This is the stage of Christmas preparation where I feel as if I have TONS of time, but also uh oh I need a gift for a party next week, and we are drawing names for our workplace Secret Santa on Friday, and I need to prepare a gift for the nurses before Edward’s next medical appointment, and so on. Happy fluster, but.
Yesterday I got agitated about the kids’ gifts. I feel as if I have very few ideas for them this year, and they are not coming up with many ideas themselves. I thought, what if I concentrate on one kid per day, starting with Rob since his items need to be mailed? A great idea! I will start on that right after work! And so I came home and wrapped presents and wrote Christmas cards. One does what one can; all chipping-away is good chipping-away; etc.
I am also working on doing extra cleaning—not as an important, required, THIS MUST HAPPEN sort of thing to add to the work/stress of this time; more like, I am seizing the motivation where I can find it, and I find I am motivated by, of all things, the kids coming home. They are not GUESTS! I don’t have to WORRY about cleaning before their visit! But I’m finding I am a little bit worried (they will see the house with fresh eyes after their time away!!), and I am finding that that small amount of adrenaline combines nicely with excitement (if it’s time to clean the house that means they are almost here!!) to give me the energy I need to scrub a shower floor, or bleach/scrub the kitchen sink, or wipe down a microwave. If I can chip away at it starting in early December, rather than leaving it for the week before, it will all……well, a lot of it will need to be done again by Christmas, but IT WILL STILL BE CLEANER THAN IT IS NOW.
Starting today with my mid-week grocery trip, I will have the fun of Buying Things for the Kids Who Are Coming Home. The twins won’t be home for another week and a half, but William is done and home as of this weekend. William drinks a lot of milk and eats a lot of pasta; Henry, the one remaining housechild, does neither of those things, so today I need to replenish the supplies I’d allowed to dwindle. I will also buy pecans, yogurt, extra eggs, and…what else does that child eat. Well, he can put it on the list when he’s here! Which will be soon!
Mostly what I like to read about at this time of year is WHAT ARE OTHER PEOPLE BUYING. I get so many good ideas that way. I finally bought Paul the contour gauge tool I put in my cart after someone else (was it Suzanne? it feels like it might have been Suzanne) posted about it a couple of Christmases ago, maybe longer ago than that:
(image from Amazon.com)
I don’t know what it is or what it does, but it looks cool, and Paul enjoys receiving Unexpected Workshop Stuff to play with.
I’ll just keep going with Paul’s gifts, so we can have a little theme here: Gift Ideas for the Grown Men in Our Lives. Back in October I bought him some lime juice:
(image from Amazon.com)
If I remember correctly my friends were discussing the recipe for a restaurant margarita we all like, and they said one of the secrets was Jamaican lime juice, and anyway I hope this is the right thing (I notice only right this minute that it says juice MIX), but if it’s not it’ll still be fun to try. I will put it in his stocking.
I should have mentioned this sooner, but I didn’t know he was going to like it so much: I got him an Exit game Advent calendar.
(image from Amazon.com)
It’s around $50 right now; I got it somewhere in the high $30s, which was still a fair amount of money but it is pretty great. I am reminded of when Elizabeth, writing her thank-you note to her aunt and uncle, also thanked them for the gift they’d sent Paul: “It kept him quiet for hours!” He is working on it every night with just the right amount of frustration/triumph.
This heated desk pad has been a mixed success, but enough of a success that I now keep it in my cart so I can buy one if there’s a good price drop.
(image from Amazon.com)
I found it after about the tenth time Paul had exclaimed how cold his hands get when he’s working at his computer all day. I searched “heated desk pad” and bought pretty much the first one I found. It broke a month later, and many reviews mentioned similar issues: that it was great when it worked, but that some of them seemed to be defective. I contacted the company, which sent a replacement, and the replacement has worked for almost a year now. But when the price dropped, I bought another one to have on hand if/when this one goes: reviews mention that even if you get one that isn’t defective, it doesn’t last for years and years. I realize I’m not exactly selling this, but when we were waiting for the first replacement, Paul said things like “I NEVER WANT TO LIVE WITHOUT IT AGAIN,” so. (If any of you have experience with a more reliable model, PLEASE TELL US.)
