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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Nov 3, 2014 14:16:41 GMT
For our first married Christmas in our new house, I planned what I thought was a wonderful Christmas experience for my darling husband. I spent ridiculous amounts of time and money searching out perfect ornaments for a safari themed tree. I bought a pre-lit tree of the perfect size and shape for our new living room and managed to hide it (hiding a huge tree box ain't easy!). I burned a CD of perfect background music. Prepared some really great hors d'ouevres and chilled some wine. I was so excited to surprise him with it all when he got home from work. Well, he arrived home to me with a screwdriver in my hand trying to un-do a jam in the paper shredder. I got teary and he was incredulous that I was crying over the paper shredder. Which was totally NOT about the paper shredder but somehow had "ruined" the perfect picture of the evening I already had in my mind. Finally I told him the plans for THE "experience" ... which by that time were NEVER going to live up to that picture in my head. So we started erecting the tree and decorating it. And he glances at me sideways and asks, "Wait. This doesn't count as one of my presents, does it? Because I don't want this to count. I still want presents." To which I get teary again because he's ruined it all, right? Haha. It's a wonder we made it through that first year. So it's a standard joke with us now to ask, "Is this experience it? ... or do I still get a present?" for any gift-giving occasion.  Do you have a Christmas experience story to share? Make me feel better that I'm not the only one who gets all wrapped up in this stuff! |
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grinningcat
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,663
Jun 26, 2014 13:06:35 GMT
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Post by grinningcat on Nov 3, 2014 14:22:31 GMT
The last Christmas in my sister's house I spent Christmas Eve. Before the big gift giving of the morning, they have a silly game where everyone gets a number and chooses a gift. There's stealing and some really good gifts (that year it was an iPad Mini) and some really shitty gifts (one of those cheapy poker sets for example). I was going to end up with the poker set and my niece who had the iPad Mini in her hand because she was playing for her and her fiance and she had picked the iPad for him, leaned over and said "(fiance) won last year. So he shouldn't win again. Here. He can have the poker game." And handed me the Mini. It was very sweet and thought it was a joke. Tried to insist that he take it, but she said no. It was pretty cool.
I have a bad Christmas eve story from another year, but I don't want to share it publically. At least not why, but my uncle calmed me down and played Mario Kart with me until I was able to return to the party after getting really upset about the incident.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Nov 3, 2014 14:24:51 GMT
That was very sweet. She's a thoughtful person.
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luvnlifelady
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,428 
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Post by luvnlifelady on Nov 3, 2014 14:41:16 GMT
I know what you mean about "the experience." Last year was so stressful around Christmas that our tree never got decorated. Also, when I went to fill stockings for my teens, I realized (on Christmas Eve) that I barely had anything for then 13 yo DS. I ended up skipping stockings that year. I hope to make it up to them this year but at least they aren't at the age where they still "believe." That puts way more pressure on the presentation.
So far, I have some good ideas in my head. We'll see what really happens.
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Post by tuva42 on Nov 3, 2014 14:48:11 GMT
It seems to me that no matter how hard I work on making Christmas "an experience" it's always the little things that happen with no planning that we remember best.
