Comments on: Insulting Christmas gifts and coming out of closet

By: Neena (NeenMachine)

Neena (NeenMachine) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:12:00 +0000

Your Christmas sounded wonderful. I love the low key, relaxing tone of your day – sometimes celebrations can get out of hand!

As for the books, maybe a gift card to a bookstore is the way to go – you can even include a list of “books that I think you might like”, or “books that made me think of you”. Then your in laws can choose to buy your selections or something they would rather have.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:31:00 +0000

We’ve been having some of the same issues regarding personal beliefs and closed-mindedness. Ugh. Sometimes I do wish Americans could be a little more globally-minded. The relatives I am having issues with would probably consider me un-American for saying that! I don’t think ignorance or following others’ opinions blindly is patriotic, though.

By: s a n s k u :)

s a n s k u :) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:22:00 +0000

Kokemuksesta tiedan etta kirjalahjat voi joskus menna aivan taysin pieleen. Toivottavasti sun in-laws lauhtuvat ja tajuavat ettei teilla ollut mitaan aivopesumietteita mielessa kun ostitte kirjat. :)

Tama viesti oli kiva lukea. Tykkaan rehellisista, aidoista jutuista.

Ei aina tarvi olla samaa mielta muiden kanssa. That's what makes our world interesting - how different we all are.

Kiva idis oli tuo jouluaterian vieminen miehesi tyopaikalle. Thumbs up!

By: Katja of skimbaco.com

Katja of skimbaco.com — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:39:00 +0000

Thank you so much for your comment! The calendar sounds like a great gift idea, I might have to copy that ;)

By: ccjjharmon

ccjjharmon — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Interesting. I understand your sentiments with regards to giving for Xmas. I would assume something similiar might also occur if we were to try to give books within family also. Just differences in opinion and probably definitely different book preferences too. I've always thought that politics in particular can be a very argumentative thing to integrate into gifts. Religion and faith definitely can be too (although I'd be more inclined to give along those lines than politics, but that's me).

One gift we did that went REALLY well was family calendars. My family is not that big so I made a calendar with everyone's birthdays and anniversaries on it, and included MANY pictures of all of the family. Most everyone got it. We also did it for my mother-in-law (mainly because we didn't get anything else and it was at the last minute) of just our kids for her and she really loved it, including showing it off to to the rest of their family. Looks like next year we pretty much HAVE to do this for that entire family (which is needless to say VERY VERY large). But it's low-cost (I'm not big into spending a lot for Xmas) and has the intention of being special and actually interesting for them (as opposed to something like just sending money).

BTW - I found this from Blog 365. Maybe it would be worthwhile to join it :)