Paul likes to cook with cast iron pans, and he has a little scrubber that looks like a fabric swatch of chainmail. He likes it a lot, but wished aloud that it had a HANDLE. I bought him two handled options to try:
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
In case you have a cast-iron devotee in your life, this is Paul’s favorite turner:
(image from Amazon.com)
He had one, and said he wanted a second one so he would always have one available, so I bought him TWO more. I also bought one for his sister, after she posted a cooking photo involving two cast iron pans.
Paul bought himself this window bird feeder, and gave it to me to give to him:
(image from Amazon.com)
If the grown man in your life would like to be twinsies with Paul, this Oscar the Grouch t-shirt was one of the most successful things I bought him last year.
(image from Amazon.com)
I’d thought it might be too dark and hard to see, but it turns out to be Just Right: not too garish, but definitely noticeable. He wears it whenever it’s clean. I have the Cookie Monster shirt in my cart to consider for this year, but I don’t know. Maybe one Sesame Street shirt is perfect and two is too many.
I’m certain I got this next idea from Suzanne: The Happy Isles puzzle from the Magic Puzzle Company:
(image from Amazon.com)
Big hit with Paul and with some of the kids, so I’ve bought The Mystic Maze for this year. Or was it the other way around? Well, I have ONE of those two puzzles in a cupboard ready to give this year, and the OTHER one was a huge hit. I also got this folding round table for Paul’s birthday last year:
(image from Amazon.com)
I would not normally spend that much on a birthday present—but we’d gotten one of these tables from my parents when they moved, and Paul set it up as a puzzle table, and then Henry needed a table for his D&D group and this one was undeniably perfect, so Paul patiently loaded his puzzle-in-progress onto cookie sheets so Henry could have the table. We brought down a different folding table (also from my parents), but it was clearly inferior for puzzling, and Paul seemed discouraged from working on the puzzle. I would have bought the table anyway, but the timing was right for it to be a fun birthday gift. In such situations, I don’t count the cost of the item against the birthday budget.
Do you have someone in your life who quests for the right insulated bottle? I will show you Paul’s favorite:
(image from Amazon.com)
He left it behind in a motel room on one of our college-visit trips, and was CALLING THE MOTEL to see if it could be found, because he was thinking he would DRIVE BACK SEVEN HOURS TO GET IT. I ordered him a new one, because I am level-headed about insulated bottles. I will note that it does not fit in the car’s cupholder, which to me is an absolute deal-breaker but Paul does not care about that at all, because he doesn’t use it while he’s driving: it’s either on his desk/table at home, or it’s on his desk at work, or it’s in his work bag.
Oh! I can tell you what my dad asked Santa for this year, in case these things seem like they’d be good ideas for someone you know. My dad is someone who METICULOUSLY researches everything to find THE BEST ONE (in the Consumer Reports sense of being the best one at a reasonable price)—so if he requests a particular item, you can feel pretty confident that there is good reason for it being THAT PARTICULAR ITEM.
This particular meat thermometer with a probe:
(image from Amazon.com)
(image from Amazon.com)
I am keen to hear what you are buying for the grown men you know.
My husband’s birthday is right after Christmas, so I buy a bunch of things, then sort them, then pull most into the Christmas pile, then panic buy more things for his birthday the week after Christmas! So far he is getting a beer of the month club (Microbrews of America), a coffee bean subscription (Bean Box), new winter gloves for shoveling snow, some long sleeve t-shirts in various colors, some Under Armor slides to leave by the door to throw on if you have to go outside for something. This is a joke from my son, since my husband always steals his slides. I wanted to get him a new BBQ probe that connects to his phone, but he has gift cards to the BBQ store, so he is planning on buying that himself. One idea that I asked for that might be good for someone’s man is a heated vest from Ororo. It came highly recommended, and I can’t wait to try it. I need some more things for him, so I will be reading the comments!
A gift that has been a hit with my parents and my in-laws is a digital frame. Anyone who has the code can add photos to the frame via an app, and it is very easy. One set of parents lives out of state, and they enjoy seeing pictures of the grandkids show up on their frame.
I have no reason to own a contour gauge, but I still kind of want one.
I bought the magic puzzle last year after reading about it on your blog (I always like to bring a puzzle when I visit my family for the holidays), and my parents and I really liked it. Putting it together was a bit confusing (“Wait, how can there be SO MANY edge pieces?”) but it was very satisfying to complete and we have since lent it out to other puzzle-loving friends and family members.
