It is so hard to be gracious about holiday gifts when trying to banish clutter! - Page 3

[mommaof3boz]

Oh and I found out I'm getting a mini crock pot. I have two big ones already. Then I thought well I could use it as a simmer pot with oranges, cloves, etc to make things smell nice.

[Vixenmama]

Originally Posted by mommaof3boz

Oh and I found out I'm getting a mini crock pot. I have two big ones already. Then I thought well I could use it as a simmer pot with oranges, cloves, etc to make things smell nice.

We received one of these at holiday time many years ago--dh immediately sent it on it's way.

[thomlynn]

Originally Posted by Vixenmama

Last night as I was carrying in a mother-load of groceries
I was thinking what kind of unwanted stuff might be coming
down the pike in the next few days. So, I propose new icons
depicting...

• Bringing crap into the home
• Flinging crap out of the home
• Opening a crappy gift

Excellent idea!!! Wish I could do that stuff. How about one dropping a gift directly into a trash can

[jlazx2]

I am so tired of getting candles. I had a list this yr, and got some items I wanted but I dont burn candles- plus the same person got me one for my bday too.

[kamesennin]

.

[TigerTail]

Would you rather have candles or a purselamp?

[jennay]

We exchanged gifts with my in-laws today. They always ask for a wish list. Among other things I wrote "A globe - just a regular basic globe- maybe with the continents raised but nothing fancy" and "Please no battery operated toys" . This is one of the many things that they got:

Obnoxious Globe:

[mommaof3boz]

No offense but that globe is obnoxious. We are supposed to be getting a globe. I asked for a simple one like you did. HHHMMM

[Vixenmama]

Originally Posted by jlazx2

I am so tired of getting candles.

Originally Posted by pbandj

Let it rain crap--... a red, black, and white fruit rug does not go with my kitchen. ...

Please go start a new thread with the title "Let it rain crap" so we can list our Christmas misgivings I bet it would reach 10 or 12 pages long

Originally Posted by TigerTail

Would you rather have candles or a purselamp?

I think I saw the purselamp in the sale aisle at Jo Ann Fabrics...

Originally Posted by jennay

Obnoxious Globe:

Hey anyone interested in a "post-holiday-heper". That, or let's start a white elephant thread in the Trading Post where we can all trade our mis-gifts....it might turn out to be fun, someone who loves roosters might be able to exchange with someone who hates candles...etc. The turn this thread has taken in the last few posts is really fun.

[A&A]

The only success I've ever had on this is the following:


Every year, FIL and step-MIL would send us a HUGE box (sometimes two huge boxes) of JUNK. Just plain junk. As in, "we ran into the dollar store and bought the first twenty things we could get our hands on!" -type junk. Then they'd put it in a box with lots of CONFETTI, so it made a huge mess upon opening. Seriously, the shipping cost them more than anything inside the box. So one year I got really brave and sent them an early Christmas card that said, "All we need for Christmas is your love." They got the hint! They stopped sending us stuff! Yea!!


I can EASILY get rid of things I don't want that are given to me, but I have a much harder time convincing dh and kids to get rid of junk!

[A&A]

Originally Posted by Vixenmama

Hey anyone interested in a "post-holiday-heper".

I had that EXACT thought when I opened the sweater from my MIL today.

[A&A]

Oh, and from my bosses this year I got a black-and-white striped shirt that looks like it belongs on a referee. (The stripes are so close they start to look wavy.) They bought the exact same-style shirt for everyone........men and women. And they guessed on sizes.

[mommaof3boz]

Black and white shirts for everyone? WTH?

[phoebemommy]

Wow, I just discovered this thread. I'm glad I'm not the only ingrate (). My biggest annoyance at this point is Christmas stuff. We have more Christmas decor than I have clothes, seriously, and 90% of it came from my MIL. And it keeps coming. We have enough ornaments for 2 trees, and we don't even have room for a tree in our apartment this year (we have a Christmas shrub that sits on the kitchen table with about five ornaments on it, that's all). The onslaught of ornaments annoys me because I'd kind of like us to build our own ornament collection, slowly, and with our taste. But what's the point, if we have so many gifted ornaments? I wouldn't mind a few, but I'm talking, like, seventy five and counting. And then, the other Christmas stuff, you know, that just sits on the mantle or whatever. To be honest, that stuff annoys me on principle -- it's big, bulky, you have to store it most of the year, and it serves little purpose. Plus, so much of it is craft fair-chic, which just does not fit our decor. And yet we have a huge rubbermaid full of it.

