What did you buy your family/friends for Christmas?

Since I became a teenager, I stopped expecting great things for Christmas and started taking more pleasure in the giving part of it. A truly great present that lights up someone's face is leaves me feeling pretty good about what I've done. Of course, not all gifts are truly great. Sometimes we just pick up something out of necessity or obligation. Since there's only two days left until Christmas Day, I assume most people have got their shopping done. So what did you get your loved/...obligated ones?

This year my family decided to have a stupid secret santa Christmas, and I drew my mom's boyfriend. It wasn't so much of a secret though. He told me he's into BEER and WITTY T-SHIRTS. I don't know him and based on these gift ideas I'm not entirely sure I want to. So today I went to the mall and randomly picked up two. Didn't pay attention to price or what they said. I hate witty t-shirts. I hate people who wear witty t-shirts. I've never felt more gross about buying a present. I'm glad no one saw me.

My Niece gets gifts from everyone, of course. But she's just a baby. I had some really awesome gift ideas but I was on the phone with my mom while shopping and CHOKING HAZARD, CHOKING HAZARD, POKES YOUR EYE OUT, WILL MAKE YOU BURP BUBBLES, CHOKING HAZARD. Needless to say, my potential gift selection was... limited. All of my good ideas will have to wait until 2012, it seems. So I got a bajillion pairs of socks, some sippy cups with baby Looney Toons on them and some baby-learning books. Books on CD, also. I feel kind of bad because these gifts are all crud but she's a baby. She won't care.

Annnd finally, my dad, who's kind of on his own this year. I mean, he was invited to my sister's for dinner with the rest of us but he wasn't included in the secret santa or anything. So I was thinking about what to get him, and he's really into video games too. It's where I got my love from. I found out that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was ported to the PSP and immediately thought that would be an excellent gift. I was convinced that's what I would get him, and I felt pretty good about it. Until earlier today. I was walking around my apartment trying to figure out what else to get him and it hit me. He's a huge Resident Evil fan. He's got every version of every game up to 4. He's got all of the movies (canon and not) and all sorts of action figures. I mean, he likes all sorts of games but Resident Evil is probably his greatest love. But this year hasn't been easy for him and he's been tightening down and not getting extravagances. Resident Evil 5 came out in March and he was unable to buy it, and I think as the months passed he just sort of forgot about it. Or at least he stopped talking about it. So today, I went to the mall and found it! The perfect gift. His collection would be complete again! I took it to the register.

"This game has adult content. You need photo ID for purchase."

"I'm almost 22."

"ID?"

"..."

I didn't... I don't have any photo ID on me. NO! MY PERFECT GIFT RUINED!? I refused to give up. I put the game back and stood out in the mall walkway briefly, thinking. Finally I decided, I needed help. I flagged down an elderly lady. She gladly took the time to talk to me, and I explained the situation. She was awesome. She took my money and went into the store and bought it for me. I offered her some money in return but she refused and just said merry christmas. The greatest thing ever had just happened. AN OLD WOMAN BOUGHT RESIDENT EVIL 5. Also she fulfilled my Christmas wish so I could fulfill my fathers.

So... that's what I got for Christmas. And it's all thanks to a sweet elderly lady. Thank you, ma'am.

What did you guys buy your family for Christmas?

Wow, that's a nice story for the holidays. Good for you and what a kind hearted lady that was.

I'm horrible when it comes to gift ideas. I'm glad my sister begged me for a game, which made things really easy. I got my dad a hella lot of chocolates, and my Mom gets a Gift Card to Sears since anything else I get her results in a complaint. My school friends got a decorated candy bag I whipped up, and my best friend gets a Gift Card too.

I kind of experience the same thing at the Liquor Store where the cashiers ask for ID and then say "wow, you don't even look 16 yet"... I'm 20 f7.

Various Burt's Bees products and some black licorice for my mom. Tons of different pens and Sharpies for my sister.

I'm giving my brothers my old monitor because I'm getting myself a better one if that counts.

I got my girlfriend a CD and some little Twilight journal things. I'm giving my mom a computer game related to a book series she's reading and... something else I don't recall. Grandpa is getting Cashmere gloves and his girlfriend is getting a (rather ugly) scarf.

I got my dad some PAJAMAS.

That's one kick ass lady!

Anyways, I'm getting my girlfriend this shirt. She's been wanting it ever since she saw it. I already got my brother's a ton of Wii games.

This year, I was hosting my church youth group Christmas party, and I decided that we'd do a gift exchange game, with the budget of "under/around $10". However, one of the mentors got mad, as he felt that we should've spent the money on charities instead, so after some discussion, we stuck with the $10 gifts, and had the option to donate to charities with extra money if we wanted to.

For some reason, people usually just give me cash for Christmas, and this year, my grandmothergave me 20, which is more than she usually does...not much, but a decent amount. At first, I donated $30 to a charity called "Mt. Currie" or something, which was a charity to help disadvantaged first nations people, 20 from my grandmother, 10 to match the 10 I spent on the gift exchange. However, my uncle came up to me after service and gave me $50, so I just simply went and gave that to the charity as well.

