Christmas Gift Ideas

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The only problem I have is if I gave them. let's say, four silver quarters and they went out and spent them on a candy bar.
Yeah, kids are like that. They don't understand. You could give them the Mona Lisa and they'd use it as a dart board. I probably would too - I hate to say it, but I don't think it's an especially attractive or appealing painting. It's worth a lot of money, but for the life of me, I can't figure out why.
 
I have been thinking of the same gift for grandkids. The only problem I have is if I gave them. let's say, four silver quarters and they went out and spent them on a candy bar.
When my son was in High School he drove an Ice Cream truck.
He has a bag full of silver coins. He always carried his own coins to swap them out for the silver.
Some of the coins are pretty old.
Some parents were going to be seriously pissed off when they found the coin collection pilfered.
My BIL also drove the truck and he got a gold coin from some teenager.
I asked them if they felt bad about taking those coins and they both said if they didn't take them the next truck would.

There was a story about some idiot that robbed a minimart.
He had a shotgun that was worth over $50,000. That was before he had sawed it off to make it easier to carry.
No appreciation for quality stuff.
 
When my son was in High School he drove an Ice Cream truck.
He has a bag full of silver coins. He always carried his own coins to swap them out for the silver.
Some of the coins are pretty old.
Some parents were going to be seriously pissed off when they found the coin collection pilfered.
My BIL also drove the truck and he got a gold coin from some teenager.
I asked them if they felt bad about taking those coins and they both said if they didn't take them the next truck would.

There was a story about some idiot that robbed a minimart.
He had a shotgun that was worth over $50,000. That was before he had sawed it off to make it easier to carry.
No appreciation for quality stuff.
I think coins are a good thing to gift young people, and if you have the ability, more precious metals. I have some coins, but not many.

A friend of mine had a family cabin in the mountains. She and her brother owned the cabin after their parents were deceased and she especially stored lots of stuff at the cabin, in the basement. The cabin is on Federal Land and there is limited access to it. The road is not plowed in the winter, so they stayed in Arizona in the winter and summers at the cabin. Brother had quite a collection of silver dollars. Their mother had lots of sports memorabilia that had some value. Someone broke into the cabin and the silver dollars were stolen. They decided it was time to sell the sports memorabilia and not to store anything of value at the cabin. After they reported the break in, they heard that some young men were spending the silver dollars in town on food and beverages.
 
My Grandma had a can full of really old coins. Some were pre Civil War.
She asked me if I would like to see them. I said yea of course.
All of her old coins were gone and replaced with current stuff.
My cousin had taken all of them and she knew Grandma would not know the difference because of her poor eye sight.
I let the family know what happened but she denied it all, but we knew.
 
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My grand ma had saved coins for years. Shes the one that got me started. I have even bought her some in her later years for birthdays and such from her birth year, full set, and other significant dates. When she died her kids found them all in her freezer along with a bunch of freezer containers marked mixed greens, full of bills. They deposited them in her account to be divided when the estate was settled. They never had an idea what was in there.
 
I just thought of something. Last year I got a few of the young people an ounce of silver for Christmas. It's sparkly and is currently worth about $5 more than what I paid for them. They are gifts that appreciate rather than depreciate 😊
Good idea. I went to the US mint website a while ago and got a few coin sets (both silver and regular uncirculated) for the years the great neices were born. We have a small family so I thought that would be a nice keepsake gift that the parents can hold on to. One baby was born in 2022 and one in 2023, so I got a couple of sets. They got one of the sets this year and will get the other set next year.
 
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We are no bling people . Drove 30mi. to the nearest jewelry store , only rings they had were massive bling stuff . crap with a stone and massive amounts of diamond chips , stuff like the cardashians would have , don't you have anything simple ? no. We can make a custom ring . DO IT . plain emerald ring.Thing cost more than the bling ones
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I had a thought overnight. I don't drink alcohol, but a few times I have purchased really nice bottles of something for people who do. Since I am not a drinker, I am not really up on what is a good thing to buy, but I usually based it off of what I heard them say. Whiskey, wine, scotch, brandy, a six pack of beer. I always try to buy good stuff, not cheap stuff.

I've also purchased tamales for friends. I've also made pies for people. Food is always a good thing to give.
 
I always try to buy good stuff, not cheap stuff.
We will occasionally give a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift. Usually to one of my wife's co-workers. We don't drink wine, and know nothing about it. Typically, our wine choice for a gift comes down to what bottle has the coolest looking label. Probably not the most elegant purchase choice criteria. We found some bottles once that had kangaroos on them. Now that's cool! I didn't know you could make wine out of kangaroos.
 
This is kind of a gag gift toy I got for my wife, who has unbelievably weak hands. I am hoping it will help her, but truth be known, anything she can't open she brings to me, so maybe it is a gift for myself. I hope it works. Does anybody else have one?
We have this type:

Jar Opener

It will indeed open jars that we cannot using hands alone. So it's not a toy, it is actually useful. We don't use it routinely - only if we have a really tight lid that will not yield. We dig it out of it's grotto deep in our utensil drawer underneath all the other utensils (it's too big to keep it on top). After use it goes back under its rock and we don't think of using it again until we are really stuck once more.

