free4rms
freely admits to licking rocks
My little pet walrus
Member since January 2007
Posts: 839
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Post by free4rms on Dec 23, 2008 8:47:47 GMT -5
See? Half the fun of Christmas is in the trees! There were lots of good stories, but the the Ghost in the Tree really caught my attention this time. Karenfh, that was a spooky story... Pm me with your address, ok? Guess what?? A Christmas miracle has occurred! At least for the contestants... I must be dyslexic and can't keep track of the days of my own contest <sigh>. I already put the photo of the prize on the contest before I realized I was on the last day! Therefore, I am going to extend the contest one more day with the best prize saved for tomorrow. Besides, I really wanted the last day of the contest to land on the day before Christmas, anyway. Fir, spruce, evergreen, Holly... those are all great around Christmas time, but how about Palm? Today's prize will be an unusual Palm wood pendant from a S.C. location. Fossil palm is very rare in this state, but I was given one large piece by a collector a few years back. Here's the photo:  The key to owning this pendant is to tell me the very worst present you ever received at Christmas. It could be something ugly, inappropriate, corny, hand-me-down, the sky's the limit. The best story takes the prize! Vance |
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morticiamonroe
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since October 2008
Posts: 147
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Post by morticiamonroe on Dec 23, 2008 10:29:36 GMT -5
I'll have a go....
My mother had an aunt who was the black sheep of the family,,,my Aunt Marg. She was a 70 year old heroin addict who was on her 11th marriage and tried her best to work as a prostitute to support her habit....extreme bi-polar and spent all her time at home on the home shopping network when she wasn't out on the street corners.
The christmas I turned 21, she came by my house to give me my Christmas present,,,it was an Elvis telephone. Although I like Elvis well enough, it was the wierdest piece of junk I'd ever seen and although I hated it, I thanked her for it. That's when she presented me with the rest of the gift,,,the booklet of payment slips that accompanied the phone. Apparently she had purchased it on a monthly plan and decided she didn't really want it, so she passed it on to me,,payments and all.
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CUL-Ann
spending too much on rocks
rock lover~
Member since September 2008
Posts: 380
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Post by CUL-Ann on Dec 23, 2008 11:28:28 GMT -5
Ok, back as a child,
my mother did all the shopping at the used store and told me when someone asked where it came from the answer was "down town" (that was where the used store was) she also got things to large so I could grow into them!
Years later my dad told me that we had the $$ to buy new (he was a welder at a shop that made busses)
There was 2 new items that I remember=both under the tree, different years.
The best one was a nice new large size doll, she was my best tell when I was around 13 I had boxed up that type of items and had them inside my closet and while I was at school one day she took that box and some other items and gave them away to that used store.
The other was the worst present ever (I can still see it in my head)
I got up Christmas morning and under that tree not wrapped was a dress hanging=talk about ugly==it was brown all brown no shape to it (yup to big) and to long. I don't think I ever put it on. I'm thinking that she got it at the used store with the tags on it because it was too ugly for anyone to buy it so the clothing store gave it away to the used store.
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grayfingers
Cave Dweller 
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575 
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Post by grayfingers on Dec 23, 2008 12:05:06 GMT -5
My wife has an Aunt in Missouri who is dyslexic.
Every year since the mid-80's she sends us a little engraved brass Christmas ornament inscribed
Jean and Bob, and the year. The thing is, My name is Bill, and my wife's name is Jane!
I display them each year, now that we have more than 20 of them I put then on a garland
so as to leave room on the tree for out traditional ornaments. Our friends get quite a kick
out of it after hearing the explanation...
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Dec 23, 2008 13:33:07 GMT -5
For years, I'd been getting my brother-in-laws corny ties for Christmas and they hated it. You know...the Fish ties (yes before the talking Billy-Bass there was such a thing as fish ties), Singing Santas, explosive fourth of July ties...you get the picture.
They tried to get even with lame ideas like umbrellas with only ribs but one year they finally got me...They made me a wooden necktie!. It was really a work of art, made from some aFRICAN zEBRA WOOD and possessing a fine shellacked surface but the clincher was a poem attached to it, "Make Mine Wood".
It was the last time I ever gave someone a tie for Christmas
csroc
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Post by Michael John on Dec 23, 2008 14:34:04 GMT -5
I've already won a prize in this series of contests, but I just have to share this...
About 25 years ago, I went to my "sperm donor" dad's house for Christmas. When gift exchange came around, my little half-brother handed me a package which his mom (my ex step monster) had sent with him for me. Inside was an ugly nylon vest, navy blue, but bright orange on the inside ... then I noticed the label inside the vest ... "Black Sheep". I sent it back with my brother, with a note inside stating that she should keep it because the label best-fit her.
