Christmas Shopping

[1971demon]

Tis the season to be jolly I'm told....now anybody that knows me knows I'm not a very patient person..and have a low threshold for Bullshit...and hate fighting crowds..(I grocery shop @ 11pm..)...except at Christmas...I love giving gifts..I don't internet shop..I like to see..feel..and touch what I'm buying..I look for the unique non run of the mill thoughtful gifts..(which means I've been fighting the Christmas masses for over 3 wks, now)...be it family..employees..or a few close friends..I gotta say I enjoy it...(especially for the grankids)...do I go overboard ?...big time..I'm almost done..my employees got theirs yesterday..every year I ask my wife what she wants...every year she say's nothing....(you know I cant do that)...this year she threw me a curve...she said..I want you to sell your business's so we both can retire......oh boy..we both need nothing..(we are very fortunate)....So what do the rest of you guys do...Is Christmas as big a deal for you..

 

[DavidKFla]

We don't shop or give gifts at Christmas since we give throughout the year.

Do you have kids to give your business to? We don't so when we pull the plug it's either going to die or be sold.

We do plenty of activities with the grandkids who live local. This afternoon we're having a Christmas bingo party for them. Went to see the light show at the track this week and grandma bakes cookies with the girls.

 

[John G.]

she said..I want you to sell your business's so we both can retire......oh boy..we both need nothing..(we are very fortunate)

"Fortunate" implies you have been lucky. If you're a business owner, it's not luck; it's hard work, long hours, risk, and stress. I've never been a business owner myself, but I have represented many. I admire and appreciate all the small business owners in America.

 

[1971demon]

I

We don't shop or give gifts at Christmas since we give throughout the year.

Do you have kids to give your business to? We don't so when we pull the plug it's either going to die or be sold.

We do plenty of activities with the grandkids who live local. This afternoon we're having a Christmas bingo party for them. Went to see the light show at the track this week and grandma bakes cookies with the girls.

I have one son...lives in PA..has no interest in the business at all...(has his own successful career)...selling the main business will not be a problem..(I've turned down offers to sell for years)...we don't get to see our 2 grandchildren as often as we would like...my wife makes sense on this one....I started in Sept of 1971...It's hard to walk away from ones life work...

 

[1971demon]

"Fortunate" implies you have been lucky. If you're a business owner, it's not luck; it's hard work, long hours, risk, and stress. I've never been a business owner myself, but I have represented many. I admire and appreciate all the small business owners in America.

Your right...a tremendous amount of work...but if it was easy...everybody would be doing it..

 

[Jack_Toepfer]

For my kids, Amazon delivers most of the gifts to my in-laws so that I don’t have to hide anything. My wife finished wrapping those this afternoon and now they’re hidden in the basement.
Since my kids are still small, that’s where most of my time goes as far as creativity and exceeding expectations.
For friends, a select few, they will get a gift or two from me… but it’s not an exchange and it’s usually only if I can come up with something they really need.
I don’t exchange with the rest of the family, and they really don’t accept presents because they have kids too, and it just gets overwhelming.
Like many of you I like to spread it out over the entire year. I’m also pretty “fortunate”, at least in my circles, so I treat, wine and dine, and entertain as often as possible.
Christmas is by far my favorite holiday, we just got back from grabbing hot chocolates and donuts to head to a nearby neighborhood and see hundreds of houses all dressed up. Donations are accepted for a charity. It’s beautiful! (Stony Brook here in Lancaster if you wanted to make the trek @1971demon )

I like to gets hands on the gifts after they’re opened. So it’s a lot of legos, engineering projects, escape rooms, and this year a gaming PC for my oldest, that he will have to put together himself. I’ve already assembled it, updated BIOS, loaded the SSD with his favorite games and tuned it up… only to take it apart and have him do it all over again, haha.

Got myself a 3d printer (from Santa of course) so that I can start making parts, gadgets, etc… because I needed another hobby.

