The loot pile!

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Schadenfreude, my friend. Schadenfreude.

(He probably should swap it for PB Wii. *FLEE.*)

[Cmdr_King]

All things considered, he'll probably swap it up for some of those Wii Point cards you can buy.

Around $240 in cash.
$25 gift card for Meijers  (kinda like Wal-Mart but slightly less evil)
TIE Fighter model kit
8 gig flash drive
12 Monkey's/The Jackle/something else dvd trio

Also worth noting I got my cousin (who lives here) the DMC Anniversary Collection.  Sooo I might play DMC3 soon.

[OblivionKnight]

Tales of Symphonia 2 (because it's the only noteworthy Wii RPG I don't have, I assume. I'll probably be exchanging this, just have no clue what for)

Persona 4.  NOW.

[Ultradude]

Money. Plenty of it.
Stuffed Domo-kun (I have twisted friends)
Clothes
Chewing gum
Beef jerkey

More to come over the next couple days. Probably consisting largely of money, with which I will go buy video games. Tempted on ToS2, probably wait till it drops more though. Probably getting Persona 4 though.

[Lady Door]

Scarf
Chocolate bars
Kana & Kanji workbook
Books 3 & 4 of the Dragon Jousters series (the Mercedes Lackey one)

Also some family gifts:
Apples to Apples
Trivial Pursuit 25th Anniversary Edition
Box of chocolates


I gave:
A cactus-in-a-bottle cell phone charm
A laser mouse with nifty blue lights
Bookworm Giant Microbe plushie
A filing cabinet for business cards
Men in Black UMD
Skull and crossbones ice cube tray
Laser Cats t-shirt
Family Guy Star Wars t-shirt
Monkey key caps
Build-your-own kitty eraser sculpture

And a couple other things.

I kind of like the kitschy holiday gifts idea.

[metroid composite]

Let's see...

Instead of cards on her presents, my sister used chocolate; except knowing that I'm not a big fan of chocolate, she got me rainbow butterfly berets instead; I was highly pleased.  From there things escalated into probably my girliest christmas ever; a slip (useful given how often I wear skirts).  A lacy ruffly purple pirate shirt.  Several other lacy things.  (Apparently I've given my family the impression that I like lace; actually, can't say I'm complaining).

In the non-clothes department, "Once Upon a Time in the North" by Phillip Pullman, and a vibrating "gamer chair" which...is very creepy looking, but merits at least one try.

[Grefter]

Hat
Gloves
Ski Mask
...
Razors

... planning anything in particular, super?

Man when I read that I was going to say exactly the same thing, but leave in the Swim cap and bike lock because it makes it even more fucked up.  Then I scrolled down and was too slow.

I could make fun of Met's presents as well, but that is way easy and you know massively pointless.

[superaielman]

The really sad part is that I can't use most of those gifts until my knee heals up.

[Twilkitri]

Some shirts
Guiness World Records 2009
Something called an iPyramid which is effectively an iPod recharger with builtin speakers and an alarm clock
A first aid kit
Tom Holt Omnibus 4
Seasons 1 and 2 of the original Star Trek
A pack of deodorant/shower gel/etc
And a fair amount of chocolate

[TranceHime]

Clothing
Lots of money in red envelopes
A Nanoka Flanka (Tristia of the Deep Blue Sea) 1/8 scale figurine
Trinkets.

[Captain K.]

Tropic Thunder DVD
Jelly Beans
small flashlights for work

notable things that my kid got that I can also play with:

Portal
Guitar Hero 4 (Wii version, yay for Mii Freestyle)

[Lance]

2009 calendar of astronomy pictures
Assorted gift cards to assorted locations for assorted amounts
Paper towel holder
Brita water filter (along with a 6-pack of replacement filters)
Two Polo shirts
The obligatory candy
This Witchblade figurine
Shadow of the Colossus
Onimusha box set (contains Onimusha, Onimusha 2, and Onimusha 3)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights


Some of you may remember the Christmas tradition between my cousin and I wherein we try to make each others' presents as difficult to open as possible. Over the years, we have utilized sandpaper, barbed wire, rocks, plastic wrap, computer programs, chains, and numerous rolls of duct tape to confound each other on Christmas Eve. Sadly, he chickened out this year and didn't do anything to my present, much to my disappointment. That didn't stop me, though. I constructed a box made of clear Plexiglass, put his unwrapped present inside (Okami), and glued it shut. He could see it quite clearly, but he had no way to get to it since Plexiglass is impossible to break without a tool of some sort. He pawed at it ineffectually for a few minutes before taking it outside, placing it in the street, and running it over with his car. That worked. That worked handily.

