The Christmas/Holiday Spirit Thread

[chairmenmeow47]

so this is the thread where we get excited for christmas & the holidays!!! MP's request in the default thread for christmas tree pictures made me want a whole thread devoted to the holidays.

i want to hear about what you're giving, what you get, the food, your crazy family, pictures of your christmas trees, your mantles, your exterior lighting and your lovely fireside family pictures. mocking of the christmas spirit is also welcome

we're doing dinner at my place for the first time ever. it's going to be cornish hens & we're going shopping this weekend. i'm nervous cause i've never cooked a big piece of meat for the holidays =/

this year, i'm giving pretty cheap since i'm broke:

• dad - emergency roadside kit with all sorts of fun gadgets for him to play with & a funny "how to do shit" book
• mom - owl nightlight from brighton collectibles, a silver bee pin from the same store and gingerbread man bath bubbles. i also got her a small mirror & notebook that's cute.
• brother that's coming to town - the onion's "our stupid world" atlas. it's hilarious so far.
• my girlfriends - a star wars stormtrooper lego watch, urban decay eyeshadow kit, a magic mushrooms book filled with mushroom art and a calligraphy set.
• co-workers - m&m candy holders that are also battery operated fans. for the secret santa exchange, i got my soon to be new boss & got him a sonic gift card. i got my boss some samples of various margarita flavourings.
• randy's mom - hallmark 2009 ornament that looks like a gingerbread house & an arizona cactus type ornament
• randy - it's a surprise

and here is my tree (which i already posted in the default thread):



happy holidays everyone

[TomAz]

I got the Onion atlas last year. It's fuckin hysterical. Great choice.

[amyzzz]

We will probably have a fireplace in my resort room in Sedona, so I will take pics of that on Xmas weekend for the thread. (<--smiley for Tom's benefit)

My family of 4 is escaping to Sedona on Christmas weekend but on that Sedona we're supposed to do some huge post-Christmas extravanganza with Jacob's family.

[Young blood]

[locachica73]

I am really trying to get in the spirit but it isn't working. I have told my kids that christmas is canceled till February. Even here at work, usually most offices do a holiday party and the month between thanksgiving and christmas you end up with a shit ton of treats from vendors. But not this year. The only treat we have gotten was a plate of football shaped chocolate rice crispy treats. They tasted like burnt ass. Happy Holidays.

[menikmati]

Fake or real tree? Green or flocked? I usually like real tree's better...I grew up getting flock trees, but the last few years, we've stuck with standard non-flocked trees. A couple years ago, we didn't get a tree and instead used our cat's house/tower to put the presents under, true story.

[HunterGather]

I love christmas time, but this year is extremely lacking for me.
Just been one hot mess the past few months.
Just realized its pretty much a week 'til then.

I will carry on with my yearly tradition of watching Home Alone 1 and 2, Jingle All The Way, A Christmas Movie, The Santa Clause, and misc. xmas tv episodes.

[locachica73]

My old boss in oregon owned land with christmas trees, so one year for christmas he decided to be nice and give us all trees. I got mine home, I was single at the time with two very small children, I lug them up the stairs, then the tree. Once I get it up there I start looking at it trying to figure out how to fit the big fat base of the tree into the small tree holder I had. Then I took a butcher knife to the base of the tree. While sawing and hacking away I notice there are a ton of needles all over my floor already. Then I look closer and the needles were moving. Apparently he gave me a dead tree that was full of little worms. I freaked the fuck out, threw the tree over my balcony of my apartment and never owned another tree again. True story.

[chairmenmeow47]

we had our potluck today. i had a doctor's appointment so i was kinda late, but the secret santa exchange was a whole lot more fun than the normal white elephant gift exchange. those can get nasty if people get competitive about getting the "good" gifts. tomorrow our boss is taking us to

and i'm definitely a fake tree kind of gal. i'm not a fan of the smell of pine, i like to put my tree up early and i don't like cleaning up needles!

i was excited this year to get a white, fake tree, i've always wanted one

speaking of christmas movies, i've already watched christmas vacation and the ref to get me in the spirit!!!

[sonofhal]

I'll be in Cefn Llecoediog, Snowdonia Valley, North Wales over the holiday season. No TV, no internet, no live music (although Robert Palmer is a local. I wonder if I can persuade him to do a show in the barn?).

[chairmenmeow47]

that picture with the fog is gorgeous. unfortunately we'll have no cable or internet at my house as well cue to brokeness

[Hannahrain]

This year I am giving this chain-link scarf (knit by me), one Leonard Cohen CD/DVD set, a couple of multitools, one custom photo book printed with photos from a trip I went on with the recipients, one set of handmade coasters from Etsy, one set of decorative tea towels with heron silhouettes on them, several pairs of earrings (also made by me), one ugly picture frame (cop-out, but it's hard to shop for old people), one copy of Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation, one wooden elephant jigsaw puzzle (to a one-year old), and one assembled-by-me detective kit with a very professional letter of recruitment to my "agency" on false letterhead (to a seven year old).