[trini]

Amanda, I understand!

We had been doing so well, too. I come from a gift-giving family. Several years ago dh and I just quit giving gifts. We didn't even say anything. Just quit sending stuff. I felt kind of bad, but then gifts to us tapered off after a year or so and I was so happy! I am lousy at buying gifts for people. I never pick out the right thing. And I think it is ridiculous that people who don't have enough money to buy gifts are going into debt buying other people stuff that they don't need/want.

Then ds came along. Yikes! Last year wasn't TOO bad. But this year, everyone seems to have gone crazy. He has 16 gifts to open. I am very excited, because I know one is a zoo membership. The rest could be anything. There are just 2 or 3 gifts for dh and I. Zero would be better. But I guess my family feels that is the way to demonstrate love.

It's hard to even talk about this without sounding ungrateful.

[famousmockngbrd]

Originally Posted by A&A

And they guessed on sizes.

Oh no! This does not sound like a good idea!

[famousmockngbrd]

My DH cracked me up with his Christmas list this year - he had stuff on there like cheesecloth and speaker wire. Most of the gifts he is getting from us are things like drill bits and underwear. Then his parents sent him a huge boxed set of hardcover Calvin and Hobbes books, which are cool in theory but we already have all the books.

Ah well. I do get stressed out about the consumption and materialism I feel is promoted at this time of year. I think the kids would get far fewer things if it were just up to me - DH really likes to go overboard

[Tradd]

Originally Posted by thomlynn

Excellent idea!!! Wish I could do that stuff. How about one dropping a gift directly into a trash can

Sounds good to me! I got my butt busted elsewhere online by a bunch of folks who, not only thought I was an ungrateful wretch, but that I was beyond words for actually throwing the coworkers' gifts away, rather than taking them to a nursing home, shelter, or even setting the box next to the trash!: Sometimes ya just don't want to deal with it! The stuff would have been ruined in the pouring down rain, anyway!

Nice to know I'm not the only one who pitches - or wants to pitch - unwanted gifts!

[Vixenmama]

ok, here's an option...

Originally Posted by phoebemommy

Wow, I just discovered this thread. I'm glad I'm not the only ingrate (). My biggest annoyance at this point is Christmas stuff. We have more Christmas decor than I have clothes, seriously, and 90% of it came from my MIL. And it keeps coming. We have enough ornaments for 2 trees, and we don't even have room for a tree in our apartment this year (we have a Christmas shrub that sits on the kitchen table with about five ornaments on it, that's all). The onslaught of ornaments annoys me because I'd kind of like us to build our own ornament collection, slowly, and with our taste. But what's the point, if we have so many gifted ornaments? I wouldn't mind a few, but I'm talking, like, seventy five and counting. And then, the other Christmas stuff, you know, that just sits on the mantle or whatever. To be honest, that stuff annoys me on principle -- it's big, bulky, you have to store it most of the year, and it serves little purpose. Plus, so much of it is craft fair-chic, which just does not fit our decor. And yet we have a huge rubbermaid full of it.

first of all, do not feel any guilt---whenever I read that "my mil gave me..." I always think "well, there must be a reason the MIL is giving it the boot--clearly she's come to the same conclusion about it"

so here's my two ideas:

--immediately after Christmas sell every single thing you don't LOVE, LOVE, LOVE on Ebay. Earmark all profits for the ornaments that are your taste.

--immediately after Christmas bundle it all up and donate it to a woman's and children's shelter or an old folks home---spread the love.


If MIL asks about it you can say "we've had our hearts set on XX ornaments for many christmases, so we decided to sell those things to make our dream come true. Or, we love xxx shelter/home and wanted to bring the kind of joy we have to them. Since we have an over-abundance of ornaments, we wanted to be generous. She will either...

a. not be offended and be glad they're not hers to worry about anymore
b. be offended, get over it before next Christmas but never, ever give you that kind of thing again.

Either way you win!!

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by jennay

This is one of the many things that they got:

Obnoxious Globe:

Oh My . . .

I'm sorry, that's just gross.

Wow.

It's kind of sad when it's your family that does that to you