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Post by leannec on Nov 3, 2014 14:56:53 GMT
Well, quite a few years ago I got the "great idea" that "elves" should deliver a special gift to the dd's at the front door on Christmas Eve ... usually new pj's and a DVD or video game ... It used to be easy to distract them and put something out there, ring the bell, and say "Hey! Look what is here for you!" Now that they are older ... 15 year old is humouring the 11 year old who still wants to believe ... it has become increasingly difficult to do this because they hang around us and are more observant  I'm thinking that this will be the last year for this "experience" because Molly really should figure out the truth by age 12 right?  That will take some pressure off of me  |
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Post by shanni on Nov 3, 2014 15:12:51 GMT
The first Christmas after DH and I were married, I insisted on getting a live tree. I never had a live tree growing up, and really wanted one. We were poor newlyweds though, so even $20 on a puny little tree was a splurge. DH knew it was important to me though, so he humored me and we went to a lot a bought a tree. As soon as we got that tree in our tiny apartment, I knew I was in trouble. I was newly pregnant and sick as a dog. The strong pine scent made it soooo much worse. But I couldn't swallow my pride and tell my husband how sick it was making me! Luckily we didn't get it too far before Christmas, so I only had to endure it for 2 weeks. I didn't tell him about it until several years after, and we have never had a live tree since. Just the thought of it now makes me queasy! |
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MorningPerson
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,579
Location: Central Pennsylvania
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Post by MorningPerson on Nov 3, 2014 15:17:32 GMT
Well, quite a few years ago I got the "great idea" that "elves" should deliver a special gift to the dd's at the front door on Christmas Eve ... usually new pj's and a DVD or video game ... It used to be easy to distract them and put something out there, ring the bell, and say "Hey! Look what is here for you!" Now that they are older ... 15 year old is humouring the 11 year old who still wants to believe ... it has become increasingly difficult to do this because they hang around us and are more observant I'm thinking that this will be the last year for this "experience" because Molly really should figure out the truth by age 12 right? That will take some pressure off of me We did the exact same thing with our kids, and they had so much fun anticipating when the door bell would ring. Even after they stopped "believing" we continued the tradition and they would do everything in their power to keep an eye on their Dad and I to see how we were able to pull it off. They figured out that one of us would ring the doorbell on the front porch and come in another door, but they couldn't ever catch us. My DH came up with a brilliant idea one year. He snuck the presents out by the front door as usual, and then came inside without ringing the doorbell. I was with the kids and they saw their Dad head down the hall toward the bathroom, so they knew he wasn't going to be outside ringing the doorbell. I then kept them busy while DH, who had previously unscrewed the cover of the doorbell ringer in the hallway, simply made the bell ring directly from the ringer unit on the wall. The looks on their faces were priceless when they saw their Dad come out of the bathroom asking who rang the doorbell.  Love those memories.... |
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Post by finally~a~mama on Nov 3, 2014 15:27:15 GMT
You mean like last year when I had the brilliant idea that we would make cupcakes to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day, but didn't have enough eggs and sent my poor husband to 4 different stores in search of the elusive Christmas eggs? LOL He was eventually able to find them and DD & I enjoyed making cupcakes, but nearly a year later I realize this might have been a teeny bit crazy of me. |
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Post by countrypeagirl on Nov 3, 2014 15:40:37 GMT
My first year with my ex DH I was really young (19) really poor and very pregnant with my oldest dd. She was due on Christmas Day and I was determined to make it a picture perfect Christmas. I didn't have money for ornaments, so I decided to
Hand make ornaments. I made lace angels.. Lots and lots of lace angels. Complete with doll hair and floral wreaths in their hair. I loved them.. I thought they were beautiful (very Victorian). It took me days to complete them. I cherished them.. Anyway after a few years I retired them. But held on to them. When my ex sister in law was young and in the same position as I was on her first Christmas I gave them to her. I told her the whole story about being young and poor, etc. I thought she would love them like I did. But I was very wrong. She used them one Christmas and then threw them away. I was so upset when I found out she had thrown them away. She could have given them back.. Now 17 years later I realize I was just a tiny bit crazy over that angel tree. Lol
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Post by crazy4scraps on Nov 3, 2014 15:43:34 GMT
For me, it's all the little moments that make the "experience" magical and that's what I try to create for my DD. The things I remember from my childhood Christmases are: playing Alvin and the Chipmunks over and over and over on our ratty old console record player, making hundreds and hundreds of cookies with my mom, siblings and special aunts, taking down my handmade stocking on Christmas morning and always finding an orange jammed down in the toe, getting an Advent calendar with chocolates inside the doors from my namesake aunt, putting out our shoes on the hearth on St. Nicholas' Eve and finding candy in them the next morning. Things I do now that I hope will be happy memories for DD: Wrap up all of her Christmas books and let her unwrap one each night before Christmas, tell her about all of her special ornaments and where they came from, get her an Advent calendar with chocolates in it (I mail one to each of her cousins as well), putting out her shoe for St. Nicholas and finding new Christmas pjs and slippers with candy inside the next morning in its place, finding all of the little surprises and treats our house elves bring when she's good (which is almost all the time, thankfully), setting up my mom's Nativity scene and telling her the story of the first Christmas and setting up the Christmas Village she got from one of her adopted grammas last year, taking her to see Santa Claus, and eventually helping to make hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cookies with her uncle and me--maybe while listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks, LOL. This year I hope we can do the Polar Express thing with a golden ticket under her pillow, to go drive around at night in her pjs looking at Christmas lights. I think she would love that. |
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Post by mikklynn on Nov 3, 2014 16:08:56 GMT
Oh yes, I remember the years of thinking I had to have the perfect Martha Stewart Christmas. It's a wonder DH didn't murder me in my sleep. Fortunately, I have learned that good enough is just that - good enough. I make a few kinds of cookies, not twelve. I don't put up all the decorations if I don't feel like it. In fact, I have donated more than half of what I used to have.