I put the bird feeder in my Amazon cart as a possible gift for my mom. She’s already getting one bird-themed gift from me, but she really likes birds.
My dad is very hard to shop for, but for his recent birthday I gave him little solar-powered LED lights that you can put into empty glass bottles to turn them into lanterns. (You provide the bottles—they’re meant to be a way to reuse/recycle them.) He sent me a picture of one in action, and it looked surprisingly cool. I found them at a local shop, but they’re made by Kikkerland.
My very favorite insulated bottle (for hot beverages, not cold) is the Zojirushi brand. I got one for Christmas a few years ago, and liked it so much that I gave one to each of my parents the following year—and then it turned out that my mom had bought me a second one since I liked the first one so much!
I have no idea what I’ll be giving my dad this year, because as I mentioned, he is very hard to shop for. Last year I gave him a set of Glencairn whisky glasses (which I’d given him before, but he’d since broken most of them) and a bottle of his favorite bourbon.
I decided that the feeling of wanting to clean when the kids come home is leftover nesting. Making the nest nice for the baby birds. And I second your thought that they may also see the house with new eyes, eek.
My grown men are so hard to buy for. They’re definitely getting cologne (boring) and fun socks, and what else I DO NOT KNOW. Help me, Swistle community.
I lost an insulated water bottle on a college visit trip, too, not for the kid who’s currently applying to colleges but the one before. And I knew it was in the room as we were pulling out of the hotel parking lot, late for our next appointment and with the spouse quite grumpy about it, and decided not to ask to go back. It was a great bottle. I found a decent replacement on the same trip, and I still have it, but it’s not quite as good.
When my oldest was coming home from college, we bought a lot of milk, pasta, and pecans, too. But now he’s a boomerang kid, living here, so no need to stock up.
My husband also likes workshoppy things, though I don’t know what’s right or what he needs without giving away my game. Sometimes he mentions something but this year I am getting him an inflatable shim I will be choosing the size based on what will fit in his sock. What?
Wondering if there is a tee with not a Sesame Street character on it but another Nostalgia character, i.e. from a favorite childhood/teen movie?
Cheese, beef jerky, assorted alcohol-to-try [i.e. a mixed pack of beer], chocolate, and hot sauce are sometimes contenders.
We have been pleasantly surprised by how useful a headlamp is. Yak Trax are another one that are great when conditions are right, although we have moved away from Bulk Snow Land now.
Also new sharp knives (for whatever categories of knives are most often used) are a wonderful thing.
(but also: sometimes you buy slightly-challenging-to-give-to people a new-to-them thing, and it sits unopened for literally years, and then they use/see the Thing at someone else’s house and enthusiastically say they’d like one and: there you go, it is on this shelf, from Christmas 3 years ago. This is annoying but, on the grand scale of interpersonal annoyances, it is okay.)(at least I hope so, since I sometimes do that as well, needing more prompting to actually *try* a thing than just having it be given to me as a gift, which is why notes are sometimes useful, i.e. *what* you personally use a microplane for and why it beats the zest side of a box grater, that sort of thing. Yes, the packaging usually tells you, but… I don’t know, a human recommendation is often handy?)
In something like 2017 I bought my mom a soda stream because she was going through an astronomical number of bottles of plain bubbly water. It sat unused until the pandemic when suddenly shopping was difficult enough that she was pushed to figure it out. After using is for a few days she fell in love and has never gone back. I guess if there was anything all good that came out of 2020 is was that my mom finally used the gift I really thought she’d love but that she’d ignored for years…
Ohh, fun! Let’s see: last year I gave my compulsive exerciser of a dad a watch to track his distance when he biked in the summer and cross county skied in the winter and the concept was certainly a hit at the time. I also gave him some fancy name-brand down-filled slippers that are kind of like sleeping bags for the feet with soles and them and he seemed quite keen on them. (Some will recall he passed unexpectedly so I never got the chance to get feedback from him on whether or for how long he liked these items.) My dad was also the yearly recipient of a family photo calendar I made and he definitely liked those and expected them. I’m pretty sure he would have been upset if I’d ever decided to stop making them.