[chairmenmeow47]

oOoOoO, you make jewelry? what a great thing to give, i've always wanted to do that. the dective kit DEFINITELY wins the thread though. how freaking adorable.

[amyzzz]

I bought a mini fake tree and some mini ornaments to take with us to Sedona. I haven't told my kids about it yet, want to surprise them. We didn't feel like putting up our normal fake tree this year at home.

Hannah, I love that scarf. I think I will someday soon try to read through your knitting thread and attempt knitting.

[Hannahrain]

I bought a mini fake tree and some mini ornaments to take with us to Sedona. I haven't told my kids about it yet, want to surprise them. We didn't feel like putting up our normal fake tree this year at home.

Hannah, I love that scarf. I think I will someday soon try to read through your knitting thread and attempt knitting.

It's surprisingly easy. It's just rectangles knit in a stitch that naturally curls on the edges, and then sewn together on the ends. It'd be a good starter project because it's in such small segments that if you mess up the one you're working on, you don't have to feel bad about scrapping it.

oOoOoO, you make jewelry? what a great thing to give, i've always wanted to do that. the dective kit DEFINITELY wins the thread though. how freaking adorable.

Yeah. I've been making jewelry for most of my life, though not as often now that I've gone back to school. This is the last thing I made that I'm pleased with at all, and it was a while back. But next quarter I'm taking a metalsmithing class to advance my skills a bit.

I think I'm going to leave Morse code notes and other clues around for her after I give her everything.

[matildawong]

Oh my god how I love the detective kit and all its ... accoutrements.....


I'm going up to Monterey to see my sister. My folks are flying in from VA today.
So far I've gotten my sis a cookbook on Chilean food, as they are (Navy) moving there for a 3 year stint later in 2010, that wooden fake-food stuff to accompany my niece's retro-style kitchen set (from Santa), and some books on ballet for my mom who's in a dance-reading-phase.

We are doing Santa Maria-style Barbecue on Christmas Day.
We do something like lasagna on xmas eve; that's our party/presents night.
Woo!

[HowToDisappear]

A couple years ago, we didn't get a tree and instead used our cat's house/tower to put the presents under, true story.

This is funny.


We have a living Colorado Blue Spruce that we keep on the patio the rest of the year. We won't bring it in until a couple of days before xmas; potted trees don't do well in the house for very long. It's a very handsome tree, but the needles are so stiff and sharp, it's practically like decorating a cactus. I'll post pics when the time comes.

I have to work xmas night, but we'll have everyone over for waffles and stuff in the morning, and see Fantastic Mr. Fox in the afternoon. My girls are home for the holidays now. Yay.

[amyzzz]

Hrmm. I should get a Christmas cactus.

[Young blood]

This is funny.


We have a living Colorado Blue Spruce that we keep on the patio the rest of the year. We won't bring it in until a couple of days before xmas; potted trees don't do well in the house for very long. It's a very handsome tree, but the needles are so stiff and sharp, it's practically like decorating a cactus. I'll post pics when the time comes.

I have to work xmas night, but we'll have everyone over for waffles and stuff in the morning, and see Fantastic Mr. Fox in the afternoon. My girls are home for the holidays now. Yay.

You are pretty much the coolest mom ever.

[HowToDisappear]

I try. *bows*

[Pixiessp]

I'll be in Cefn Llecoediog, Snowdonia Valley, North Wales over the holiday season. No TV, no internet, no live music (although Robert Palmer is a local. I wonder if I can persuade him to do a show in the barn?).

If you can pull that off you must have magical powers.

[TomAz]

Might as well face it, you're addicted to hogs.

[menikmati]

My dad is a huge train buff, so I'll probably get him some sort of model train, not exactly sure yet. I also got him that book "Into Thin Air" (thanks to Humanoid's recommendation), since he is/was an avid mountaineer, plus I always tell him he should take up reading again, and in past years I've gotten him other books which he said he would take the time to read, but never has.

Getting my sister a couple DVDs she said she wanted, and a French learning book (she wanted Rosetta Stone, but I'm not paying $600 for some software, and all the "illegal" ways of getting it never work right, so not gonna bother with it).

[miscorrections]

Might as well face it, you're addicted to hogs.

Man I was going to make a Robert Palmer joke but then you had to do it first. Thanks, Tom.

[Hannahrain]

Snowdonia is a name you make up when someone asks you if you're going to be in town for the holidays and you don't want to go to their party.

[gaypalmsprings]

[amyzzz]

I've been to northern Wales. It's beautiful, and there are tons of sheep. I hitchhiked there in a car with a pack of 10 year old boys.

[chairmenmeow47]

every year i grossly underestimate how much time & how much paper it will take me to wrap presents. i was up until 12:30 & used every scrap :x

[locachica73]

I need a shot of christmas spirit.

[bug on your lip]

i made a god daymm song aboot Egg Nog

howz that for Xmas spirit??!?!?


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