 

[1971demon]

For my kids, Amazon delivers most of the gifts to my in-laws so that I don’t have to hide anything. My wife finished wrapping those this afternoon and now they’re hidden in the basement.
Since my kids are still small, that’s where most of my time goes as far as creativity and exceeding expectations.
For friends, a select few, they will get a gift or two from me… but it’s not an exchange and it’s usually only if I can come up with something they really need.
I don’t exchange with the rest of the family, and they really don’t accept presents because they have kids too, and it just gets overwhelming.
Like many of you I like to spread it out over the entire year. I’m also pretty “fortunate”, at least in my circles, so I treat, wine and dine, and entertain as often as possible.
Christmas is by far my favorite holiday, we just got back from grabbing hot chocolates and donuts to head to a nearby neighborhood and see hundreds of houses all dressed up. Donations are accepted for a charity. It’s beautiful! (Stony Brook here in Lancaster if you wanted to make the trek @1971demon )

I like to gets hands on the gifts after they’re opened. So it’s a lot of legos, engineering projects, escape rooms, and this year a gaming PC for my oldest, that he will have to put together himself. I’ve already assembled it, updated BIOS, loaded the SSD with his favorite games and tuned it up… only to take it apart and have him do it all over again, haha.

Got myself a 3d printer (from Santa of course) so that I can start making parts, gadgets, etc… because I needed another hobby.

Took the whole family to Stony Brook (even my 95 yr.old mother)...awesome display...

 

[MikeD1]

I

I have one son...lives in PA..has no interest in the business at all...(has his own successful career)...selling the main business will not be a problem..(I've turned down offers to sell for years)...we don't get to see our 2 grandchildren as often as we would like...my wife makes sense on this one....I started in Sept of 1971...It's hard to walk away from ones life work...

I can only imagine how hard it will be to sell it after putting that much time & effort into it ! I've only been doing the dog rescue since '08 and I've waffled for a year now on shutting it down. Getting mounting pressure from the wife to 'completely' retire and enjoy ourselves a bit while we're still able, which makes infinite sense, but still ......................

We pretty much buy what we need during the year, so no lavish gifts at Christmas any more.

One of hers tho is a 1st for me - ordered a picture frame from Amazon to frame a large 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle she completed.
Took them forever to ship the damn thing (FedEx) and it was suppose to arrive yesterday. Looked up the transit history when it didn't arrive and there were notes that it had been put on the truck for delivers but the delivery guy refused to leave it because "too damaged to deliver, returning to sender"

Must have had the shit beat out of it as I've gotten some pretty crappy shipments from them (boxes soaking wet or smashed/torn with contents spilling out) in the past that they had no shame in delivering.

 

[Bowtie Guy]

I can only imagine how hard it will be to sell it after putting that much time & effort into it ! I've only been doing the dog rescue since '08 and I've waffled for a year now on shutting it down. Getting mounting pressure from the wife to 'completely' retire and enjoy ourselves a bit while we're still able, which makes infinite sense, but still ......................

We pretty much buy what we need during the year, so no lavish gifts at Christmas any more.

One of hers tho is a 1st for me - ordered a picture frame from Amazon to frame a large 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle she completed.
Took them forever to ship the damn thing (FedEx) and it was suppose to arrive yesterday. Looked up the transit history when it didn't arrive and there were notes that it had been put on the truck for delivers but the delivery guy refused to leave it because "too damaged to deliver, returning to sender"

Must have had the shit beat out of it as I've gotten some pretty crappy shipments from them (boxes soaking wet or smashed/torn with contents spilling out) in the past that they had no shame in delivering.

 

[Bowtie Guy]

Tis the season to be jolly I'm told....now anybody that knows me knows I'm not a very patient person..and have a low threshold for Bullshit...and hate fighting crowds..(I grocery shop @ 11pm..)...except at Christmas...I love giving gifts..I don't internet shop..I like to see..feel..and touch what I'm buying..I look for the unique non run of the mill thoughtful gifts..(which means I've been fighting the Christmas masses for over 3 wks, now)...be it family..employees..or a few close friends..I gotta say I enjoy it...(especially for the grankids)...do I go overboard ?...big time..I'm almost done..my employees got theirs yesterday..every year I ask my wife what she wants...every year she say's nothing....(you know I cant do that)...this year she threw me a curve...she said..I want you to sell your business's so we both can retire......oh boy..we both need nothing..(we are very fortunate)....So what do the rest of you guys do...Is Christmas as big a deal for you..

 

[MikeD1]

That scene always flashes thru my head when I get one of these trashed packages