My husband is hard to buy for, but he always welcomes a pair or two of his preferred type of underwear and it’s fun to get cheerful patterns on them. He will not let me choose socks, most clothes, or tools for him but I’ve taken a chance on the odd t-shirt and he generally ends up liking them. His most-used gift from me that wasn’t strictly practical is probably the good Bose noise-cancelling headphones. I think he uses them almost every day. During the pandemic I also got him a small portable folding table that had 4 collapsible stools with it for eating comfortably outside at food trucks, etc. and we still use that every summer.
This year I impulse-bought tickets to Spain for the family for March break during a really good seat sale, so I’ve declared that to be the major gift for all 3 other members of the household, but I’m also putting together a group gift of travel-related items to put under the tree that everyone can use like air tags with holders, packing cubes, Trtl travel pillows, etc. If a big trip is coming up for anyone, other good travel-related items I’ve bought in the past and use every trip include an RFID-blocking passport holder that can hold all 4 of our passports, RFID-blocking sleeves for credit cards, universal plug converters, charge splitters so we can all use one outlet to charge our phones at the same time, a cable/cord/charging block organizer, a device that lets me hang my tablet or phone on the back of the airplane seat in front of me. I also have a Lifestraw water bottle that filters water as I drink it so I can drink the tap water anywhere and that’s a gender-non-specific idea. And of course, a good backpack for a personal item or a well-designed carry-on bag to hold the stuff I’ve listed make good gifts as well.
When you were talking about your dad, I was thinking, “Oh! He died recently! This Christmas is going to have Missing Parent Sadness”
So although it is none of my business, I am glad to hear about the tickets to Spain and attendant travel supplies.
Thank you for thinking of me. It was January 6th so, while this is the first Christmas without him and my stepmother has already started to get very distressed and weepy at the thought, it has been almost a year already, can you believe it? I am managing to distract myself from the Missing Parent Sadness with the This Is The Last Christmas Both Kids Will be Living at Home Sadness. I suppose that’s one of the reasons for Spain + a plan to vacation somewhere “big” this summer – I’m not sure how many more chances there will be for epic family trips when everyone has the spare time. (Though my daughter has assured me if I want to take her anywhere on a vacation she’ll always happily make the time.)
I love those headphones, though I don’t have many occasions to wear headphones they’re amazing. I have them bc my husband was work vendor gifted them and doesn’t like over ear headphones!!?! They’re one of the best thing’s he’s given me.
I get him a dr who tshirt every year. I got a bunch from woot and then stupid river in Brazil bought it so I think Ive also done tee public. Girl child spotted some dro who game cards? Idk like magic. So he’s getting those. Fb/insta showed me ryde safe decals and I suckered myself into then — but I am big on bike safety and they look fun — reflective stickers for the bike and spoke reflectors. Everyone is getting those.
I am in charge of FIVE PEOPLE (and I know that’s not a lot but it’s FIVE TIMES the person he’s in charge of. Plus random family members and the card and I run out of steam and don’t care.
My parents get a book each. My mom is usually Maisie Dobbs but she’s getting Grandma Gatewoods Walk this year. Dad is something historical that I’ve listened to and enjoyed. I think last year was McCollough’s The Great Bridge. One year was same Wright Brothers. Once was A People’s History of the USA. I also like Orenon Trail by Rinker Buck. This year it’s Salt by Mark Kurlansky.
And now I have to read to the girl child. Terry Pratchett. Ridiculous man.
My husband loves parrots and other exotic birds, and I like to occasionally buy him socks with parrots on so he always has at least one pair, but they can be hard to find. Two days ago, however, in Next I found a pack of EIGHT PAIRS OF SOCKS, five of which are parrots (and the other three are toucan, cockatiel, flamingo, which are also acceptable). I’m going to wrap each pair individually and put them all in his stocking and am already grinning to myself at the thought of watching him unwrap them. For his actual present though, no idea. If he wants something he buys it himself which is not always helpful in December.
Anna, I’ve just looked up those socks as I also have a parrot fan – they are amazing socks! Thank you for mentioning them!
Aah I’m glad I could help! I was so happy. I can’t wait to give them to him.
Thank you for the timely reminder, Swistle! *I* want the contour gauge tool and I need to add it to my Amazon wishlist. Because, for reasons unknown and unknowable, C decided *this* year (after nearly 30 years together) to start using my Amazon wishlist to buy me things. I’ve been using it as a placeholder — a spot to put things I’m interested in but not necessarily ready to buy. So I’ve rearranged a few things so he’s only seeing the things I know I want.