The style you got looks like it uses a cam action, and may work better than our style. Ours, you do have to be able to squeeze the handles together. That's better than trying to open the lid without the tool, but still, you need some hand strength to squeeze the handles. If you don't squeeze them tight enough the device will slip around the lid, accomplishing nothing.
 
This is kind of a gag gift toy I got for my wife, who has unbelievably weak hands. I am hoping it will help her, but truth be known, anything she can't open she brings to me, so maybe it is a gift for myself. I hope it works. Does anybody else have one?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3646308925...nker&brand=Brand&_trksid=p4429486.c101224.m-1
Let me know how that works. Wifes hands are really weak. Nerve damage is a bitch

The Kangaroo wine, don't recall the name, was actually pretty good. We rarely drink wine any more, but when we did that was a decent bottle and not overly expensive
 
I had a thought overnight. I don't drink alcohol, but a few times I have purchased really nice bottles of something for people who do. Since I am not a drinker, I am not really up on what is a good thing to buy, but I usually based it off of what I heard them say. Whiskey, wine, scotch, brandy, a six pack of beer. I always try to buy good stuff, not cheap stuff.

I've also purchased tamales for friends. I've also made pies for people. Food is always a good thing to give.
You might want to go ahead and gift wrap that beer :rolleyes:.
I remember going down to 'the farm' to visit my mom for Christmas.
I opened the fridge and there was a 6-pack of my favorite beer!:oops:
Couldn't believe she had thought of me!:woo hoo:
I had a can of it and thought it tasted a little 'funny' so i asked her about it.
Her reply:
...."Oh, that is just some you left last Christmas:)"
 
We will have to wait until after Christmas, since it is wrapped and under the tree, but when we use it I will send a review.
Please do. I am kind of liking what I see about this style that you bought. The cam action, ratchet mechanism on the inner surface of the handle, teeth on the jaws that grab the lid. If it's made well, the metal is not so thin that it flexes, and the sliding part actually slides - this thing might be a winner. The one thing I'm questioning is how to top part of the jaws that does not slide attaches to the handle. Is it just a crimp holding that? That may not last long. If it's a crimp into a groove then that might be perfectly fine. But if the top does come off, maybe it could be soldered (or epoxied) in place.

This is a personal problem of mine. I over-analyze everything. Trying to determine from a picture if something is good or not. And then the one they send you doesn't look anything like the picture did. I've had that happen before.

opener.png
 
We will occasionally give a bottle of wine as a Christmas gift. Usually to one of my wife's co-workers. We don't drink wine, and know nothing about it. Typically, our wine choice for a gift comes down to what bottle has the coolest looking label. Probably not the most elegant purchase choice criteria. We found some bottles once that had kangaroos on them. Now that's cool! I didn't know you could make wine out of kangaroos.
Daughter has friends, a family, who are top of the line people. When the mom was coming to our Christmas eve party, I asked daughter what to get her? Wine, but not cheap stuff. She told me to get some good stuff, mom is very picky about wine. No Trader Joes three buck Chuck or any such thing. No worries.

When I first graduated from college, I took a wine tasting class and I remember that my favorite wine was Chateauneuf du Pape, French wine of the Pope. I thought that would be what I would get her. $60 for a bottle at Argonaut. Nah, excellent wine, but I ended up getting a bottle for half of that. Still not cheap, but good wine. When she opened the wine, she immediately turned it over and read the numbers to determine if it was a quality wine.

Chateauneuf du Pape is wine of the pope, made in France, and the young man told me told me that there was a time when there were two popes, not the recent situation, and they had wine made in France. I have looked and have no confirmation of that story. Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Trader Joe's cheap wine comes from various vineyards and all of the wines of a certain type do not come from the same vineyard.
 
This is a personal problem of mine. I over-analyze everything.

I'm just the opposite. I don't analyze anything, but when we do try it, I will look at it more critically, and see how it works. I promise I will let you know.
 
Here's my daily coffee mug:

Coffee Mug

These are great. They never leak, even after many years. They keep your coffee hot for hours. I have abandoned all previous coffee mugs for this one, whether I'm sitting at home of on the go. We got ours at Costco - a two or three pack of them - many years ago. I don't think Costco carries them anymore, at least I haven't seen them in our local store recently. I think these were probably the best impulse Costco purchase my wife ever made!
 
Remember when you gift your spoiled kid with a new car this Christmas, make sure it's the right color.

1st, wouldn't buy the kid a car, they can buy it. Wrong color, ok, I'll sell it. No car for you, the princess can take a bus or walk..
 
I had to show Shaggy the door. he refused to use the box.
I had a cat that was peeing outside of the box. She was sick. She had crystals in her urine that was irritating her bladder and could cause bladder stones. We got her urinary tract health food and she’s okay now.
Here is Brutus, buy a house, get a cat :p

View attachment 119996
When we bought the house we’re in now, it came with a shop cat. We take care of her every single day.
Remember when you gift your spoiled kid with a new car this Christmas, make sure it's the right color.

I hope this is a joke. 🤬
 
Don't even bother watching this video (unless you want to). The reason I am posting this is for the ad at the beginning. This ad is the reasonI bought the can opener for my wife. IMHO it is a pretty good demonstration. I hope it works as advertised.

Haertig, maybe this will help with your analysis.

 

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