Last year I bought nearly every gift online. God bless Amazon.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,539
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Post by iowgirl on Nov 3, 2014 16:34:30 GMT
Amen!
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Nov 3, 2014 19:49:34 GMT
So many great stories and thoughts shared!
But this made me laugh:
So funny.
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scrappyesq
Pearl Clutcher
You have always been a part of the heist. You're only mad now because you don't like your cut.
Posts: 4,069
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Post by scrappyesq on Nov 3, 2014 20:31:04 GMT
Every year I try and do something to make it warm and fuzzy, every year DH does something where we have a huge falling out on Christmas Eve and I'm barely speaking to him (or he to me) Christmas morning. Three years ago I got stuck food shopping in New Jersey and ended up coming home 2 hours later then I planned and he got so mad at me. Two years ago we were supposed to cuddle up and watch the Sound of Music together. I guess that he did not get the memo because right as they were singing "So Long, Farewell" he brought out the vacum and started cleaning the apartment. Last year he was supposed to get wrapping paper but he forgot, even though he had been out running last minute errands. I got up in a huff and ran out of the house to get to any store that was still open. It was 4:30. I got to a store about 20 minutes from us, only to realize that I left my wallet home. I had to wait in the cramped store (and then outside in the freezing cold because I'm claustrophobic) until he came to the store with my wallet.
I'm actually cracking up as I write this. I wonder what kind of trouble is coming this year.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Nov 3, 2014 20:44:47 GMT
Last year my 'experience' was coming home from a 45 degree (C) Oceanian island to an ice storm that took out the power for 6 days and indoor temperatures hovering around zero. Nothing teaches you what's important like having everything else suck.
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Post by miss_lizzie on Nov 3, 2014 20:49:57 GMT
Am I the only one who would like to see the safari-themed tree? I bet it's stunning!
And I'd love to see the victorian angels too!
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Post by penny on Nov 3, 2014 21:01:59 GMT
I planned a big Christmas dinner at my house two years ago - I really wanted it to be special and to treat my parents who had really been there for me that year... On Christmas Eve I woke up not feeling well, then I passed out, and right before my doctor's office closed for the holidays I was diagnosed with the bad flu strain that was going around that year... At 4pm on Christmas Eve I had to call my parents and tell everyone I was quarantined... I was feeling so horrid I slept all through the 25th and most of the 26th, but I was so disappointed that all the decorations, games, and foods I had spend a month planning and getting ready didn't get enjoyed... It's a sort of funny story after the fact, but it made me quite grumpy for a month or so... Everyone talking about their wonderful Christmas and posting great photos on fb... I was completely bah humbug for a good couple weeks...lol
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Post by alissa103 on Nov 3, 2014 21:06:21 GMT
Christmas of 2012 it was DS's first Christmas. We went "home" (we lived about 10 hours away from our parents at the time). Had a nice time seeing his side of the family for two days. Then it was time for my side of the family and here comes a freakin BLIZZARD. So we were afraid to get stuck there for a week or more as DH had to be home for work. So we left immediately after Christmas lunch and drove past where the storm was supposed to hit to spend the night. It sucked to leave after seeing my side of the family, some who were meeting baby DS for the first time, for just a few hours. Then it was tense driving for a few hours as we made our way out of the start of the storm. I cried. It sucked.
