The Official Gift List for 2008

[Lorelei]

Date: 12/27/2008 1:09:44 PM
Author: risingsun
From my DH, a Belen Echandia handbag. Belen bags are handmade in Italy by [British] designer Jackie Cawthra and since I''ve found them, I''ve fallen in

ETA: Congrats on your Kelly bag, Lorelei!! If I found one of those under my tree, I would have gone into a dead faint

Thanks Marion and other dear ladies!!! I was hopping up and down with glee!! She is so beautiful!!!

 

[Harriet]

Yay, Lorelei. The Kelly is beeyootiful.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 12/27/2008 3:10:44 PM
Author: Harriet
Yay, Lorelei. The Kelly is beeyootiful.

Thanks Harriet! She is a dream!

 

[Mannequin]

Date: 12/25/2008 11:04:08 PM
Author: equestrienne
FF totally rocked my socks with jewelry this year! I got a colored CZ eternity band, a sterling silver heart tag bracelet, and some bezeled blue topaz earrings. I also received a copy of the SATC movie, some makeup, and a book from him. He did a great job!


We had a family gift exchange with his relatives tonight, and I got a basket filled with Bath and Body Works lotion and body sprays (YUM). We also got a loaf of homemade bread from my aunt, so I''m looking forward to some darn good toast. FF''s mother gave us a very nice Italian-made nativity set - so thoughtful since we don''t have anything like it yet. I am going to set it up tonight.

We still have two more family parties to do tomorrow, so there is more to come. I am enjoying the company most of all, and I can''t wait to give my gifts to my family. I''ll take some jewelry pics soon.

OMG, my family was amazing to me this year. My parents bought me a nice sweater, some BE makeup products, a new Canon Powershot camera (!!!!!), and.................. a PUPPET RACK! I can finally display my puppet collection properly! Woo hoo! I got a lovely silver horsehead pin/slide from my brother. My extended family gifted me with a breadmaker, Home Depot gift cards, a beautiful Christmas wall sign, crocodile print boots (hothothot!), some books, and a Philosophy gift set. I am really excited about the new camera, gotta read the HUGE manual it came with.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 12/26/2008 2:55:58 PM
Author: Mara
ooooh i love reading about everyone's holiday booty...we had a leaner 'giftie' xmas this year as we are giving each other a huge gift ... a new house. it's been a pretty painful process due to the state of the economy and how the banks are working, but it looks like FINALLY we will sign on Monday

Mara - Congrats on the new home! What is your home like? I remember before you had a townhome, right? My husband and I recently bought a townhome after living in houses for many years. It's quite the transition.

 

[partgypsy]

I didn''t get alot of things but the things I did get I really liked, like worst case scenario daily calendar, homemade scented bath salts, yoga pants, magazine subscription to New Yorker and yep a little cash.

Well we were all talking about doing a low key christmas with the adults, so the results were that the adults exchanged very modest gifts on my side and none at all on his side, with the results that the kids were DELUGED in gifts, more than last year, so I think people ended up spending the same amount but just spent it on the kids. And on Christmas day my husband said, you know, I realize I do like getting gifts. Talking to everyone we said, you know, let''s just do the usual thing next year and exchange gifts. Yesterday hubby watched the kids and I went shopping, got myself a sweater set, yoga top and waffle maker, and on the internet a nice body lotion and cloth napkins for the kitchen.
And my hubby is going to get himself some comics, which he has been really good and I don''t believe he has gotten any all year, so he is due.
So it was a really nice Christmas, and kids have been over the moon. My youngest just opened her last present just this evening, because we had fatigue and couldn''t get through all of them.

 

[AmberGretchen]

OMG Lorelei - we MUST see pics of that Kelly

 

[Mara]

Date: 12/27/2008 9:02:19 PM
Author: MC

Date: 12/26/2008 2:55:58 PM
Author: Mara
ooooh i love reading about everyone's holiday booty...we had a leaner 'giftie' xmas this year as we are giving each other a huge gift ... a new house. it's been a pretty painful process due to the state of the economy and how the banks are working, but it looks like FINALLY we will sign on Monday

Mara - Congrats on the new home! What is your home like? I remember before you had a townhome, right? My husband and I recently bought a townhome after living in houses for many years. It's quite the transition.

Hi MC..! Yeah it will be a change for us. Yep...we have a TH which we still love...it's served us well for 5 years, but it's time to move on. The new place is a totally remodeled 60 year old ranch brick home that is in a cute town about 10 minutes from us. It's got an excellent elementary very close by...as well as a good-sized yard for me and Portia to play in. We love that it is totally redone so that we really do not have to do anything...because one of the things we love about the TH still to this day is that it's not much maintenance. Now we'll have all the headaches that come with an actual home...hehee. My first order of business is to plant a Meyer Lemon tree. There is already a large sized orange tree in the back...citrus is very big here. How are you guys adjusting to the TH?

