<p>I’m the head dog walker here (and I love to walk anyway), so I would like a “rain suit” to keep me dry. I found one at a local golf store (I like the way it looks and it fits well) and have already told H about it.</p>
<p>I want two pair of SmartWool socks and an indoor grill with enough power to sear my tuna or make grill marks on my chicken breasts.</p>
<p>My Mom,sisters and I always send each other stocking stuffers because empty stocking are sad.</p>
<p>No idea and no real wants. Whatever comes my way, I’ll be surprised!
I probably should give them all some ideas.</p>
<p>I want ds2 to get into his EA college, and I want ds1 to get home from study abroad safely. If I get both those things for them, I don’t care about anything material for myself.</p>
<p>I got a reply from Santa who has ordered The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver’s book, for me for Christmas! Woohoo!</p>
<p>For me, Kindle paperwhite and some e-books to go on it. Family is excited that for once they actually have an idea what to get me. I am excited there is something I really really want.</p>
<p>My husband wants a new George Foreman Grill. We have the old one that the plates do not remove from and he wants one where the plates come off for washing. I am excited that for a change I actually have an idea what to get him. I am being tempted to get a cuisinart one with removable plates instead. It also has available waffle plates. The reviews on Amazon are mostly very good but with a few pretty bad ones thrown in.Anyone own it and have opinions? He also want socks.</p>
<p>I think we are doing 2 Christmases this year. Husband and I are traveling to visit our son in South Carolina for a 10 days. Excited to get to see him and spend some time with him and have not seen him the last 2 Christmases as he had to work (plus lives 1200 miles away). He is not scheduled to work Christmas day, but if he gets asked to the money is hard to say no to (12 hours double time plus 8 hours pay for working a holiday). Probably do some sort of Christmas dinner with him either the actual day or day before, then do Christmas with our daughter and SIL when we get back. Son has bought tickets to take us to see the Oklahoma Thunder play in Atlanta while we are there so that will be our Christmas present from him. Really looking forward to it.</p>
<p>We are kind of boring. Funny how you change as you get older. When i was younger I would have been very peeved to receive a household appliance as a Christmas or birthday gift. Now I have so few wants and needs that if there is some appliance I do want, it is a relief to have the perfect answer to the “what do you want for Christmas” question.</p>
<p>We already have the biggest gift. My husband is still here. He has been battling esophageal cancer since November last year and we were not sure he would make it. Has made several big milestones since he was diagnosed. Daughter’s college graduation, then her wedding (him being there was the biggest gift of all), and now we get another Thanksgiving and Christmas.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom–yes, that’s the greatest gift. Wishing you many more Thanksgivings and Christmases.</p>
<p>Holidays definitely have become more a matter of the gathering on the day, than the stuff. My family’s really trying to de-emphasize “things”: everyone’s feeeling the economy, and we don’t need stuff.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the one exception as far as cutting back is my brother and his wife. They’re not rich, but they go bargain-hunting all year and bring loads of stuff that mostly isn’t what anyone wants–gewgaw type things which the rest of us dread having to bring home. No one wants to hurt their feelings, but it’s such a waste for all involved. When the subject is broached, they say “but we do it for ourselves; it makes us happy” which begs the question of why they don’t seem to care about what others think or what makes us happy.</p>
<p>Figuring out where to give the stuff away turns into a chore, but I feel guilty throwing out perfectly good objects (which is not a big problem in the scheme of things, of course. just an odd ritual we go through every year.)</p>
<p>Can you donate the items? Salvation army, Habitat restore - something like that? It does kind of seem they are missing the point about gift giving.</p>
<p>I quite understand how you feel. We have too much in the way of “geegaws” already. If I had my life to do over I would avoid accumulating too much cr*p. My husband’s last checkup at MDA in Houston we visited his ex boss and wife. They have downsized to a beautiful condo in an area where they can walk by a manmade river to most everything they need in the way of shops and restaurants. Said it took them about three years to get rid of stuff accumulated over the years and they still have 2-3 storage units to go through. I would love to do the same. So much stuff I don’t know where we’d start. We told our neighbors if our house catches fire when we are gone, rescue the cat then wait an hour and call the fire brigade.</p>
<p>yes, we do look for places like that to give things away. Some is too junky, though. i tend to quietly chuck it.</p>
<p>The sight of people in NJ having to throw away piles of storm-wrecked belongings has really made me realize that the “stuff” i hold onto “just in case” really is extraneous. (Obviously people have serious losses; I am in no way belittling those–just that I realize if that were to happen to me, much I’d thought of as irreplaceable is really not so.) Time to do some serious triage.</p>
<p>zeeba Target has some stemless Reidel glasses that are relatively inexpensive but still good wine glasses.</p>
<p>What I would like is a long, warm bathrobe. No fleece, no synthetics. Pendleton has new “whisperweight,” washable wool bathrobes for both men and women. I might have to order one for Santa to leave for me.</p>
<p>We’re at the point in our lives where we buy whatever it is that we want, so the only things left to get us are things that we don’t want, lol.</p>
<p>Stuff… I do not even want to think about it. That’s why we are giving ourselves 2 RT plane tickets, a hiking permit, and a couple of nights in a hotel. 
The expat kiddo will get a money transfer, and the local kiddo and her hubby will get gift cards to nice restaurants.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom -
We have had the Cuisinart Griddler (GR-4) for 4-5 years and love it. Great for paninis, grilled cheese, grilled chicken breasts, etc. It’s wonderful that you can open it up and use it flat - makes a nice large griddle surface for making lots of pancakes or French toast at one time! Much better than using a skillet.</p>
<p>With the floating hinge, you can make even a very thick panini - I made a big thick Reuben the other night that was absolutely delicious.</p>
<p>What I really want is a ticket to go visit my D (only child) in London. I miss her and would love to meet her new friends. (sigh)</p>
<p>Momcat2 - thank you. That is the exact one I have been looking at. I like the floating hinge idea as well. I think I may just go for it. Amazon has it for a very good price plus another $10 off with some sort of coupon and I have Amazon Prime so no shipping. I don’t think H will care what brand I get (unlike his picky wife who gets a bit peeved when she ask for something specific and he buys her something he thinks is better).</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I bought one at Costco yesterday for $69.99 minus a $15 discount so paid just $55 for it. Amazon’s price is $79, so even with your coupon, it’s still more than Costco. If you have a Costco close enough, it’s worth the trip. </p>
<p>I was a little concerned with some of the negative reviews that mentioned uneven heating and problems with the nonstick coating. The positive reviews heavily outweighed the bad ones, but I can always return it to Costco if I experience any of those problems.</p>
<p>Swim cats, i think he would love that griddler. I have a George Foreman that i use for meats and a big electric griddle that i use for pancakes, bacon, breakfast etc. that thing looks like the best of both worlds and would be easier for me to store! Can you afford to get him the waffle plates too? Maybe he will make you breakfast!</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>swimcatsmom–best of luck with your DH. My Dad was just diagnosed with esophageal cancer and starts chemo tomorrow.</p>
<p>For Christmas, I want a medium weight bathrobe. I have a nice cotton one for summer and a thick fleece one but it’s too warm and the cotton one isn’t warm enough :D. I’m like LB where no one really remembers to get me anything for birthdays and Christmas so I usually end up buying my own. I just sit and watch everyone else open presents on Christmas…</p>