[Kelleigh]

I love the Hallmark ornaments too! I always get the photoholder Family one for the year. And , the Mother/Daughter photoholder when they do one. The photoholder ornaments are my favorite. The kids like the ones that light up or play music. We have one of Snoopy's doghouse that plays the "Peanuts" theme.

I'm in the process of making all my nieces and nephews a cross stitch Disney character ornament for their stocking.

Only 169 more days!

[MaNdA22]

Well I work at Hallmark wish me luck this weekend haha. We already have people coming in trying to peak under our curtain.

[EZMONEY]

Originally Posted by Eskinomad

Awesome tip about Hallmark!!

I definitely don't have the income to buy real presents for people this year...

WHAT!?...Real presents?...no $$$$

Kiddo one of the best presents I ever got was from my daughter 4 years ago when I turned 50. She gave me a hand written list of 50 REASONS WHY SHE LOVED HER DADDY! didn't cost her a thing...one of her favorite presents that I ever gave her was last CHRISTMAS...I gave her a collage of all the pictures I had of us together from when she was a baby until last year...almost 25 years worth (my son said "next year I want one!")...she copied it and gave that to me as a gift. It's in the archives here...I will see if I can find it. One of the best Father's Day gifts I ever got was from my son this year, he cut it out of ESPN magazine...Rick Reilly wrote it about what a lousy job his dad did being a father he played golf non-stop and was a drunk...my son handed it to me and said looks like "I owe you dad!"

Your a smart kid...I'll bet you have all kinds of FREE presents up your sleeve

[Kim_Star060404]

Originally Posted by EZMONEY

WHAT!?...Real presents?...no $$$$

Kiddo one of the best presents I ever got was from my daughter 4 years ago when I turned 50. She gave me a hand written list of 50 REASONS WHY SHE LOVED HER DADDY! didn't cost her a thing...one of her favorite presents that I ever gave her was last CHRISTMAS...I gave her a collage of all the pictures I had of us together from when she was a baby until last year...almost 25 years worth (my son said "next year I want one!")...she copied it and gave that to me as a gift. It's in the archives here...I will see if I can find it. One of the best Father's Day gifts I ever got was from my son this year, he cut it out of ESPN magazine...Rick Reilly wrote it about what a lousy job his dad did being a father he played golf non-stop and was a drunk...my son handed it to me and said looks like "I owe you dad!"

Your a smart kid...I'll bet you have all kinds of FREE presents up your sleeve

I agree! I gave DH a book of coupons for his birthday in March and he loved it more than anything he'd ever received from me! I put coupons like, "One week off of dog duty", "one week off of dish duty", "one weekend free of honey-do's" and etc. I'm not trying to assume anything, but I'm pretty sure he's doing the same for me. (We're doing Financial Peace right now, so we're on a STRICT budget to pay down debt.) You'll think of some great free gifts!

[GradPhase]

Holy BEARDED MAN, Gary!! The photo collage is a VERY endearing idea. And the coupon idea sounds fantastic for the SO. I only have one picture of me before the age of 14 though, so for my immediate family that lives 10,000 miles away I'm definitely going to have to get creative. Very, very, very creative. So it's a good thing I'm trying to plan early!

What kind of Christmas traditions does everyone have?

[EZMONEY]

Beard has been gone for about 20 years I think...Angie wants the moustache to go...thinking about it, but I have had it for 37 years...not sure if I can live w/o it!

[Kim_Star060404]

Originally Posted by Eskinomad

What kind of Christmas traditions does everyone have?

Every Christmas with my family, we spend Christmas Eve at church and then over to my dad's family's for presents. The first gift for everyone is always a brown paper bag with an orange or an apple, some nuts, a few penny candies and a dollar. This is to show us what Christmas was like for them when they were children.

Christmas day is with my mom's family. Being a mix of Japanese, Hawaiian, White and Hispanic, we eat lots of food from lots of cultures. The typical menu consists of; roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, lomi-lomi salmon, pork in banana leaves, poi, teriyaki steak, kimchi, takuan, tofu, white rice, spanish rice, tortilla soup and wontons. Needless to say, there are no desserts!!

DH and I have a tradition of going the first week in Dec. to the Nature Conservancy to cut down our Christmas tree. We wake up, go on a hike, eat a picnic lunch (in the truck if it's too cold) and then start hunting for a tree.

[GradPhase]

Awwww, that sounds LOVELY Kim!! I love the paper bag gift. That's really something special. What BEAUTIFUL family traditions!!!

Growing up - we never had any traditions, or were big holiday people. I'm hoping to really change this now that I'm on my own.

Your family's vibrant and ethnic twist on Christmas sounds incredible. Thanks for sharing!