I just want us all to be together for Christmas.
And I would love to visit my parents and siblings in Germany.
Time with grown and flown kids. A meal together. Movie night on the couch, complete with buttered popcorn and naughty candy treats. And a med school acceptance for my DD.
@shellz, when will she find out?
I’d like all of the “kids” to remember to do something nice for other people in the family, including me.
The what doesn’t matter to me as much as the thought.
My H and I are going on vacation in January, and that’s a great present to each other.
Where you going, @1214mom?
@doschicos, we are going to Hawaii - Maui, Oahu (which is new to us, unless you count the airport), and Kauai.
One of those DNA ancestry tests.
And for my kids to communicate with each other more often.
Sleep. Rest. A Dyson hair dryer.
@Nrdsb4 most likely Feb for the one school she’s interviewed at thus far. She’s awaiting interviews at quite a few schools which have rolling admissions, so that could mean an earlier decision…maybe early 2017. She applied in June, and the interview Season can stretch from Fall until late Spring. Some kids don’t hear anything until Mar-April. The whole process is expensive, stressfully maddening and so much like the college admissions experience that I have ptsd flashbacks. And this is round two for her… Such a competitive process.
Oooh, one of those DNA tests would be good.
And I want a few of those “grow your own mushroom kits”. It’s the season.
And I want to see my nieces who live in Sweden. It’s been too long!
How about World Peace! Can’t be too bad.
Oh, of course–this more than anything: my D is finally cleared to try again after an awful, complication-filled miscarriage, so a Christmas announcement would be the best thing possible. Probably too early, but I can dream!
I would love a great photo of my kids that I could frame AND use as my screen saver. My current one is a couple of years old.
^Same!!
@maya54 – Thanks for the reminder about the Thermipen Instant Read Thermometer. I’ve wanted one for ages, after hearing the Cook’s Illustrated crew extoll its virtues for years. I’ve asked for one before but no one has bitten. Maybe it’s the $99 (?) price tag? I think people view it as a potential stocking stuffer but then blanch when they see the main-event pricing. My family does a $100 limit gift exchange; maybe I can surreptitiously end up with myself.
(Or I guess I could just buy it for myself apart from any gift exchange. But a $100 thermometer? Mon dieu, it seems so extravagant!)
Ooohh… scratch the Dyson hair dryer. I need a Thermopen. The regular meat thermometer takes forever to get a reading! I am the grill master in the house, so that is a practical gift. 
I want a full length mirror. I also think I finally want a Kindle - loaded with three books by Lois McMasters Bujold that aren’t available in print.
I love the idea of asking for a family vacation - I’d love to go to Yellowstone. Unfortunately the younger kid is about to join the Navy and I suspect won’t have time this summer.
I borrowed* Vegan, Vegetarian, Omnivore* from the library by Anna Thomas (she wrote the Vegi Epi books) from the library and I thought it had some really nice recipes. So I may ask for that.
@lje62 not all gifts have to cost money. DH asks our nephew to put together a CD of music as others have suggested on this thread. It’s a good way for him to discover new bands - he doesn’t always like all of them, but he always finds a few gems. The year my son was in Jordan he put together a CD of music in Arabic - interestingly there was a lot of rap and pop. Stuff we’d never hear otherwise.
I asked for an instant thermometer last year. Naturally DH couldn’t bring himself to buy the one recommended by Cooks Illustrated, but the one he got cost half as much and is still working fine a year later.
The Termapen is pricy. But I’ve come to learn that having fewer but very high quality things is a much better way to go.
My gift to myself every year is going with H and my two grown kids to dinner and a Broadway show during the holiday season. We’ve been doing it since they were fairly young – as they have grown and we spend less time together as a family I look forward to it more and more each year.
The best gift I got from my kids is a fleece throw with their pictures on them.
I asked D2 and her H to make a wooden sign for my Wine room. I want my old wedding band and engagement ring enlarged from H so I can wear it on my right hand. From D1 and her H I want help to measure and put up new blinds in the house.
Gifts of time and service! 