Kind of uneventful this year, so I'm hoping he retaliates and knocks my socks off next Christmas.

[DjinnAndTonic]

He pawed at it ineffectually for a few minutes before taking it outside, placing it in the street, and running it over with his car. That worked. That worked handily.

Did Okami survive?


Also, I think Piggyman's Satanic Bible wins the award for "Most Unusual Christmas Gift" this time around.

Tai: I notice you did all your Christmas shopping in a book store, your local bookstore owners must think of you as their surrogate child... >.>;; On a slightly related note: Does your dad not enjoy reading?

-DJ

[VySaika]

Games
Battle Fantasia (360)
Star Ocean 1r (PSP)
Rhapsody (DS)
Oathbound (d20 book)
Authurian Legends (d20 book)

Amusing story about Rhapsody. I found it at the local Game Crazy for $20 bucks, didn't have the money rght then but figured I'd buy it in a couple days when we had money. Day we have money arrives, Rhapsody is no longer there. Turns out it was because Jenna and Kier grabbed that for me for Christmas while my back was turned.

Kitchen Stuff
Really nice kitchen shears.
New coffee machine
Icecream machine(!!!)
Assorted cooking utensils

Other Stuff
The Snow Queen, by Mercedes Lackey(Hardback)
A pair of 5lbs weights. (That 3 mile walk I do every weekday? Yeah.)
Various candies(including some white chocolate dipped gingerbread bits. Surprisingly good, as I don't like whte chocolate as a rule)
Plastic model of the airship from The Golden Compass(which...I still have yet to read or watch. Go figure)

Amusingly, this was the first christmas I've had in awhile where I didn't get any gift cards from anyone.
 

[Lance]

He pawed at it ineffectually for a few minutes before taking it outside, placing it in the street, and running it over with his car. That worked. That worked handily.

Did Okami survive?

The disc? Yes. The game case? Not even a little bit.

[Shale]

Some of you may remember the Christmas tradition between my cousin and I wherein we try to make each others' presents as difficult to open as possible. Over the years, we have utilized sandpaper, barbed wire, rocks, plastic wrap, computer programs, chains, and numerous rolls of duct tape to confound each other on Christmas Eve. Sadly, he chickened out this year and didn't do anything to my present, much to my disappointment. That didn't stop me, though. I constructed a box made of clear Plexiglass, put his unwrapped present inside (Okami), and glued it shut. He could see it quite clearly, but he had no way to get to it since Plexiglass is impossible to break without a tool of some sort. He pawed at it ineffectually for a few minutes before taking it outside, placing it in the street, and running it over with his car. That worked. That worked handily.

Kind of uneventful this year, so I'm hoping he retaliates and knocks my socks off next Christmas.

I think I said it last year, but it bears repeating: Your family is way cooler than mine will ever be.

[ThePiggyman]

Some of you may remember the Christmas tradition between my cousin and I wherein we try to make each others' presents as difficult to open as possible. Over the years, we have utilized sandpaper, barbed wire, rocks, plastic wrap, computer programs, chains, and numerous rolls of duct tape to confound each other on Christmas Eve. Sadly, he chickened out this year and didn't do anything to my present, much to my disappointment. That didn't stop me, though. I constructed a box made of clear Plexiglass, put his unwrapped present inside (Okami), and glued it shut. He could see it quite clearly, but he had no way to get to it since Plexiglass is impossible to break without a tool of some sort. He pawed at it ineffectually for a few minutes before taking it outside, placing it in the street, and running it over with his car. That worked. That worked handily.

