I thought Innies now-a-days were kind of like Jehova's Witnesses when it came to recognizing Christmas. They don't even say the name, Christmas, right? It's happy Ho-ho now? So.. they give gifts?? I would have thought that most Innies couldn't afford much more than left over Halloween candy from what all I've heard lately. They have to send all they possibly can to New Knoxville.
sudo
P.S. Innies do Halloween? I thought the 'present truth' said that was debbilish now.
This is painful subject -- I'm the one with a knack for presenting cheezy presents .... and here I am still trying to figure out presents, knowing that they are still cheezy.
The boss where I work brought stockings for each of us -- with hope that we would fill them for each other, and I just finished wrapping a lovely garlic to put in the stocking of an Italian chef co-worker who is lo-carb. Others have, a finger puppet, A smiley fighter, candles, and a lovely tangerine for each. . .
Kit Darling ................. I am with you on this one ............ Painful Subject
I feel that giving is from the heart because you want to give, not because you expect something in return.
I also would like the choice of participating in holiday parties and not made to be a part.
When I owned my floral shop, I didn't have a drawing for names for gifts or even require that the gals bring gifts for everyone with a set dollar amount on each. Instead ........ I catered food for them and gave them bonuses for working so hard or me for the year. We had this little gathering during work hours so I did not take time away from the ladies.
I don't recall receiving any tacky gifts, but there were many home made ones. Some of those were only so-so, but most home made gifts are priceless even if they appear simply done. Home made to me, is a treasure.
Every year, Mama would put a potato and an onion in our stockings to remind us that we weren't that good all year. :P
We never had any money for gifts for each other when I was involved, so most of the presents were homemade or from the Dollar Store and it was something a child picked out especially for us with the $1 that she had to spend on each of us.
I did get an extremely tacky pair of earrings and a necklace one year, but it was all in good fun. My mother had bought me a pair of the gaudiest, ugliest costume earrings that I had ever seen in my whole life (Mama and I have VERY DIFFERENT fashion styles). I had worn them to fellowship one night as a joke to show them to my HFC. We laughed about Mama's good intentions and how I that jewelry would never see light of day again. The next week my HFC topped the tacky scale and said she just couldn't live with me having the tackiest gift I ever got coming from my own Mama. I loved that lady! She and her husband are still "in" and it just breaks my heart. They're awfully wonderful people...
I remember one year everybody got small pictures of the BOT and LCM even made fun of them. He said they were Ralph Ds idea and perhaps we could use them to scare the birds off our front lawns.
Kit, I think your gifts are just great-- especially thoughtful, the wrapped garlic to the lo-carb chef. That shows thought, shows heart, and consideration for the needs of others (which btw is classic Kit, IMO). And yes, the thought is what it is all about, and should not have to be expensive.
Lord knows, I have had many a lean year myself, but you can still give something from the heart, something you make yourself. Every year, I bake stollen to give as gifts to friends and family. It doesn't cost a lot, but it does take time and effort.
One particularly tough year when TWI had bled us financially dry, I had bare pennies to spend on gifts. I went to the Dollar store, bought plain white sweatshirts for everyone in my sister's family, and decorated them with iron-on snowflake decals. But wanting to give my sister something even more meaningful, I also dug into my own treasured antiques and gave my sister a handpainted wegwood china plate of mine which to this day she displays in her china cabinet.
Another year my husband and I did not have anything to spend on each other. I made him a coupon book with coupons he could cash in whenever he wanted-- good for his favorite dinner, a walk together on a Nature trail, a backrub, etc. He LOVED it, and loved cashing in on everything I promised whenever he wanted! I have also made coupon books for busy Moms for free babysitting or catered home cooked dinners that they can cash in at any time they wanted. Use your imagination.
Today I am wearing a hand-knitted scarf given to me by a prized professor. I am sure it did not cost a whole lot for her to make, but it is beautiful to me-- it is the heart, effort, and thought that make it so meaningful.
It takes no heart or thought at all to toss two-month old stale Halloween candy into a bag and try to pass it off as something meaningful.
I guess what I was trying to get across with this thread is, put your heart into whatever it is you do, or be honest and just don't bother.
This might be a little off thread, since it wasnt Christmas, and I was the giver. On two occasions while at Emporia I scraped some of my meager corps money together as a gift for two of our leaders, one of which was 6th corps. I never expected or received any thabnks or other return, though in one case I think I left the gift anonymously.
My WOW sister gave me a dress she didn't want, but kept the buttons.
ohmygod outie that is hysterical in a pathetic sort of way
catcup, i am shocked anyone think halloween candy could pass.... didn't they know the orange pumpkin wrappers would be a dead giveway ? or did they try to color over them and make them red santas ? ;)
outamabout/////after hitchin from point a and b wif ya I would donate a life supply a buttons fer ya sis!....I heard tell they will keep ya warm in tha winter .!