Anyway, we ended up spending the night in Nashville (where we now live - yay!) and had the whole next day and day after to ourselves there. I have to say, it was lovely. We had a great time hitting the outlet mall and catching some great deals and enjoyed going to the Opry hotel to see the lights (which baby DS was totally mesmerized). The time spent with just our little family was nice and it turned a "ruined" Christmas into a good memory!
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Post by alissa103 on Nov 3, 2014 21:09:38 GMT
Oh yeah, I also had the stomach flu a few years ago at Thanksgiving and my family ended up going to Steak n' Shake for Thanksgiving dinner. I was so sick I didn't care what they did, but I guess no one wanted to prep all the food I bought so they didn't. DH and I later had a huge feast after everyone left and I was better. I didn't want all the food to go to waste!
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Post by rainangel on Nov 3, 2014 21:10:01 GMT
I used to have a rommate who grew up in a Jehova's Witness-family. She had broken it off with the church by the time she was my roommate, but she had never celebrated Christmas. So I ask her what she wished for for Christmas, and she gave me this blank stare. 'You are getting me a Christmaspresent?'And I said of course I was! We had been rommates and good friends since the beginning of the year, and to me it was one of the most natural things in the world to want to buy her a Christmaspresent. She got all teary-eyed and then she got real serious, and said to me in a really hushed and serious voice 'Uhm... could you wrap it with bows and ribbons and really fancy paper...? I have NEVER gotten a Christmaspresent or a Birthdaypresent before, so I would love for it to sort of look like they do on TV'She was 21 years old and all she really wanted was something that looked like a present from a movie. It almost made ME cry! I made sure that present was SHINY and FRILLY If I could, I would have made the thing play music and do a little dance. Can't even remember what was inside of the present haha. It is really strange to think that I actually gave her her first Christmasexperience with that little gift. |
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Post by beachbum on Nov 3, 2014 21:10:42 GMT
One year I was pregnant with D [HASH]1 and the hormone fairy had jumped all over me with both feet. We were having company and I wanted to get the tree up and decorated before they came and there was only 1 afternoon that fit my work schedule to get the tree. DH didn't want to go then, thought I was silly for wanting the tree up before company came, and kind of laughed it off. Not the best idea with a hormone crazed pregnant woman. I turned, balled up my fist, and hit the wall. Super woman put her entire hand through the sheet rock.
We got the tree, hung a picture over the hole, and all was well. The next year DH asked the day after Halloween when I wanted to get the tree!!!
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Post by arizonastamplover on Nov 3, 2014 21:14:11 GMT
The running joke is what will I do to hurt myself next. Spent Christmas in the emergency room about 6 years ago because of a splinter in my foot (yes, a splinter, but it was huge and wouldn't come out!!). My then boyfriend (and now DH) and I had a call time set up (we were in different countries). I'm on my way to the emergency room with the gifts from him in the car, and I'm opening them right as we pull up to the ER. I was bound and determined that we would open our gifts together on the phone, even if I had to do it while sitting in the ER. I will never forget that Christmas, which was technically our first of many Christmas' together.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Nov 3, 2014 21:17:30 GMT
My exDH was a really grouch. Every year I would have to hound him to help me go get the Christmas tree. Well one year, he stalled and stalled and stalled until it was a week before Christmas. I told him I wasn't going to get the tree, he would have to do it himself. He decided to save a few bucks (he was also cheap) and instead of going to a tree farm, just go out to his friend's property and cut down a pine tree. Well he got home with this big dirty tree (it didn't get shaken like they do at the tree farm or tied up) and he completely misjudged the size of the tree. It was huge. So he bought this big, muddy tree into my living room. He had a hard time getting it through the door. It got all the walls and the ceiling dirty on the way in it was so big. He proceeds to try to put it in the tree stand and realizes it's too big. Dumbass goes out to the garage, gets his chainsaw, and proceeds to chainsaw this tree in the middle of my living room. Then he tries to put it in the tree stand. It keeps falling over as it is lopsided. He gets so angry at this point, he picks up the whole tree with the tree stand still attached and throws it out the front door. It sat in the snow for about four days. Finally, a couple of days before Christmas, he goes out and gets the tree off the front lawn. Of course, he makes another wet mess while bringing it back in. He gets the tree to stand up and he starts decorating it. At this point, I am so angry at him, I am refusing to help at all. We wake up on Christmas morning and the tree has completely fallen down on our coffee table, breaking a ton of ornaments. He gets so angry at this, he takes everything off the tree on Christmas day and then throws the tree back out the front door. I took pictures and scrapbooked everything. Him with the chainsaw in the living room, the tree falling down, the tree with tree stand attached on the front lawn. He was pissed. After that, he never again gave me a hard time about going to get the tree. We always went to a tree farm after that and he always let me pick the perfect tree.