I want the contour gauge for a home project. Years ago a friend posted pics of them putting peel-and-stick vinyl tiles on the bottom of the cabinets under their kitchen and bathroom sinks. I thought that was great idea but have been stymied by how to get the tiles cut to fit around the pipes. Ta da! Contour gauge tool!
I don’t have any strong suggestions for gifts for Grown Men. I get things for C off of *his* Amazon wish list. A couple of years ago I got C this thin wallet: https://www.skintwallets.com. He seems to like it.
I am excited to see comments on this topic! My dad specifically asked for a mug with the kids’ picture on it for Christmas so he’s made it easy. But my husband is always hard to shop for. So far he has stated he wants a dart board for the basement and a good pair of winter gloves. We live in a typically cold climate. I am also considering a new pair of slippers with soft soles as the ones he has are hard soled and very noisy but I am having trouble finding soft soled ones. Also, not a fun gift per se but I’ve noticed in his office he’s always ripping paper by hand when he needs to get rid of it and I am sure he could use a small shredder for sensitive documents.
The rafting-loving husband is getting a custom river map sign from Etsy (custom shit from etsy is my go-to, I’m getting my SIL a little framed dried/pressed flower arrangement where each flower represents the birth flower of her family) as well as a knife sharpening tool I will not mention by name because their online advertising is AGGRESSIVE. Also he asked for “less ugly sweatpants” so I bought him a pair from Vouri. My FIL is, as established years ago, Not My Shopping Problem, so idk what he’s getting.
Sundry, as in All & Sundry, holy moly you still have a blog!! And your boys are adult humans (as are my kids but internet kids are not supposed to age). I thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog through the years and am glad I looked it up again.
Just chiming in to say how helpful this and the comments are!
My husband is into photography right now and asked for some photography- related stuff that I don’t really know what it is (what is a macro tube???) but I don’t have to explain it to a class, I just have to buy it and wrap it. He is also getting a couple of nice books and a reasonably nice wool shirt that I hope will keep him warm because he’s always cold. I’m looking with interest at that heated desk pad.
My parents just went on a trip to France so I’m getting them France-related gifts (a watercolor calendar from Etsy and some French linen tea towels, which, whew, if you want to spend all your money in a hurry, start down the French linen rabbit hole.)
I misread photography as por*ography and I can’t stop laughing. I was thinking, wow, that is one supportive wife as I (mis)read that first sentence!
i am always stumped for gifts for my technology & music instrument obsessed spouse. his interests/needs are very specific (and technical), like guitar & computer parts. i usually buy him practical stuff, like clothes or shoes. while he’s willing to spend $$$ on music gear, he rarely buys a new shirt. anyway, this year i got concert tickets for him. i’m also thinking travel gear, since we have a couple trips planned. thanks for the aforementioned ideas!
My husband BOUGHT HIMSELF A NEW GARMIN WATCH on the Black Friday deals.
*screams*
Anyhoo. Might need to get some Jamaican lime juice. I was at a friend’s house and her husband made me the most incredible margarita made with coconut tequila, am now obsessed with coconut tequila. I may just buy my husband the coconut tequila and then drink it all myself.
OMG this is totally me: I am the partner that gets super-exasperated when my husband buys himself something right before Christmas or a birthday instead of telling me what he wants so I can buy it or send it as a hint to someone else (depending on price point); I am also the person that sees stuff I want while doing all the family Christmas shopping and just pops it in my cart and buys it. Sometimes I give it to someone to wrap and give back to me, but I’ve had it happen in the past that they forget all about it and I end up weeks after Christmas thinking “Where the heck is that thing I bought myself? OH WAIT! My MOM/HUSBAND was supposed to give it to me and DIDN’T!”
I listened to the Dave Grohl book (it’s good, recommend, he’s funny) and decided to get it for my husband who then checked out the audiobook from the library and has been listening constantly ever since.
Fiddlesticks. My plan is to go to the bookstore (it’s been ordered) when I pick it up and tell them I need to return it but please recommend something similar.
DAMN IT!! H has done similar in the past and now every year in early November I start to say things like “this is not the time of year for you to buy anything for yourself!” “The holidays are coming, put it on your list, do not buy it yourself!” ad nauseum. He’s so hard to buy for and when he buys himself things near Christmas I just want to scream
I know you said Paul doesn’t mind but others might find this helpful… I got a cup holder adapter for my birthday and now my big yeti water bottle and yeti mug can go in my cup holder!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PMHPJJF/ref=nosim/?tag=88K18-20
I love it!