A 5x7 photo of LCM dressed in a cowboy outfit with one foot up on a hay bale in what appeared to be a barn.
What a f***ing treasure.
I don't seem to have it anymore.
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
what's really weird is when you would walk into believers' houses (or when your relatives did) and there were these kind of pictures in the living room and no family pictures. spooky now
"Didn't craiggers dress up as Paul for a "gift" to the WC one year?"
To which Ron replies...
If I'd ever seen such a thing, I'd remember it. It would have made me wretch. I hunt, fish and clean and butcher my kills and used to work on an ambulance crew and even did some accident insurance photography, but my stomach couldn't handle a picture like that.
But then I was never corps. I guess they all had extra strong digestive tracts.
There's a story that's always meant a lot to Ruth and me. The story was about an African boy who gave his missionary teacher an unusually beautiful seashell as a Christmas gift. The boy had walked a great distance, over rough terrain, to the only place on the coast where these particular shells could be found. The teacher was touched. "You've traveled so far to bring me such a wonderful present," she said. The boy looked puzzled, then his eyes widened with excitement: "Oh, teacher," he explained, "long walk part of gift." Sure, there have been plenty of times over the years when all the preholiday shopping and sermon writing and schedule arranging seemed to be too much, and my wife, Ruth, and I have been tempted to throw up our hands and say, "It's just not worth the effort!" But then we've looked at each other and said, "Long walk part of gift." And we've laughted and gotten back to work.
I had an HFC who gave used children's toys and wrapped them in used paper.....very tacky imho. The toys weren't always "gently used". She and her husband had money, they were extremely tight.
Recommended Posts
Sudo
Catcup,
I thought Innies now-a-days were kind of like Jehova's Witnesses when it came to recognizing Christmas. They don't even say the name, Christmas, right? It's happy Ho-ho now? So.. they give gifts?? I would have thought that most Innies couldn't afford much more than left over Halloween candy from what all I've heard lately. They have to send all they possibly can to New Knoxville.
P.S. Innies do Halloween? I thought the 'present truth' said that was debbilish now.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GeorgeStGeorge
Though I've been out for eight years now, it was never beyond TWI to "sanctify" a pagan holiday. Yes, there were Ho Ho presents, and "Bless or Treat."
In response to Catcup's query, though, I don't remember getting any cheesy gifts from innies. Of course, I was the only innie in my family!
George
Link to comment
Share on other sites
johniam
The last twig cordo I had thought I listened to too much rock and roll so he buys me George Strait's and Tanya Tucker's greatest hits.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Out There
30 Years ago Tanya Tucker gave me a kiss on my right cheek because I helped her get a bag to the desk at a hotel. I haven't washed that cheek since
Bless and Treat? I never heard that one before. It's prewtty goulish to come up with a term like that.
The best gift I ever got while in was a case of Rolling Rock (ponies)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kit Sober
This is painful subject -- I'm the one with a knack for presenting cheezy presents .... and here I am still trying to figure out presents, knowing that they are still cheezy.
The boss where I work brought stockings for each of us -- with hope that we would fill them for each other, and I just finished wrapping a lovely garlic to put in the stocking of an Italian chef co-worker who is lo-carb. Others have, a finger puppet, A smiley fighter, candles, and a lovely tangerine for each. . .
Oh well. . .
Hopefully Christmas will be fun, if not perfect.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Digitalis
Kit Darling ................. I am with you on this one ............ Painful Subject
I feel that giving is from the heart because you want to give, not because you expect something in return.
I also would like the choice of participating in holiday parties and not made to be a part.
When I owned my floral shop, I didn't have a drawing for names for gifts or even require that the gals bring gifts for everyone with a set dollar amount on each. Instead ........ I catered food for them and gave them bonuses for working so hard or me for the year. We had this little gathering during work hours so I did not take time away from the ladies.
I never once expected anything in return.
Digi
Edited by DigitalisLink to comment
Share on other sites
krys
I don't recall receiving any tacky gifts, but there were many home made ones. Some of those were only so-so, but most home made gifts are priceless even if they appear simply done. Home made to me, is a treasure.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
Every year, Mama would put a potato and an onion in our stockings to remind us that we weren't that good all year. :P
We never had any money for gifts for each other when I was involved, so most of the presents were homemade or from the Dollar Store and it was something a child picked out especially for us with the $1 that she had to spend on each of us.