Thanks for the congrats Kimmy...!

 

[simplysplendid]

Another call to see the Kelly!

.

I am not an exactly an Hermes fan or rather not exactly an Hermes Birkin fan [duck for cover], still smitten with Chanel for now. I think if I were to get an Hermes, it will be the Kelly.

 

[Harriet]

I''ll confess to preferring the Kelly to the Birkin too!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 12/28/2008 10:56:05 AM
Author: Harriet
I''ll confess to preferring the Kelly to the Birkin too!

Me too, they are the classic Hermes IMO, I wouldn''t choose a Birkin personally. There is something about a Kelly...

 

[lisamarie84]

FF and I decided to do a small Christmas for each other this year (although he still went over our budget)..

From FF:
KitchenAid Slicer/Shredder attachment for my mixer
OXO kitchen utensils

From my family:
$25 Walmart gift card (from my brother, his gf and my baby nephew)
WG earrings (from my little brother)
Buffet server/warming tray (from everyone to both of us)
Beautiful diamond bracelet (from my parents) I''ll have to take some pictures!

From FF''s parents:
Ralph Lauren sweater
Cropped black peacoat
JA Henckels cutlery set
Digital photo frame
$100 Visa gift card
Bath & Body works lotion
Samsung Blu-Ray disc player (this was for both of us)

From friends:
another Henckels cutlery set
a new faucet/sprayer for our kitchen
Fondue set


It was a wonderful Christmas and everyone did way too much! I''m just so thankful that we were able to spend Christmas with our family and friends

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/25/2008 6:06:38 PM
Author: katebar
I''ll play I am so lucky that my family really spoilt me.My gorgeous son gave me a goat! Yes that right a goat. But not for us but for my sponsor child village in Tanzania. He is such a thoughtful boy and am so proud of him.
He also gave me some stunning Reidel O series wine glasses that the base is coloured pink and they are for Breast Cancer awareness. He really put a lot of effort into getting me things that matter to me!
DD gave me a gorgeous turquoise bracelet with religious medals on it. So cute
I was spoilt.

Ah, what a wonderful son you have!!!

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 12/28/2008 11:01:29 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 12/28/2008 10:56:05 AM

Author: Harriet

I''ll confess to preferring the Kelly to the Birkin too!

Me too, they are the classic Hermes IMO, I wouldn''t choose a Birkin personally. There is something about a Kelly...

I love the Kelly Miss Lorelei! Hooray for you!!

 

[coatimundi_org]

From sweet hubby:
A crystal growing kit--for his goofy G.G.

A tea set
A reset
thin vintage plat eternity

From me:
thin vintage plat engraved half eternity

From Mom and Dad:
most notable--a little ACA for my gem specimen box--but...I''ve decided to add 13 more to make an eternity band--haHA! It''s too pretty to sit in a box!

 

[bee*]

Date: 12/28/2008 1:33:49 PM
Author: coatimundi

Date: 12/28/2008 11:01:29 AM

Author: Lorelei

Date: 12/28/2008 10:56:05 AM


Author: Harriet


I''ll confess to preferring the Kelly to the Birkin too!

Me too, they are the classic Hermes IMO, I wouldn''t choose a Birkin personally. There is something about a Kelly...

I love the Kelly Miss Lorelei! Hooray for you!!

me too! I''d love to see pics of that baby Lorelei!!

 

[violet3]

Date: 12/28/2008 1:42:16 PM
Author: coatimundi
From sweet hubby:
A crystal growing kit--for his goofy G.G.

A tea set
A reset
thin vintage plat eternity

From me:
thin vintage plat engraved half eternity

From Mom and Dad:
most notable--a little ACA for my gem specimen box--but...I''ve decided to add 13 more to make an eternity band--haHA! It''s too pretty to sit in a box!

Ooooh Coati - i know we''ve seen pics of the BEAUTIFUL bezel reset, but are there pics of the little bands somewhere i missed???? I would love to see them...

 

[violet3]

I forgot to post what i got! SO and i agreed not to exchange gifts this year, as we are trying to save money for things big things together right now. But he surprised me anyway, and got me a fantastic jewelry armoire!!!! it is the perfect gift - it is black, stands about 4 feet tall, and has ooodles of drawers and hooks and slots for bracelets, rings, and necklaces.

I only have a few good pieces of jewelry really, and most of the other stuff is just costumey/junky stuff for fun...but it''s all over the house! And it drives SO nuts to find it everywhere - so he said it was a gift for both of us to help him keep his sanity

Lucky me!!!