I was also going to suggest a cup holder adapter!
I’ve also found it useful for cups that I can technically get to fit, but have a weird handle.
As with all of these things, my gifts for my husband are specific to his random tastes, but you never know, maybe they’ll give someone an idea:
– A pair of Le Chameau wellington boots for muddy dog walks (I can guarantee that price per wear they will be the best value thing I ever spend my money on and I know that because he bought some for ME 3 Christmases ago)
– a book about coffee by a guy called James Hoffman. My husband loves his YouTube videos (and coffee, obviously)
– a coffee subscription (see above)
– a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt.
– and I’m considering a new kitchen knife but procrastinating over which one
Oh and I drew my dad in our family secret Santa, which… Nooooooo. He’s the worst to shop for.
At his request, I’ve got him a Karcher window cleaning gadget of some kind. Nothing says ‘love you, Dad’ like a window cleaning gadget.
I think my favourite request from my dad was “a CD of French, acapella, canoe-paddling songs”. I found one too!
If you mean a chef’s knife, Chris from Chris loves Julia wrote a post about his 9 favourite chef’s knives at various price points (that he also uses himself, he’s a trained chef). It might be helpful for the decision (or the opposite, depending on how far you already were with choosing one :) ).
The cheapest one starts at $49 and is already a recommendation, so the guide really is useful and not just aspirational reading material.
https://www.chrislovesjulia.com/the-9-best-chefs-knives/
That was fascinating and now I want all the knives.
This summer, I took a knife skills class at Sur la Table, and it was a chance to use a lot of knives, plus there’s a discount on any knives you buy afterwards. Even if you know how to use I knife (I do), it was pretty fun. I think a SLT gift card with a nudge towards a knife skills class would be a great way to help them (or you, if you ask for this) find the knife of your dreams.
Wanting them all was pretty much my reaction as well :)
Especially that beautiful hand made one that is both way out of my price range (because I know that if you have to ask for the price, I can’t afford it) and wouldn’t make sense for me to own, if I were one of the lucky people who were picked through their lottery. But I do so appreciate expertly hand made, beautiful tools and items.
YES! A knife into the thousands is totally unnecessary for me. But I bet it’s amazing!
Interesting post and comments! This is probably more a teenager or young adult gift, but a few years ago my stepson gave me a collapsible solar lantern for camping, which I love. It’s also practical for blackouts and such. It’s not this one, but this one looks good, and there are lots and lots of them that come highly rated. I note that this one is also (at least described as) a phone charger, which mine is not —
https://www.amazon.com/Kizen-Solar-Powered-Camping-Lantern/dp/B01L4WHOY2/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2QW0B4L2QN2F9&keywords=collapsible+solar+lantern&qid=1701912739&sprefix=collapsible+solar+lantern%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-5 .
Oooh such a timely post for me! I haven’t commented in a while, but I do read your blog every time you post something! So, hi!
This year, I’m getting my husband, a small key chain with an Aldi logo on it that also has a pocket for a quarter (for the cart return), a slow cooker cookbook of all Christmas recipes that he’d checked out from the library and really liked, a corduroy sport coat from JCPenney, a Kanoodle puzzle, and an electric fireplace (we live in an apartment that doesn’t have a fireplace and he misses the fireplace we had at our old house). I’m also on the lookout for a cool Slytherin T-shirt for him, but haven’t found the right one yet.
Haha, the Aldi keychain is brilliant!
I also got my husband a Kanoodle puzzle!
My grown man is receiving True Classic t-shirts, plain white undershirts, a toque (beanie for you Americans, wool hat for the rest of the world), cleaning solution tabs for stainless steel (for his beloved Yeti mug, specifically), and chocolates.
I keep seeing those t-shirts advertised. Let us know if they’re good!
What great gifts! This year, the two men closest to me are getting a trip to New Orleans for the whole week of Christmas.
Oh fun!! I spent Christmas in New Orleans a few years ago. And it was magical! Midnight Mass at St. Louis Cathedral. A jazz concert on Christmas night. Seeing John Goodman walking his dog.
I got my husband a Sodastream and am making custom syrups–Thai basil being the one I’m most excited about.
We got my FIL and uncle-in-law nicer flannel pajama bottoms.