I did get an extremely tacky pair of earrings and a necklace one year, but it was all in good fun. My mother had bought me a pair of the gaudiest, ugliest costume earrings that I had ever seen in my whole life (Mama and I have VERY DIFFERENT fashion styles). I had worn them to fellowship one night as a joke to show them to my HFC. We laughed about Mama's good intentions and how I that jewelry would never see light of day again. The next week my HFC topped the tacky scale and said she just couldn't live with me having the tackiest gift I ever got coming from my own Mama.
I loved that lady! She and her husband are still "in" and it just breaks my heart. They're awfully wonderful people...
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ron G.
In answer to Catcups original question...
A 5x7 photo of LCM dressed in a cowboy outfit with one foot up on a hay bale in what appeared to be a barn.
What a f***ing treasure.
I don't seem to have it anymore.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Belle
LOL! Ron, I forgot about all those pictures! Gawd Awwwmighty they loved giving out pictures of themselves, didn't they?
I remember the all the bru ha ha over those dang pictures and how everyone was so excited to get them every year.
Didn't craiggers dress up as Paul for a "gift" to the WC one year?
Link to comment
Share on other sites
johniam
I remember one year everybody got small pictures of the BOT and LCM even made fun of them. He said they were Ralph Ds idea and perhaps we could use them to scare the birds off our front lawns.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Catcup
Kit, I think your gifts are just great-- especially thoughtful, the wrapped garlic to the lo-carb chef. That shows thought, shows heart, and consideration for the needs of others (which btw is classic Kit, IMO). And yes, the thought is what it is all about, and should not have to be expensive.
Lord knows, I have had many a lean year myself, but you can still give something from the heart, something you make yourself. Every year, I bake stollen to give as gifts to friends and family. It doesn't cost a lot, but it does take time and effort.
One particularly tough year when TWI had bled us financially dry, I had bare pennies to spend on gifts. I went to the Dollar store, bought plain white sweatshirts for everyone in my sister's family, and decorated them with iron-on snowflake decals. But wanting to give my sister something even more meaningful, I also dug into my own treasured antiques and gave my sister a handpainted wegwood china plate of mine which to this day she displays in her china cabinet.
Another year my husband and I did not have anything to spend on each other. I made him a coupon book with coupons he could cash in whenever he wanted-- good for his favorite dinner, a walk together on a Nature trail, a backrub, etc. He LOVED it, and loved cashing in on everything I promised whenever he wanted! I have also made coupon books for busy Moms for free babysitting or catered home cooked dinners that they can cash in at any time they wanted. Use your imagination.
Today I am wearing a hand-knitted scarf given to me by a prized professor. I am sure it did not cost a whole lot for her to make, but it is beautiful to me-- it is the heart, effort, and thought that make it so meaningful.
It takes no heart or thought at all to toss two-month old stale Halloween candy into a bag and try to pass it off as something meaningful.
I guess what I was trying to get across with this thread is, put your heart into whatever it is you do, or be honest and just don't bother.
Edited by CatcupLink to comment
Share on other sites
Lifted Up
This might be a little off thread, since it wasnt Christmas, and I was the giver. On two occasions while at Emporia I scraped some of my meager corps money together as a gift for two of our leaders, one of which was 6th corps. I never expected or received any thabnks or other return, though in one case I think I left the gift anonymously.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
outandabout
My WOW sister gave me a dress she didn't want, but kept the buttons.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
excathedra
catcup, i am shocked anyone think halloween candy could pass.... didn't they know the orange pumpkin wrappers would be a dead giveway ? or did they try to color over them and make them red santas ? ;)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Littlehawk
outamabout/////after hitchin from point a and b wif ya I would donate a life supply a buttons fer ya sis!....I heard tell they will keep ya warm in tha winter .!
1
1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
excathedra
what's really weird is when you would walk into believers' houses (or when your relatives did) and there were these kind of pictures in the living room and no family pictures. spooky now
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ron G.
Belle asks...
"Didn't craiggers dress up as Paul for a "gift" to the WC one year?"
To which Ron replies...
If I'd ever seen such a thing, I'd remember it. It would have made me wretch. I hunt, fish and clean and butcher my kills and used to work on an ambulance crew and even did some accident insurance photography, but my stomach couldn't handle a picture like that.
But then I was never corps. I guess they all had extra strong digestive tracts.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kit Sober
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Nottawayfer
I had an HFC who gave used children's toys and wrapped them in used paper.....very tacky imho. The toys weren't always "gently used". She and her husband had money, they were extremely tight.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ChasUFarley
I was given the opportunity to bless leadership by cleaning their homes and watching their kids for them for the holidays.
HO-HO-HO--GO BLOW!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Catcup
"Long walk part of gift."
I love it!!!!!
Edited by CatcupLink to comment
Share on other sites
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.