we recieved a small gift on Dec 6 (St. Nicholas' Day) but I do not know about Dec 18.