Friday OT - A Gift and a Curse

[Angie]

What are the most thoughtful gifts you have given (for the holidays or otherwise)? How did they go?

I like handmade stuff that took a lot of thought. A HS friend made his poetry (masculine stuff) into books for me for my birthday when I turned 16, and I always loved that, so I have tried to do the same at times.

A few years ago, My dad and his brother sold their family farm (not quite a century farm, but close). I know it tore my dad up, so for that Christmas, I found a website that shows embroidered photos of Iowa farms over the decades, so I took one from the year he married my mom, traced it onto cloth, and then embroidered it to exactly represent their lands and buildings. (It was my first foray back into sewing after decades, so it was not by any means perfect.). He isn’t a sentimental guy, so his reaction wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but I hope it brings him joy.

This past fall, my best friend and I went to Omaha for a girls’ trip. We had a ton of fun doing things, but one of the best and most special parts was just finding a Roku channel that played nothing but old 90s episodes of Supermarket Sweep, and sitting on the couch watching it while coloring in adult coloring books while chatting. I tried looking for a Supermarket Sweep coloring book but couldn’t find any, so I downloaded screen grabs from the series (and took a few of my own of particular things), loaded them into Procreate, traced them to get the coloring book pages, put them into coloring book pages in Microsoft Illustrator, printed that to PDF, and then got Alpha Copies here in town to make them into coloring books. They did a great job, so I hope she likes it.

What are yours? I love hearing about special gifts and reactions.

 

[Angie]

My favorite part of old Supermarket Sweep was when people would wing those five foot long salamis into their cart, so I had to find a screen grab of that to trace.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

 

[RLD4ISU]

What are the most thoughtful gifts you have given (for the holidays or otherwise)? How did they go?

* Food. I can never think of anything to get my parents and aunt for Christmas. They don't need anything & if they do, they go out and buy it. Since we have a food saver, I will start making bigger meals in the late fall and vacuum seal the leftovers in one person servings. Same if Hubby smokes a brisket or does pulled pork. They love it. They don't have to cook meals and it's easy just to warm up.

* Calendar. A couple of years ago - since I have a Mom with dementia and a Dad that is forgetful - I created a calendar on Shutterfly full of family pictures, birthdays, anniversaries and random national holidays (like National Ice Cream Day, National Short Person Day, etc). My parents loved it so much they insisted on extras to give to my sister, niece and aunt. I didn't make one for 2022 and they still kept the calendars up and would change each month. This year I made new ones for 2023.

* Wifi Digital Picture Frame. My sister and I bought a big digital picture frame for my Mom and Dad. Best part is we have an app that can add more pictures - instead of having to use a usb card. Mom spends a lot of time watching the pictures scroll through.

 

[GMackey32]

My wife likes to think I don't listen to her but I'll pick up on things when she says "oh I want that _____" or "it'd be nice to have ______" so typically that's the route I go. It always surprises her when she opens them.

 

[Angie]

* Food. I can never think of anything to get my parents and aunt for Christmas. They don't need anything & if they do, they go out and buy it. Since we have a food saver, I will start making bigger meals in the late fall and vacuum seal the leftovers in one person servings. Same if Hubby smokes a brisket or does pulled pork. They love it. They don't have to cook meals and it's easy just to warm up.

* Calendar. A couple of years ago - since I have a Mom with dementia and a Dad that is forgetful - I created a calendar on Shutterfly full of family pictures, birthdays, anniversaries and random national holidays (like National Ice Cream Day, National Short Person Day, etc). My parents loved it so much they insisted on extras to give to my sister, niece and aunt. I didn't make one for 2022 and they still kept the calendars up and would change each month. This year I made new ones for 2023.

My gosh, the good idea is great! I don’t cook, so if I didn’t live with someone who did, this is a gift that would be invaluable. I can only imagine that increases with age and lessened mobility!

I make Shutterfly calendars for our family each year, too! I started doing it when we had our first child, and it has been our annual gift to grandparents each year. They are great momentos!

 

[Isualum13]

Presents are the best way to show someone how much you care. It is like this tangible thing that you can point to and say "Hey man, I love you this many dollars-worth."

 

[BCClone]

Adult coloring books? Didn’t know they had pron books to color.

Also, the dude who made you the poetry book, did you let him down easy at least or because if you weren’t dating, he wanted to.

 

[nfrine]

Adult coloring books? Didn’t know they had pron books to color.

Where do you get flesh-colored crayons at?