How about people that are just terrible at gift giving? One year my girlfriend-at-the-time's folks gave me an electric can opener for Christmas! I couldn't help but wonder what had "inspired" them to get me that. Not being able to visualize them standing in the appliance department saying to each other, "there's the PERFECT gift for Michael", I concluded that it was just a totally thoughtless re-gift.
Of course, like most guys, I've recieved a lot of the typical broad-spectum generics that people give who "have to get you something", but could care less what it is ... Old Spice sets, manicure sets, Life Saver sets, chocolate covered cherries, cheap wallets ...
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Post by frane on Dec 23, 2008 16:37:58 GMT -5
I guess the worst gift would be a gift given out of generosity but they had the wrong age...
We had a really bad year when I was 15. My stepdad tried to kill me, needless to say my Mom divorced him. Then the factory she worked at burnt down so she was out of a job so we were on welfare and then she had a nervous breakdown. While she was in the hospital, my grandma stayed with us on and off and mostly, my sister and I took care of our younger sister. She was about 7 then. Well, someone was nice enough to put us on a list for a very generous box of food with toys for us at christmas. My older sister (16) got a hair dryer, my younger sister got a barbie doll and I got one of those tiny plastic dolls with a little bottle...Some how, they didn't see 15, they saw 5.
My little sister loved it so I guess it really wasn't a bad gift. Mom got out of the hospital a few months later so that was the best gift of all...OK, not that bad.... Wait! I've got it!
My brother in law means well but is just a little off with his homemade gifts. One year, he made us a cassette of christmas music. He played all the songs on a tiny Tinny sounding casio keyboard and then went back through it and accompanied the music on a flute type recorder (I think that is what the instrament was called). It was really off. He made copies for everyone in the family, he was so proud of it...We put it to good use. If our son's were acting up in the car, the cassette would be played. They would straiten out real quick if we would just stop playing the music. Worked like a charm!
Fran
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ejs
spending too much on rocks
Member since July 2008
Posts: 478
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Post by ejs on Dec 23, 2008 18:34:48 GMT -5
Several years ago, while I was in graduate school, a friend of ours came over from Scandinavia on business. It was around Christmas time. Some of us decided to pitch in and take her out to dinner for the holidays. (We were all very poor graduate students, so it really was quite generous of us!)
We brought her to our favorite local place: a southern BBQ joint known for having great pork BBQ and lots of good beers on tap. We were excited and proud that we brought our friend to such a "American" place with such good food/drink. We expected a great time.
The problem? It was only after we ordered that we realized two facts about her:
(1) She's a vegetarian (no BBQ)
(2) She was pregnant (no beer)
Oops! We meant well, but man that was an awful "present" to give her...
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Post by rockrookie on Dec 23, 2008 19:30:43 GMT -5
at the job i used to work . for 1st 3 yrs , we got 1 weeks pay for Christmas bonus gift . ( at the time i was making $5.50 or $6.00 per hour ) on payday (3 days ) before Christmas & 1 day before is started shopping . ( i was 22 & single ) we got 2 envelopes in our time slot .i was 1st to open mine . 1 was normal pay . the other was a note saying THANK YOU for making our business a success ................. Merry Christmas ---------------------------------------------------we were not happy . we allready pitched in & got her a gift $$$ for dinner at fancy rest.
for the last time !!----------------------------------------paul
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Post by Bejewelme on Dec 23, 2008 20:22:04 GMT -5
I never got a gift I didn't like or would feel strongly enough to have hated. We were very poor growing up but my grandma always made sure we had a doll or something under the tree, and she would wrap it like 4 times, with different colored papers so we could prolong the opening. I loved those lifesaver books, that was great if we got one of them  I try to pick gifts for people and put some thought into them, and I guess I feel like if someone goes to the trouble of picking something and wrapping it for me, they must have thought I would enjoy it. I would never say that anything from a friend or family member was a horrible gift, I enjoy them all!!!! Amber |
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Post by NatureNut on Dec 24, 2008 7:52:23 GMT -5
Congrats Karenfh, great stories, good luck everybody! Jo
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karenfh
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since November 2006
Posts: 1,495
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Post by karenfh on Dec 24, 2008 15:38:45 GMT -5
Well, I have to 'fess up; the day the tree came on while unplugged, it was actually plugged in. I was unaware that hubby had set up a power strip and plugged everything into that and a timer, but left the previous extension cord snaking out under the tree skirt. So the tree's on, and I see the plug sticking out under the tree skirt, and I tell ya, folks, I heard the theme from Twilight Zone.
Thanks for a fun contest, Vance! And thanks for picking my story! There were so many good ones.
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I try to pick gifts for people and put some thought into them, and I guess I feel like if someone goes to the trouble of picking something and wrapping it for me, they must have thought I would enjoy it. I would never say that anything from a friend or family member was a horrible gift, I enjoy them all!!!!
