Christmas Gift Exchange

as an almost vegan (vegetarian who only eats dairy, as far as animal products go, but okay with eating meats on very special occasions), I'm of more than one mind about leather...

but I certainly like artfully tooled leather products. and I'd be lying if I didn't say I do prefer leather to Kydex/composites for sheaths and such

(and could certainly use a sling/strap to carry an axe or rolled up sleeping blanket on the back :))
 
and for the record "special" wasn't used in the sense of, like, "special brownies" or whatever.

it's xmas. we're talking special FRUITCAKE here :D

special, as in "impact resistant" and can be used as a weapon if necessary ;)

although it tastes way better steamed and with brandy butter or fresh cream... oh I do enjoy the holidaze, and them days leading up to them

you can tell you're getting older when you stop caring what you'll received - I mean, maybe a little, we're not quite saints here - and become much, much more interested in what you're giving!

(this coming from someone on the last cusp, perhaps, of "young adulthood")
 
Going blind in what my person may like except for a few ideas from previous years threads.
 
Ok,I may be one of the first, I managed to get my gift for the Christmas exchange in the mail to my person. I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner and we get busy, so I got it done since they are supposed to be sent by Dec 7. Now the big question, do we open the gifts now or can we resist the temptation and wait until Christmas? :rolleyes:
 
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It is going to be hard to wait until Christmas, but it will be done......at least until the the kid in me wants to tear a corner to see inside, then tape it shut again. Nobody ever did that but me, right? Or at least did anyone look in the corners of closets for their presents? Those are the ones we know our parents got for us, the ones from Santa we knew came Christmas Eve. I grew up in a family with six kids, so there were 8 of us including our parents, so we had nice gifts for Christmas, we were lucky. One story I did not appreciate until I was older, was why my father put an orange or some kind of fruit in our stockings. He grew up during the 30s and 40s, and when they got an orange in their stockings it was a BIG deal then because they usually didn't have fruit around that time, even though there was refrigeration on train cars or on trucks. Another one was my dad would put walnuts in the feet of the stockings, I think it was just him as he had an abundance of different nuts in the wooden barrel bowl with the nut crackers and metal pry things to get the nuts out of the shells. He was looking for things to make the stockings heavy and he threw them in too, along with gum, STP auto treatment for the cars, etc etc. :D. My father also liked fruit cake, so my wife and him would enjoy that when he and two of my brothers would come to our house for Christmas. He would
also enjoy the oyster stew we made Christmas morning. My wife's family would also have black eyed peas for New Years. What other holiday traditions or special things you did as a family? Would love to here some stories!!! Let's keep this going!!
 
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When I was a kid, my dad always had to work a half day on Christmas Eve. He would drop my mom, brother, and me at my grandmas house in Berwyn about 6 in the morning, then when he got off at noon he would join us. My aunts, uncles, and cousins would all be there. My one bachelor uncle would always insist on picking up the tree and decorate it that day, which was a challenge, those old lights, if one was loose or burned out the whole string wouldn’t work, so that always took time. We would have dinner, open presents, then leave for my other grandparents house in Mokena to open presents there. ( I now live a few houses away from their old house).
On Christmas Day we opened presents, then the entire family came to our house for dinner. This all ended when I was 15, my mom died that year on Christmas Eve.
 
I am also curious about other traditions or family stories of those who are of different faiths, those around the holiday times? Do other faiths or nations exchange gifts? One thing I learned, and have seen on the holiday music channel on cable, is that some nations have different holiday traditions. One thing in Mexico is that they do not write letters to Santa, but to the wise men, as they brought the gifts to baby Jesus. Fun and interesting traditions.
 
Growing up my parents would let my brother and I open one and only one gift on Christmas Eve. I would spend countless hours trying to decide which gift didn't feel like it would contain socks. My mother is now in her late 70's and still will only open one gift prior to Christmas Day.
 
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