For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 12, 2012

Yes.

“oh Oh”

when my son was younger, about Mikes age, I got a glass angel, house, merry-go-round etc every year for Christmas. I cherished them for years but eventually they all got broken.

I really hope that Elly asked for that crock pot. Even then, he should add something else to make it special.

If that’s because you equate ‘romantic’ with ‘Oedipal’, that’s sad.

She’s using operant conditioning to teach him what kind of gifts women like herself like to get, using the terms women like herself like to hear associated with those gifts.

I have to disagree with most. If I put a item on my list that’s usable aka a crock pot, or vacuum, pots/pans, then I want them. It’s not really about the gifts that I receive, but those that I give and the time I get to spend with my family. I guess my family has it easy with me, I don’t expect the impossible by requesting they read my mind.

My honey has given me a microwave, an ice tea maker and an exercise bike. I’m about ready for us to stop exchanging gifts.

My wife and I stopped exchanging gifts years ago, and we’re much happier for it. we concentrate on the sentiment of the holiday and gifts for the kid.

That’s what a dentist buys his wife for Christmas?? What a crock! pardon the pun .

I’d call him a insensitive male chauvinistic pig!

What if she did, indeed? What do Ellie’s hypothetical preferences have to do with the clerk’s right to express her own?

As long as it was a good quality crock pot and not some cheap thing that can’t keep the temperature… Crock pots can make cooking more convenient.

Maybe I’m too practical. I asked for a compost bin one year (and got the one I wanted!). Another year I got a tiller. One of my all time favorite Christmas gifts from my husband was a Kitchen-Aid mixer. But then I’ve never been a jewelry type of girl—-I forget to wear any most of the time.

and I would call her “single”

we are married 28 years. I feel loved every day. I want ceramic tile for my master bath for Christmas. I don’t want diamonds, I the rings I have. I can’t think of anything else I would want or need. Yup. Ceramic tile would make me happy this year.

I’d call him clueless!!

After we were married my wifes first Christmas wish list was “Power Tools” I’m a lucky man.

I LOVE practical gifts. To me they are the best kind. I hate silly stupid stuff that has no meaning. One year my husband got me a tailor’s ham and he wrapped it with a pig plushie and made a joke about how when he was making it a pig must have escaped. It was cute but not for the price of the plushie. I don’t even like pigs so I don’t display it with my other plushies so it’s sitting somewhere I don’t even know where, a useless stupid present. My ham, however, I use almost every time I sew.

And then there was the man that was going to replace the septic tank, and call it a Christmas present.To calm the irate wife, he bought her a diamond bracelet instead.(And then, when the toilet wouldn’t flush anymore, walked out)

I love to cook, so I love getting cooking tools. My husband often manages to find interesting things I would not think to buy otherwise, like one year, a pasta maker. We had a lot of fun with that.

My mother in law gives him a hard time when he buys these things, but they are like toys to me.

I have been wishing for a keurig coffee maker since I won’t spend the money on myself but I also love to get jewelry and such. My hubby loves getting cooking supplies like a fancy waffle maker, etc.

Words, words, words. From the outside, it looked as if he misunderstood what you said and vice-versa. No one insulted anybody.

I never cared to get something “romantic.” I’d rather get something useful, if it’s something I want and need. I’m always happy to tell people what I want. Now that I’m older, though, I usually don’t need anything and will ask for gifts to one of my charities. That way, I don’t have a house full of more “dust catchers,” or things that my relatives will have to dispose of.

call him anything but late to lunch

I want a crock pot!! What the hell am I gonna do with a “glass angel”???

Make sure there is a nice piece of jewelry or the equivalent tin the crockpot.

Well, its not an iron, but its close! (see yesterday). I sometimes wonder if these sort of gifts are a man’s revenge for the tie-socks-jocks gifts from their significant others?

Over the 40 years I’ve known him, my lover has given me various pieces of jewelry, and some pretty (and soft/silky) lingerie, but especially when we lived near each other, many practical things when I needed them. A progammable thermostat and a water heater (each installed by him) a stand mixer in bright RED because he knows my taste and many other things. I have bought him many gadgets and I also took a whole class (back in the 70s) on Basic programming to help him with the Tandy TRS that he had purchased. I think we understand each other well.

The best thing this year is being together for a 2nd whole month; nothing can beat that!

Kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners and such may be gifts for the home, but surely not for a person! You mean in all of these fifty years I could have gifted a new wastebasket or some such to my bride? Do people really do this?

I’d call the salesperson something else. I would much rather have a practical gift that I can use than something silly and unusable.I have never asked for jewelry or frilly useless clothes.

LOL