For me, instead of spending money on presents for people, I take whatever money that I would've spent, and give it to various charities. Perhaps its just the people I know, but they seem to appreciate me donating to charities than actually buying them stuff. It's funny, cause thinking back, I remember as a kid, when my parents suggested donating the money I got for Christmas to charity, I'd be outraged at the idea and flatly say no and be upset and whatnot, and now, I look towards donating towards charity instead of keeping/spending/buying things for others with it. The $10 gift exchange, I bought a $10 gift card from Vivo Gelato, the best ice cream place in town (apparently... I havent actually been there before), and a $5 to Starbucks for another gift exchange.

That being said, what that old lady did for you was really nice. I'm not you, but if that happened to me, I'd feel that was better than any gift with money value I could've gotten. Yeah...I have strange tastes in gift receiving and giving, lol.

I went and got my mom the perfume she always asks for, my dad some Nascar stuff, and I just gave my sister an iPod. She always borrows mine and gets hair spray on it so I decided to just give her my old one.

I had to get myself some stuff so I decided to raid hot topic and target and get this, this, and... This.

I live with my mom, her friend, and her friend's daughter. My mom bought a Wii for them all along with Wii Fit Plus. I read a little online and heard that Wii Fit sucks ass, and Wii Active is better so I went out and got them all that. Also, I got them an extra Nunchuck. For my father and his Girlfriend, I got them a gift card for Friendly's.

I felt nice and bought my Dad Tiger Woods 2010 for the Wii because he is obsessed with Wii Sports Golf and wont stop playing it and my mom Wii Sports Resort because she really cant do most of the activities she used to because of her Multiple Sclerosis

I felt nice and bought my Dad Tiger Woods 2010 for the Wii because he is obsessed with Wii Sports Golf and wont stop playing it and my mom Wii Sports Resort because she really cant do most of the activities she used to because of her Multiple Sclerosis

And then Tiger Woods took your mom to the Sports Resort...

Also (

I don't have money, and i suck at giving gifts so i save myself the trouble... it sucks though.

Got my dad apple TV.

I figured going through the trouble of finding individual gifts was too much this year so i bought "the family" a dyson vacuum cause all of our vacuums are cheapy pomegranate ones that break or are broken...

for my older sister i got her a case of Mike's hard lemonade, her bf/my brother in law a case of good beer, and for my buddies at work i got them Scene-it Seinfeld edition (cause hes obsessed) and i was gonna get a blue lobster for his gf but that fell through cause craigslist people are dumb asses

I'm still shopping for my niece (shes easy but i'm looking for something unique), my dad (hes easy too except that i have no ideas), and my coworker (not sure what to give her...)

Wow sarah didnt know you loved your father that much to actually ask a stranger.

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Moral of the story:Always talk to old ladies. I've talked to lots of them over the years, and I swear they are the best people I have ever met. Most men admire the personalities/intelligence of women who know that one day you will become useless, and on that day, you won't have that shiny xbox or even your grandkids to come visit you, and on that day, you will become old. Thank god we have women

As for presents:I have an extremely hard family to buy for. Most are not gamers, most are not sports fans, most just live and work and watch some tv. So I got a circular saw clock for my uncle(who has every tool, but never uses any of them), some nicnaks for my aunts, a nice bath goat's milk bath set and music she really loves, a massager for my father who has seemed to hurt himself a lot this past year, and some music for my sister. It's not that I wanted to be cheap, it's just that's what they wanted.

In my family, we are not big on giving gifts. The real part of Christmas is the big family get-together we have at my grandparents' house (my Grandmother makes AWESOME trifle, and she is making one this year). Generally what happens is my mother and her brothers and sister get something small for each other, my grandparents get something for EVERYONE and everyone gets something for my grandparents. Being an official adult this year, I decided it was time that my name wasn't just included with my mother's present. So I decided to orchestrate a joint present from myself and my two brothers. My Grandmother has a large collection of photos, photos of everyone. The photo she has of me and my two brothers is heavily outdated (I have shoulderblade length, jet black hair in it *shudder*), so I figured it was time for a new one. We went down to the botanical gardens to get some photos. We went there because it was a place our Grandmother would ALWAYS take us when we were younger. When there, we took a separate photograph of each of us, at three different locations that were significant to our Grandmother. Mine was at the duck pond, where she always used to buy a loaf of bread and we would feed the ducks. We are putting the three separate photographs in a 3 panel frame for her. We also got a joint photo done, with my brothers' girlfriends in it. It may not seem like a huge present, but all of my Grandmother's photos are very special to her, and I know getting this will make her face light up like it does whenever she sees one of us in the street. She is the sweetest old lady ever.

If you're interested in seeing the results:

 Spoiler

 Me

 My big brother

 My little brother

 Group photo

From left to right: My little brother's girlfriend, my little brother, myself, my big brother, my big brother's girlfriend.

I'm satisfied with how they turned out.

With my immediate family we focus on my kids (the only grandkids my parents have) mainly. This year I was able to save early enough and get a Wii as a family gift for myself and my oldest son and between my brother, myself and my parents got about 8 or 9 games. Got my youngest son a huge train set since hes obsessed with Thomas the train and some other goodies. Got a new digital camera for my mom since she always wants to borrow mine and haven't gotten anything for my dad or brother yet..... They are the kind of people that make a list then a week later buy themselves everything on the list. And since I spend all year getting things for everyone else, I decided to treat myself this year.... I bought an ipod touch.