Thread: What did you get for Christmas?

I figured I would make a thread for this now since it is only a few days away. I do gifts with friends and family prior to Christmas. Usually, on Christmas Eve. I know for some gifts, we likely won't be exchanging those until after, possibly not until January given what is going on with the virus and all that.

So if you got anything beforehand, or know of somethings you are getting, feel free to share. Or just post after Christmas if you won't be getting anything until then.

I for one know of one gift I am getting. Kind of spoiled it for myself when I was at my mom's helping her move stuff around. I had mentioned wanting a new dish set and one of the gifts that was wrapped for me from my parents was a very heavy box, the size of a dish set so I am almost certain that is what was in it. I don't know what color or kind but, whoops. LOL Not a big deal, it will still be a surprise to see what design it is.

I do my absolute best to not find out what I'm getting & I don't even think about it as not to make guesses. I enjoy the genuine moment of surprise & of course the person giving the gift wants an organic reaction. That said...my wife showed me her phone for an unrelated purpose & her text conversation with my Mom was on the screen so now I know that I'm getting fruitcake & bourbon fudge from a Monastery that I used to order from. Each year I'd buy myself 1/4 of a fruitcake & 10oz of this super-dense fudge with bourbon in it. I expressed that I missed it and I guess my Mom took that to heart and ordered some. I despise the fact that I know this now.

I don't tend to put anything expensive on my Christmas/birthday lists. As such, I tend to get everything on there. The list I gave to my Mom: Atelier Ryza, the Yakuza 3,4,5 Remastered set, Policenauts, Mana Collection, 13 Sentinels and beer brewing ingredients. For big items I ask for $ towards it so I can select my own (such as a gun safe, which is what I requested $ for this year). I want to stop thinking about this now because I'm ruining it for myself!

I got my wife a treadmill (for free. I watch this one dude's dog all the time and he offered me his -barely used- treadmill as thanks), a PC monitor, yoga mat & Milano cookies.

Re-reading my post, it became clear that I get a lot for Christmas in terms of $ amount compared to most people (i'm assuming). We aren't 1%-ers or anything like that but my family is fairly well off. Despite the Christmas list I expect to receive from a single person making me look like a spoiled manbaby, I promise that it doesn't extend to my irl personality. However, people have pointed out how insane our gift-opening procedure is when they're visiting during birthdays/Christmas. It often takes 3-4 hours. We always go one-by-one and give that person full attention. Somehow, it became an inside joke that we clap after each present is opened as if they won something on a game-show...but then it became a habit and we do it by reflex. We've gotten some WEIRD looks from friends who happen to be there during the process. Others have fallen asleep between the 2nd and 4th hour.

Sometimes I feel like I spend too much on Christmas presents, so don't worry about that Zem. I usually put a lot of thought into my gifts but this year has been different as we all know. I haven't spent quite as much this time. I find gift-giving challenging sometimes since I have three sisters and no brothers, and women are a pain to buy for. I don't have many likeminded relatives either.

I got a coffee maker for my parents. Some perfume and an oil burner (she's into the whole essential oils thing) for one sister. For another sister I got a book she wanted and a nice bookmark. For the last sister and her boyfriend I bought a sandwich/panini press. I got my two older nephews Amazon vouchers. (I hate buying people gift cards, but in fairness I can understand why they'd want to choose their own thing) Two restaurant vouchers for my grandparents. (They like getting these but I have no idea when they'll be able to use them due to the virus. Otherwise they're very difficult to buy for.)

Finally, the easiest to buy for, the younger kids. I got that big blue "Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia" for the youngest nephew. I'm pretty sure he's still mostly obsessed with Zelda. Haven't decided on a present for my niece yet. I'll try to order something today. Little girls aren't always easy to buy for. She usually seems to like cuddly toys and Pokémon so I guess I can start there. Last year I got her a Meowth and a Hello Kitty.

Like Zemekis I also much prefer a surprise. Even in my 30s I still find a lot of sentimental value in it. My parents already gave me my "main" present which was some money, but they've got me something small too. (Not sure what yet.) My family wanted some help this year so I gave them a list of manga I'd like. (So in a way it's still a surprise if I get some of that.) I don't read manga frequently these days but I couldn't think of much better to suggest. I get all my games digitally for Steam so games are mostly out of the question. At least for them since they're not into gaming.

It's weird. I always thought I'd be easy to buy for, but I guess that's only the case when you have at least some people who like games/anime/movies/etc in your family.

I'm looking forward to Christmas. It's been cancelled in a lot of the UK due to a new "tier 4 lockdown", but we still get to see family on Christmas Day in my area. No celebrations for New Year's now, that's another casualty of COVID.

Originally Posted by Zemekis

I got my wife a treadmill (for free. I watch this one dude's dog all the time and he offered me his -barely used- treadmill as thanks), a PC monitor, yoga mat & Milano cookies.

You can't beat that. I mean treadmills can get to be pretty expensive. I am wondering though, where are you hiding such a large gift before Christmas day? Like how are you keeping it a secret so she doesn't find out before you guys do gifts?

Originally Posted by KorinKitty

You can't beat that. I mean treadmills can get to be pretty expensive. I am wondering though, where are you hiding such a large gift before Christmas day? Like how are you keeping it a secret so she doesn't find out before you guys do gifts?

Well it was at the guy's house so he just held onto it until the other day when he dropped it off as a surprise for her. It's cold here and there's snow outside so I wanted her to be able to exercise.

Originally Posted by Zemekis

Well it was at the guy's house so he just held onto it until the other day when he dropped it off as a surprise for her. It's cold here and there's snow outside so I wanted her to be able to exercise.