 

[coatimundi_org]

What a sweet gift Violet!!--sounds lovely!

I''ll try to get hubby to take some shots of the bands later--I broke a finger on my right hand, so I can''t take them myself--and thanks!!

 

[Harriet]

Coats dear,
Hope the finger''s better today.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Date: 12/28/2008 5:18:17 PM
Author: Harriet
Coats dear,

Hope the finger''s better today.

Thanks hon!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 12/28/2008 1:47:17 AM
Author: Mara

Hi MC..! Yeah it will be a change for us. Yep...we have a TH which we still love...it's served us well for 5 years, but it's time to move on. The new place is a totally remodeled 60 year old ranch brick home that is in a cute town about 10 minutes from us. It's got an excellent elementary very close by...as well as a good-sized yard for me and Portia to play in. We love that it is totally redone so that we really do not have to do anything...because one of the things we love about the TH still to this day is that it's not much maintenance. Now we'll have all the headaches that come with an actual home...hehee. My first order of business is to plant a Meyer Lemon tree. There is already a large sized orange tree in the back...citrus is very big here. How are you guys adjusting to the TH?

Thanks for the congrats Kimmy...!

We're doing pretty good in the townhome mostly because we've moved from living on acreage to a neighborhood filled with my sons' friends and they're loving living so close to everyone. We're also in walking distance to a park and their elementary school. Before we felt sort of isolated next to neighbors w/out kids or anything in common with us.

As far as the actual townhome, it's basically the opposite of you as now we mostly do not have any headaches like we did with our over landscaped yard (it had over 15 japanese maples and had tons of other native plants that required botanist skills that we simply could not live up to). . .My husband is immensely relieved to not have to mow a huge 1+ acre lawn anymore and we're not stuck spending hours a week weeding, however, I miss playing with plants and have adopted a ton of house plants and have basically run out of room on all my bookcases and counters. My husband groans when I bring another plant home!

Who knows how long we'll be here. We're expecting to move on in about 3 years. The boys are growing so fast and even though our townhome is 2,000 sq feet, it's just not big enough for two boys.

I hope you decide to post pictures of your home! I'd love to see what it looks like.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 12/28/2008 1:47:17 AM
Author: Mara

Date: 12/27/2008 9:02:19 PM
Author: MC

Date: 12/26/2008 2:55:58 PM
Author: Mara
ooooh i love reading about everyone''s holiday booty...we had a leaner ''giftie'' xmas this year as we are giving each other a huge gift ... a new house. it''s been a pretty painful process due to the state of the economy and how the banks are working, but it looks like FINALLY we will sign on Monday

Mara - Congrats on the new home! What is your home like? I remember before you had a townhome, right? My husband and I recently bought a townhome after living in houses for many years. It''s quite the transition.

Hi MC..! Yeah it will be a change for us. Yep...we have a TH which we still love...it''s served us well for 5 years, but it''s time to move on. The new place is a totally remodeled 60 year old ranch brick home that is in a cute town about 10 minutes from us. It''s got an excellent elementary very close by...as well as a good-sized yard for me and Portia to play in. We love that it is totally redone so that we really do not have to do anything...because one of the things we love about the TH still to this day is that it''s not much maintenance. Now we''ll have all the headaches that come with an actual home...hehee. My first order of business is to plant a Meyer Lemon tree. There is already a large sized orange tree in the back...citrus is very big here. How are you guys adjusting to the TH?

Thanks for the congrats Kimmy...!

Congrats Mara, how exciting. I am so happy for you guys. Post pics when you can. Our first house was a ranch, we loved it!!! Glad Miss P will have lots of room to run and play.

 

[that_someone_special]

My favorite gift which was not sparkly at all, and not expensive, was a cupcake book and a new cupcake carrier. I never would''ve thought of these. So random, and so me. Another way my new jewelry thinger. I was running out of room and this thing is perfect.. and cute.

Now for something REALLY SILLY... Bf''s family is just....... weird. They are always planning for impending doom and gave him veggie seeds. But wait, the fun doesn''t stop there. They gave him enough to grow 1 acre worth of food. He lives (and me in a month) in an area where people only have patches of grass. If impending doom were to happen, he''d have to tear up the street and go from there. My mom joked she was going to return the gifts she got him and get a hoe and rake

. Oh and the seeds are good until 2050. AAAANNDD this is the second time he has gotten seeds like this from them.

 

[katamari]

Date: 12/26/2008 1:15:16 AM
Author: FrekeChild
Ok, so I started earlier, but that was before I went to the FIL''s and my dad''s...


For me from FI:

1. Blue topaz eternity band

2. Fluxx

3. Zombie Fluxx

Ooh! We love Fluxx! Such a great game!