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Post by anxiousmom on Nov 3, 2014 22:08:10 GMT
One year I had my tree fall over no less than four times. No matter what I did, that stupid tree fell over time and time again. Drove me absolutely insane.
I finally took it outside to the curb. I set up those little fakey three tree on a side table (the rustic looking ones that are about 3-4 feet tall) put some fake snow under it and called it a day. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. LOL
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Post by myboysnme on Nov 3, 2014 22:39:38 GMT
One year we went out of state to visit my mom before Christmas, and were driving home on Christmas Eve. About half way home our van broke down. We managed to get it to chug along to the exit, and there was a dealer to drop it off and leave it for repair. We went across the street to a rental car place that was closing and all they had left was a standard shift - which I had not driven for years, but we took it.
I had told our two little boys that if we had to stay in a hotel that Santa would still come to our house because he knew we were supposed to be home. However, we actually made it home just in time for Children's service at church on Christmas Eve. Everything came off just as planned.
I don't think anyone realized just how close we came to not even being home for Christmas - but finding an exit with a dealership and an open rental car place was a Christmas miracle.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Nov 3, 2014 23:06:06 GMT
Thank you all for the wonderful stories. Many of them are really touching.
Two years ago, my son who's in the Navy brought a buddy from A-school home for the Christmas holidays. He had had a really rough childhood and then while the guy was in basic training, his mother stole his identity, his money, and ruined his credit. With that estrangement, he had nowhere to go for the holidays. So we hurriedly added a personalized stocking for him to the mantel and wrapped a bunch of presents for him under the tree. He was so delighted with the stocking having never had one.
But what really touched my heart was all the Christmas experiences he'd never had. Seeing those two big old Navy guys hunched over the table decorating cookies was precious. We sang carols. We read The Night Before Christmas aloud. We made some handmade ornaments. We set a very fancy table with all the china, crystal, and sterling.
We all agreed afterwards that his enjoyment of it all served to make us truly appreciate all that we took for granted. He and my son were assigned to different parts of the country after A-school, but the guy still keeps in touch with us all and calls us his South Carolina family. We keep begging him to come back again for Christmas with us.
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Post by cherrie on Nov 3, 2014 23:06:40 GMT
The ex had gotten a kitten that I didn't want a few months before Christmas. He then moved out to go live with his girlfriend and leaves the kitten who would climb the tree, knocking it over. I cried and cried that Christmas, that was my last miserable one but what an experience!!
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peabay
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,975
Jun 25, 2014 19:50:41 GMT
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Post by peabay on Nov 3, 2014 23:52:23 GMT
My mom is a world traveler and has "collected" friends all over the world. One of her friends from India has a daughter now living in the US, in NYC. She told my mom she'd love to have a real "American" Christmas last year - just how she pictured it from the movies. My mom said she was welcome to join us, but she couldn't promise a "perfect" Christmas.
Well, we got her a stocking with her name on it and hung it on the mantle - and that was more than enough. She couldn't believe her eyes when she saw her stocking up there, filled, with everyone else's.
And then it started snowing and she was just so happy: "It's a White Christmas! It's a White Christmas!" and she Instagrammed all these pictures of her in the snow with her stocking and all of her Indian friends kept saying: "It's like the movies!!!"
It was a very sweet Christmas to see it through her eyes.
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Post by anonrefugee on Nov 4, 2014 0:02:20 GMT
Thank you for sharing stories of sharing "first" Christmas with others. I was bugged by a work problem and already hormonal. Your stories took that away for a minute, even if they started the tears flowing.
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Love those memories....
