I just got all my Christmas shopping done. I had $45 total, and 30 of it was in Media Play gift cards, so my budget was a bit limited. Still, I didn't do bad. For my brother and sister, The Sims for Xbox, because it was cheap and something that both of them might play. My brother usually doesn't like many games that don't have blood, gore, and extreme violence, but The Sims is the kind of thing that everybody likes. (well... almost everybody) For my girlfriend, Final Fantasy (Not FFX, it was one of the older ones, she already has FFX) and a funny Christmas card. On the front, the card says, "Know how you can tell a reindeer from an elk or a regular deer?" On the inside, it says, "Reindeer's a little chewier. Happy Holidays." My parents went shopping for eachother and put all our names on the gifts, so they were taken care of, so I bought a little gift for everybody, a USB port Lava Lamp. Yes, you read that correctly, a USB port Lava Lamp. It plugs into the USB port on the back of the computer and lights up. It isn't a real Lava Lamp, though, just lights and sparklers, but it's still cool. O.o Pretty colors...
I already know a couple of the presents I am getting for Christmas.
I'm getting an iLo MP3 player. My father decided that he wanted to get myself and my siblings MP3 players, so he had me come to the store with him and pick out whatever looks the best for the cheapest. These have 256MB memory and allow you to use external memory, they have FM radio, and you can record your voice, sounds around you, and you can also record from the radio. It plays MP3 and WMA files. We got these for seventy bucks each.
I'm getting a foozball table. There's a box bigger than our Christmas tree on the ground with my name on it, and the large thing I asked for was a foozball table. No other possible reason my mother and her boyfriend would carry something that big up the stairs, if they weren't sure it was what I wanted, so I am reasonably sure that this is it.
I'm also getting a cellphone. My dad's girlfriend told me she's going to buy it for me. My father was against it at first, not because he didn't want me to have a cellphone, but because last time he had brought up the idea, my mother complained. So I'm keeping this present a secret from my mother, as well as my largemouthed siblings.
My family may be annoying, but it's large, so I can be reasonably sure of always getting tons of loot.
I now know my exact plans for Christmas Eve and Day, went over them with my parents. First, off to my Aunt's house with all of our nearby relatives on the paternal side of the family. She isn't actually my aunt, I'm honestly not sure exactly how she is related to me, but everybody just calls her Aunt Sandy. We'll eat dinner there, probably Polish sausage and various other stuff. Everybody gets like one or two presents there, maybe a few more. After that, I go to my grandmother's house (my dad's mom) with my father, siblings, and maybe one of my uncles and his girlfriend. We'll probably eat a small snack/dinner here. All the kids get a bunch of presents there, I'll probably be an exception because I didn't ask for much. That or I'll get random stuff like I usually do anyways, regardless of what I ask for. After this, it's back to my dad's house to go to sleep. We'll open presents in the morning, I'll get some stuff here, not much because of that iLo taking up so much of my dad's money. Then it's off to my mothers house, where we'll eat breakfast. We'll get a bunch of presents here, my mom apparentl went overboard on buying stuff. Then it's off to my aunt's house. (mom's sister) We'll probably eat a brunch/lunch here, and everybody gets a couple of presents here.
So, even if I have to suffer through ~24-48 hours in my family's company, the material benefits are worth it.