 

[JM4CY]

My wife likes to think I don't listen to her but I'll pick up on things when she says "oh I want that _____" or "it'd be nice to have ______" so typically that's the route I go. It always surprises her when she opens them.

It’s ass holes like you that make me deal with post-holiday, marital rage.

 

[GMackey32]

It’s ass holes like you that make me deal with post-holiday, marital rage.

My bad!

 

[carvers4math]

I have been making albums for my great nieces and nephews with photos and information about my parents and great grandparents as well as family tree info. It’s what they get for their seventh birthday. The oldest great nephew is fascinated now about WW II after seeing pictures of his great grandpa in the jungle.

 

[MJ29]

@Angie inspired me to make a shutterfly photo calendar of our kiddo for my parents and in-laws. Thanks!

 

[RLD4ISU]

I have been making albums for my great nieces and nephews with photos and information about my parents and great grandparents as well as family tree info. It’s what they get for their seventh birthday. The oldest great nephew is fascinated now about WW II after seeing pictures of his great grandpa in the jungle.

THAT is an awesome gift!!!

 

[BuffettClone]

My now wife traveled quite a bit for work when we first started dating and she was worried I would tire of that and find somebody else who was around more and more available. I got her a tiny little message in a bottle to remind her I would always be there with her even if not physically. To my knowledge she still carries that in her purse to this day over a decade later.

 

[madguy30]

Two pictures. One of the creek that I grew up playing in or around, and one of a single golden young maple tree in the middle of a late fall forest/timber.

I'm a bit of a lone wolf who would rather be outdoors than around humans and those dug pretty deep.

 

[Angie]

Adult coloring books? Didn’t know they had pron books to color.

Also, the dude who made you the poetry book, did you let him down easy at least or because if you weren’t dating, he wanted to.

Ha! Never really dated, definitely a best friend. He had/has a complex personality that I don’t think would have been a good match to mine - my bull**** tolerance meter is pretty low. I am sure he also only thought of me as a friend!!

Where do you get flesh-colored crayons at?

Crayons has a whole “flesh tones” box of crayons! (Insert wiggly eyebrows)

@Angie inspired me to make a shutterfly photo calendar of our kiddo for my parents and in-laws. Thanks!

Oh gosh, they will love it! I have a super complex photo storage system that is by child, by year, broken down into months. I use photos from January of the previous year in this January calendar, etc., that makes it super easy!

 

[MeanDean]

When going through stuff from my dad about 20 years ago I found about 16 rolls of developed B&W negatives he'd taken early in the marriage and kids phase of their life. No photos, just the negs. I picked out a couple dozen that looked interesting (near as I could tell from the negatives) and made prints for all the siblings. Not sure how much they liked them but I thought it was a good idea at the time. It was actually quite pricey.

Of course, like all couples with larger families there are dozens and dozens of pics of the older kids and gradually fewer and fewer of the younger ones. (This was obviously before everybody had digital/phone cams and can click a million times and just delete them if they didn't like them) And in those, the older ones are also in them.

Now I'd like to get a hold of one of those digitalizing devices and digitize them all. Put them on thumb drives and send those. Maybe someday....

 

[Joe4Cy]

Yeah, great topic!

My younger brothers are both drummers. When Return of the King was released in theaters, all three of us tripped out over the trolls playing a single drum beat for the armies of Mordor.

Immediately, I knew what I'd get the bros for Christmas. I stalked Target, Amazon, everywhere. It seemed that although every other character got an action figure, "Troll Beat-Keeper" was not one of them.

So..., I bought two of the standard troll action figures. They stand about 12" tall. For each one, I made a "drum" that replicated as closely as possible, along with mallets that fit in the hands of the action figure.

Almost 20 years later, my brothers still proudly display their "limited-edition, collector's-item" Armies of Mordor Marching Drum Troll!

 

[Angie]

Yeah, great topic!

My younger brothers are both drummers. When Return of the King was released in theaters, all three of us tripped out over the trolls playing a single drum beat for the armies of Mordor.

Immediately, I knew what I'd get the bros for Christmas. I stalked Target, Amazon, everywhere. It seemed that although every other character got an action figure, "Troll Beat-Keeper" was not one of them.

So..., I bought two of the standard troll action figures. They stand about 12" tall. For each one, I made a "drum" that replicated as closely as possible, along with mallets that fit in the hands of the action figure.

Almost 20 years later, my brothers still proudly display their "limited-edition, collector's-item" Armies of Mordor Marching Drum Troll!

That is such a totally unique, thoughtful gift!