Kind of uneventful this year, so I'm hoping he retaliates and knocks my socks off next Christmas.

I think I said it last year, but it bears repeating: Your family is way cooler than mine will ever be.

Agreed. I wish my family had awesome traditions like that. The closest thing to a tradition my family's got is to see who can be the first to open one of their presents, and even then, that's unintentional. ;o

By the way, where can you actually BUY plexiglass? ;o
Last I checked, it wasn't in stock at Home Depot or Canadian Tire.

[AAA]

I actually was wondering when you were going to post the annual story. I have no idea what the fuck you guys are going to do to top the Plexiglass thing. Maybe you should put a safe at the bottom of a river and then start with an opening gift of scuba gear.*

*I am assuming you are both idle millionaires

[Scar]

What I got:

A Digital Camera
Chrome: cologne
My mom got one of my Mark Echo Jackets fitted, so I can finally wear it.
Socks
Boxers
Undershirts
Lotto ticket: Won five dollars.
25 dollars.
70 gift card for Macy's - Prolly gonna go and get more cologne.
The Dark Knight
The Shack - some book I never heard of.
An assortment of body washes.

~

I also bought myself...

Persona 4
Left 4 Dead
Final Fantasy 3
A Tampa bay Bucs "Bucko Bruce" hat. Throwbacks = awesome.

~~

What I got for others...

Brother: A Hard drive and a couple Miami U player football cards.
Father: A Marlins pendant and a Dan Marino dollar.
Mother: 50 gift card to Forever 21.
Sister: 25 gift card at Norstrums.
Some girl I like: Perfume hidden in a cereal box. I'm sure the gift won't go well until she actually starts to eat some of the cereal. The effort to actually get that perfume in the box without making it look tampered with was annoying, but fun.

~~~

All in all a decent Christmas/birthday for me. Merry Christmas everyone!

[Fudozukushi]

Refurbished 360
Gears of War 2
Book Light
Grooming Kit
Ceramic Turtle
A totally metal shirt
60$

[ThePiggyman]

A totally metal shirt

I demand elaboration. I'm the proud owner of over 40 "totally metal shirts". =P

[Taishyr]

Eh, I just did a cheap-ass run through Barnes and Nobles for my gifts, for the most part.

My dad specifically asked for that, so he's getting books on his birthday (in January.)

[Halbarad]

What I got:

$75 from grandparents
A pair of good suede gloves (nice for winter cycling)
Three shirts
A book from my mom (Christian fiction, don't recall the title offhand)
A new watch

What I gave:

Part of a laptop for my dad (chipped in with my mom for it)
A laptop bag for same
A Wiimote charger for my mom

[Sierra]

Raising Arizona. A movie I never heard of before! But it has Nicolas Cage so it must be hilariously bad.

*Awesome. Normally I'd agree that Cage is a prime indicator of shitastic cinema, but Raising Arizona is one of the few exceptions (along with Adaptation, yes. Don't explode Grefter, I didn't forget it).

~

Pretty significant haul given that I thought we'd agreed to go light this year. My parents know no restraint when it comes to gift-giving:

A buncha shirts.
Movies: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Animal House
Games: Little Big Planet, Civilization: Revolution
Books: One on comparitive mythology, another specifically on Japanese mythology (I asked for stuff on this general topic, but the latter is pretty darn neat to get while working through Persona 4), Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide (my sister is awesome), Europe Between the Oceans: 9000BC - 1000AD.
$1,200 in checks. One thousand of that is from my mom's parents, who apparently have too much money and always do something crazy like this.

Mostly just sat around watching movies at my parents' place. No extended family, just the 'rents and my brother (sister spent Christmas with her boyfriend, is coming later today). This is actually the way I like it. I prefer peace and quiet over large gatherings. Granted, "peace and quiet" is a relative term in a house with eight dogs.

[Captain K.]

Yeah, Raising Arizona is Nicolas Cage before he became Nicolas Cage, so it's pretty good.