And I gave my hardest-to-buy-for friend another copy of his favorite book, specifically so he can give it away and get more people excited about it.
We’re spending this Christmas focusing on repairing things instead of buying them. So I’m putting batteries in all my husband’s favorite things, which have been paperweights all year–headlamps, guitar tuners, etc. He put the missing piece of wall trim back up and hung the extra closet rods he bought. I patched the pleather car seat, which just split. Cheap is necessary this year, but these gifts are genuinely pleasing to receive. We already like these things and now we get them back! Nobody’s nagging anybody and the emotional labor (what needs batteries again? what type? where the hell are 377s sold?) feels like a gift instead of a burden.
The fixing idea is brilliant! I always feel so happy when I come face-to-face with an Accomplished Task!
This is SO timely because I have bought three (3) gifts total, and two of them were directly asked for (a decanter for my father, a set of handled soup bowls for my mother) and one of them was fated (my husband’s favorite sports team socks sprouted a hole just last weekend, so I have replaced them). I have NO IDEA what to get anyone. Books all around, maybe? Oh! I forgot: My husband has become obsessed with Liege waffles, so I bought him a waffle maker and some pearl sugar. So at least he’s mostly taken care of.
Love the bird house. I wonder if my parents would enjoy one for their house? My one concern would be that it might increase the amount of bird… detritus on the siding.
My dad requested new slippers so I went with the classic LL Bean. I got my father in law this book:
The Object at Hand: Intriguing and Inspiring Stories from the Smithsonian Collections by Beth Py-Lieberman. I borrowed it from the library and read part and I think it’s a good gift for anyone interested in history because it goes on a deep dive on a bunch of different items in the Smithsonian, some you’d expect and others likely never heard of.
My husband is going to do either cheese of the month or wine of the month for a joint gift for his parents, they were hinting about it.
Cookbooks are a hit with my husband and I’ll get him
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook: A Cookbook by Sohla El-Waylly
My brother says that this hat is his favorite ever so I got him one for his other team (they make them for baseball/football/hockey). I think it’s especially comfy and he likes the simple patch logo. https://www.dickssportinggoods.com/p/nhl-buffalo-sabres-core-unstructured-adjustable-hat-21ppmmnhlsbrscrnsbuf/21ppmmnhlsbrscrnsbuf?recid=product_PageElement_pdplanding_rr_1_52672_&rrec=true
I always buy at least one thing from your list of recommendations. The table warmer keyboard thingy do is perfect for my son’s girlfriend who was recently telling me how extremely cold she gets gaming in their new apartment. Thanks Swistle!! I also need a good board game table and while your recommendation is more than I’d like to spend, you’ve made me realize that maybe a simple square is too small. We all need a place for our elbows right?
My dad, who is impossible to shop for, is getting a charitable donation to a funnily named but very real charity. After I decided on that gift, I did come across two T-shirts on Etsy, one is related to his favorite TV show, the other is this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1611338349/per-my-last-email-sarcastic-office-quote?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=per+my+last+email+home+of+the+shirts&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&pro=1&frs=1&edd=1&sts=1&organic_search_click=1
And I passed those ideas along to other gift givers.
My grandparents are getting, between the two of them: coffee from the Awesome Coffee Club, a soap gift box from that same parent company, and local-to-me chocolate covered peanuts.
I’m getting my husband a new terrycloth bathrobe since his other one is over 10 years old and falling apart. I like these from Land’s End because they have big and tall sizes. I checked amazon but I’ve had terrible luck with the products being so horribly cheaply made if they aren’t from a known brand that I won’t even risk it. After the coupon these from Land’s End were only $65 https://www.landsend.com/products/mens-calf-length-turkish-terry-robe/id_151815?attributes=44967,44628&cm_re=add-more-shopping-bag
And I am definitely getting him that thermometer and that birdhouse for my dad, so thank you for the recs!!
We were having an awful time coming up with an idea for my FIL, but I think we finally hit on it- he is Spanish and we found the company Siesta Co that sells Spanish-caught tinned seafood. I think we’re going to go for one of their sampler packs! The idea of sending good quality sardines and tuna and mackerel just sounded so appealing and different from what we otherwise would have done. My FIL is very into preparing Spanish classics for everyone to eat when they are home for Christmas so perhaps this can give him a different flavor to add to the spread this year.