I got a lot of giftcards and books, which is what I wanted. I also got the new Guitar Hero for Wii (so much better than Rock Band), the Ticket to Ride 1910 expansion (best board game ever!), a pair of black flats, travel books to South America (where our DW will be), and a crockpot.

FI and I still haven''t exchanged gifts. We always exchange on NYE because we spend Christmas with our families and don''t see each other. So, I still have one gift to look forward to!

 

[partgypsy]

Sounds like it was a nice Christmas for people, I think Catmom may have gotten the biggest score but Coat is up there!
Mara congratulations on closing on a house. I don''t know why but I love brick ranches, maybe saw too much Frank Lloyd Wright architecture when I was growing up.

Munching on candy canes...

 

[oobiecoo]

Date: 12/25/2008 11:28:35 AM
Author: oobiecoo
We opened gifts with my in-laws yesterday and with each other last night. MIL got us a cappuccino maker that goes on your stove... VERY cute and DH and I actually saw a similar (or maybe the same!) one in a catalog recently and thought it looked like a good idea. She also got me 2 tops. I was pretty impressed that she got pretty close to my size and in a style I would wear. They aren''t something I would have purchased for myself (I''m picky when I''m spending my own money!) but I do think I''ll wear them.

One of his sisters gave us a loaf of homemade banana bread so we enjoyed some of that last night.

DH gave me the bezel studs I''ve posted pics of before and also a green enameled teakettle that I love

. I also got a few stocking suffers.

He was SO excited when I brought his gift into the living room... I thought he was going to cry. It was a new golf bag, accessories, and clubs. I went against what alot of people recommended and went ahead and ordered him the clubs. They were custom made to fit him and he couldn''t be happier with the size, swing, or the feel. I also got him a putting cup so he can practice in the living room

I wanted to update my list!

From DH:
Porcelain Tea Set
Martha Stewart green tea kettle
bezel studs
dvds

From in-laws:
Stovetop Cappuccino maker
shirts

From my parents:
laundry basket
pillows
sheets
Jcrew slippers
Jcrew flipflops
DKNY apple perfume giftset
knife set

From friends/sister-in-law:
VS giftcard
stained glass cross
lambie from Bath & Body
Starbucks giftcard

My birthday is Jan 3 so I also got some gifts for that:
my dad''s(grandfathers?) old loupe
2 new loupes that are still on their way
"Historic Virginia" book from early 1900s. It has the house that my dad lived in when he was younger.

One of the greatest gifts was finding out my connection to the royal family in England.

My parents also have an Indian neighbor who came over and gave me 3 saris, 2 petticoats, and a top and taught me how to tie them!

 

[geckodani]

Yay! My mom gave us an IKEA gift card so I can go buy dressers that aren''t leftover from COLLEGE! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[pixley]

I love seeing and hearing about everyone’s goodies. We are truly blessed.
Katebar – what a thoughtful family you have! My DD’s kindergarten class raised money and the children voted to buy a goat for a family one year and it was such a wonderful lesson for her. Truly a gift that keeps on giving.
Freke – mmmm, Thai cookbook – I love cookbooks even more than cooking!
Harriet, can’t wait to see what you have in store for those French cuts. For some reason, I keep thinking about drop earrings for you…
Lorelei, your new Kelly bag needs its own photo shoot! Yum!
And to all the ladies that got bling gifts and Manolos and Louboutins ~ You go girls!!! I love a man that can walk into a store and pick out an amazing shoe or an amazing sparkly. My hubby can do shoes, but he''s hit or miss on the sparklies.

Here’s a collage of my favourite goodies from this year (clockwise from top left): All-Clad universal steamer insert and 4-quart casserole pot; “Rich & Skinny” sleek jeans (alas these legs belong to Blake Lively); an Exped inflatable sleeping mat for camping and an All-Clad Chef’s pan (I’m hoping this will serve as a wok). I also get to pick out a pair of Uggs, which I know are fugly, but my haven’t thawed out since the snow blew in, and I’ve decided to give in the warm cushy goodness that is the Ugg boot. Just need help picking out a colour… Am waffling between black and chocolate.

 

[Mara]

Yeah MC it will be a fun project, but we will def miss the ease of the townhouse. I hear you on space though...we are also purging as much as possible to make our move easier, our TH is quite large so we accumulated a lot of 'stuff' we want to get rid of. The house is not larger than our townhouse, but it's still 3/2.5 thankfully so we will be able to move pretty much as-is with furniture etc.

We just signed our paperwork today...OMG let the freaking out begin. Two sets of property taxes to pay come March, YIKES. I will def post some pics at some point...

Thanks Kaleigh!!! It's fun to take the next step for us...I still remember what it was like buying our first place. Ahh the memories.