That is good thinking. We have snow too and you can't exactly go out when it is icy and freezing out for a nice walk or anything. Though, we do have people around here who jog daily even in the winter. Shorts and all. I think they are nuts! lol

Just had our Christmas Eve get-together with my Dad's side of the family. Unfortunately, my Dad was only able to stop by for a few minutes and we only spoke in the garage for 15 minutes. He works in a lab & his work takes COVID extremely seriously. One of his lab technicians came in contact with a someone who tested positive for COVID so my Dad is a 2nd-degree contact to this person. Since my dad is the lab manager he comes into contact with EVERYONE in that building. If he comes down with it, the lab will shut down for weeks & he can't risk it. His company has made it clear to employees that if you contract COVID from outside of work, you will likely lose your job as a result because of the damage it will cause to the company's schedule. My sister skipped Christmas Eve entirely but she will be visiting us for 4 days starting tomorrow and I'm excited for that! She lives with my Dad & has been under very strict rules as such (unable to see friends, etc.) so I thought I'd allow her to stay here for a while to loosen up. She's not being allowed to socialize at all and she's 20, that's no good.

As for what I got as gifts: Beer Nuts, a lot of cash (don't wanna say how much because that's not what the holiday is about. I'll say it's near 4 digits), the fanciest flannel overshirt I've ever owned, Amazon & Lowe's gift cards, wine, Shiner Bock beer, candy canes...and I think that's it. Not sure what my wife got, she was buzzing about being a good hostess to and from the kitchen & dining room so I didn't get a grasp of how well she made out in terms of gifts.

My Mom/Mom's side are a bit younger and more savvy regarding my interests (anime/video games/technology). I expect that the 'fun' gifts rather than practical ones will be coming tomorrow when they visit.

Our very own Starwind55 gifted me a Sword Art Online game & Kingdome Come on Steam! I built my PC earlier this month & since we talk every week during the Friday night get-together streams, we did a little gift exchange.

I certainly hope you enjoy the games! Zem gifted me Final Fantasy IX and Westerado: Double Barrel. We've been talking doing a stream where I do a playthrough of it along with 8 so that's certainly going to be really cool.

From my family side, I didn't get a whole lot of gifts but that's because the gifts I got were big. I got a PS5 courtesy of my older brother along with a copy of Spider-Man: Miles Morales which comes with a remaster of the first PS4 Spider-Man game. Aside from that, I got new boxers, and $100 in cash. A darn good haul if I do say so myself.

Well, it's now the morning of the 26th and I finally have the chance to write. I was pretty busy with family yesterday and I had a good time. In a few hours I'll return home. It's too bad New Year's celebrations are cancelled but it is what it is I guess. I'm quite pleased with what I received this year.

I wasn't expecting much from my parents because they already gave me some money. They bought the the first volume of Attack on Titan. I enjoyed what I watched of the anime so I've been curious about the source material. My nephew helped my mother design a Sonic the Hedgehog calendar for me. It was nicely done. That nephew was for a time quite mad about Sonic, just like me as a boy. He never stops talking about games, so I guess I understand how others felt when I was a kid.

Him: What games are you playing lately?
Me: Just a few games including Among Us.
Him: There's one game I'm getting into.
Me: What's that?
Him: Fortnite!
My brain: URK!!
Me: Oh... kewl!

My mother put together photo albums for all her children. It was really nice and quite a throwback to discover lots of photos from my childhood.

My oldest sister bought me a couple of Amazon vouchers. They're basically the same as money to me so that was all good. My full-sister got me two manga. Unfortunately I'm certain that I already own one of them which is the first volume of Vagabond. A very meaty book. It was a bad coincidence. Everyone was having a fun time so I didn't want to put a damper on that. I'll probably find a way to trade the spare. The second manga is one I'm very eager to read: she got me the second volume of 20th Century Boys. Apparently the first volume was out of stock, but that doesn't matter. I'll just get the first when I can and start reading this series. It's from the author of Monster so I'm bound to enjoy it.

My last sister got me something but there was a problem with its delivery so I'll get it in the post instead. That was pretty much it. I got some clothes from my grandparents and some stocking fillers including the traditional scratch cards. (Spoiler alert: I lost, except one of them which I'll be able to get a couple more with. I don't know why I enjoy those cards.)

I did get a couple more gifts actually. A couple of days before Christmas an old friend of mine and one of the first members of OSN, Dr. Killjoy, got me Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition on Steam. I've been wanting to play through the Shantae series and as a result I started the first Shantae game after the Game Boy original. Since I know he's been working on an indie game and wants to do more with its graphics I bought him Aseprite which is used for pixel art, as well as Sleeping Dogs.

A good friend of mine from a different fanbase bought me Lisa: The Painful. I'm not sure what to make of that game yet. I'm curious though. I got him the indie platformer NightSky.

That's all... until I find out what the other sister got me anyhow.

I got the usual money from my parents. Every year they give me and my brothers either $50 or $100 even though I would rather they not done that this year considering money has been tight for them. I also got a few other things from them. A dish set, a fancy mug, some socks, and a few little bits and bobs. My husband got me a gift card for $100 and some adult coloring books, Japanese mystery box cats (they are adorable!), Korean cat pens, a silk pillowcase (made from moth silk), and a new XL mouse pad for my desk. My one brother got me a gift card.

We haven't gotten together with everyone yet so I still have a few other things coming. Not sure what else I will get but I almost feel bad getting gifts this year. Am I the only one? Stupid COVID...