Definitely with you on the unwrapped gifts – gee, thanks for sending my husband/son/me 6 DVDS and books which you expect me to wrap for you. That’s definitely no problem and they certainly won’t just be put under the tree in the amazon box they arrived in.

While I agree with the ridiculous nick-nacks, the rest seem very selfish and self-centered. I mean if spending two weeks with your child is insufferable, then you should not have had kids. And if I am nice enough to get you a gift, it would be nice of you to be thankful for the thought behind it, not bitch because it was not exactly what you wanted. I feel sad for your family and friends….

I think the list was kind of funny. Quite a few things are things I wish I could say to people when they give me a gift. But I always do the polite thing and say, “thank you” no matter what I actually think of the gift, lol.

I’m with you on the knickknacks and other crap. I actually like getting specific books which I have asked for, but not the random ones people like to choose for me. And @CHARLY, Meredith works from home and is around her children all day long. Some might call your choice to leave yours in daycare all day “selfish” (not me, but I’m sure Andrea is more than willing to pick up the slack.;/) Seriously, what a nasty thing for your supposedly “G-dly” @$$ to write!

Some people can’t handle the truth lol

@Charly There IS no problem leaving your kids in quality day care. I would hope you could understand that there is also no problem with cherishing that 3 hour break you get from your kids’ preschool if they AREN’T in day care. I know I’ll be right there with her in a couple years!

That said, and yes, I realize this was tongue in cheek :-) I think preschool/day care teachers need and deserve a break of their own. I know parents of older kids can dread Christmas break too, but it’s as much for the teachers as the kids! Most of them work the whole break, but it’s still a bit of time off from the children, which I’m sure is good for everyone.

We gave out our wish list (they asked for it) but it’s all on Amazon, so shopping shouldn’t be an issue.

I actually like getting books and things that people like themselves, and therefor think I’ll like. Mind you, that doesn’t mean I’ll get around to reading it (or using it or whatever) but our family room is a library, so one more unread book is sort of part of our family culture… not a waste of space.

Yeah, the thing is, she *gets* the break the rest of the year, so is it really so hard to not have the break for a couple of weeks? Why not do fun and special things with the child during this time? Also, just because someone sends you unwrapped gifts, that doesn’t imply that you have to wrap them. Neurotic much? I think the spirit of this is too snarky and I always hate snark about gift giving. Get what you get and like it. I honestly wish there was less gift-giving among adults. It’s fun for kids, but it gets to the point of stupidity sometimes with grownups, having to figure out what to get people, often, that you really don’t know that well anymore and who already have tons of crap anyway and buy whatever they want themselves.

well im sorry but its pretty rude to be telling people what you want like that at least they were nice to think about you and your kids . and about the break from your kid i wish i could be a stay at home mom with my daughter i work all the time and dont have much time with her so i appreciate what time i get i understand kids have thier meltdowns so what so dose us adults get over it . i came across this and was thinking oh my this woman is rude . and its takes like what two to 5 minutes max to wrap a present if its not wrapped yet geesh how lazy

I am so glad that you can be at home with your child every minute of every day. That is not an option for many parents today, especially in this economy. When daycare closes. Many parents are stuck. Their work doesn’t close and they are not friendly to the fact that you have children that can not be left home alone.
Gift giving should be done from the heart. Christmas is really for the children. If you don’t know what to buy all those adults, don’t buy them anything. Donate the money to Marine Corps Christmas for tots fund. Take a name off of tree at your local church and buy a present for a needy child. Too many children go with out on Christmas and every day of the year. I was a school nurse for years and I can’t tell you how many children went without. Times are worse now.

Uhm wow…it must suck to have to shop for you. Bet you don’t like gift certifcates either, huh? I don’t know if you’ve noticed how self centered you are. You know what? Just be glad anyone gets you anything because you’re an adult, not a child…get over it. And as for the daycare thing…Really? Two weeks is too long to have your kid home everyday? Maybe you should have thought things through a bit more before you decided to have kids…just sayin’.

Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus. However man has added giving presents to one another in this holiday so I think we should be thankful for whatever we do get, anything is better than nothing at all. Even if it’s a knick knack or pair of gloves. Sometimes that’s all people can afford. It’s the thought that counts.

Hahaha, these lists bring out the mommy warriors.
Anyhoo–I’m with you on the unwrapped gifts. OMG, I think this year I’ll return them to sender. Last year, everything from my DH’s many family members came unwrapped. I get that they “want to spend the money on gifts and not gift wrap” but I’m not putting shipping packages under the tree, and we’re not spending Christmas morning slicing into shipping packages with boxcutters. Last year I somehow spent more time wrapping gifts to us than I spent wrapping gifts to them from us–I guess if someone else is paying for the paper and spending the time wrapping, you don’t have to think about gift-wrapping practicalities when shopping.

To all of those who say “at least you got a gift, it is better than nothing”, I totally disagree. I have been lobbying my family and friends to stop exchanging presents among adults for years to no avail. I don’t enjoy receiving or buying random things from people. I don’t enjoy thanking people for crap that I didn’t want and don’t like.

WHY is it better to get random stuff? Just to be affirmed that people love and care about you? There is nothing sadder or less affirming to me than receiving something that shows zero understanding of what I’d like. I don’t want my affection for others to be sized up by gifts bought, nor do I size up anyone’s affection for me by a lack of a “present”.

@ Alison, I agree it’s not better to get random stuff and I think adults should dispense with all the gift giving of random crap. BUT if someone DOES get you something, just deal with it. I understand these bloggers have to come up with things to write about, though…the result is this post. Enough people agree with enough of it, some disagree with other parts. So goes the life of a blogger.

haha wow these comments are ridiculous!
Yes, how selfish of someone to not want other people to waste their money on things the person doesn’t want. Backwards much?
I told people a long time ago to stop buying me silly little filler presents..I’d rather just have a five dollar bill in a card. Or no card either way.
I would have loved someone to buy me a vacuum! haha if they want to splurge on something like that so I don’t have to then awesome!
My christmas shopping is this..If I see something and it says your name all over it I get it. If not then you get nothing. Then I take it home and wrap it.
I think that’s how it should be done. I only buy one random gift for a gift swap game at a yearly family christmas party..seriously though buying a gift that you have no idea who it will end up with is WEIRD!
This year I did christmas cards with just a picture of my baby on them for all the family & friends I normally don’t find anything for (and the ones I do of course)