How the Gritch stole Christmas

[Dartful Dodger]

I have to vent and I figured some of you guys would get a kick out of this.

I was able to buy two Wiis this weekend.  I wasn’t even looking for them.  I decided it was the dumbest of luck that I got them so I would pass the good fortune on to my nieces and nephews.  I called my sisters and told them I bought each of them a Wii for their kids.  They know I want one for myself, but I’m in no hurry so I told them I can wait and pick one up after Christmas.

This weekend a friend of mine had extra tickets for a Polar Express train ride that was held at a train museum.  I took my youngest niece and nephew to it.  He was running late, a bridge was out … blah blah blah.  We missed the train by 5 minutes!  I talked to my friend and we decided that Odyssey World would be a good substitute for the train ride.

The train went back and forth on a quarter mile track, they serve hot chocolate and Santa walks through and give each kid a bell.  It lasts about 30 minutes. Odyssey World is an arcade with a two story tunnel maze thing.  Odyssey World is 100x better than the train.

I told my niece and nephew that we missed the train and we could wait an hour for the next one, but they were all sold out, so we might not get on.  I then told them about Odyssey World and how great it was.  My nephew’s eyes started to get puffy and I knew he was trying to act like it didn’t matter, but he was on the verge of crying.  I didn’t know what to do, so I tried to ease the pain.  I told them that I had  a secrete and they couldn’t tell their cousins because I got one for them too…

My nephew then said still holding back the tears… “Mommy told us about the Wii … can we wait for the next train?”.

We waited a half an hour in my car. The conductor had  to make sure there was room left on the train for us before letting us on so we had to wait outside in the freezing rain for15 minutes, which felt like an hour.

When I dropped the kids off I didn’t mention any of it to my sister.  I didn’t want her kids to know I was pist at their mom for spoiling the surprise.  When we got in the house she tells her kids, now that was your Christmas gift from your uncle so don’t expect anything else from him.  After they left the room my sister tells me that I’ve done so much for the kids already and that the kids don't know about the Wii so I don’t have to give it to them.  She knows I’m not going to change my mind about it, but if the kids didn’t tell me they already knew about it I may have actually thought she was being sincere.

That's it.  I hope that little story brought you some added holiday cheer.

[patrickl]

You are a man of many mysteries. Cool story.

[Zero_Hour]

Families are truly strange things.

Hope the rest of the Christmas season only gets better for you.

[Hoopz]

Very cool of you to buy that for them.   

And it reinforces my focus as it relates to my family excluding my wife and children:  Pick your friends well because you are stuck with your family.

[SithMaster]

Heres the plan pretend you dont know what they are talking about when you have to give them the gift.  If you are celebrating like i think you are (bring the gifts over someone's house and exchange) then bring it but dont have it on you.  Of course the kids might cry but when they choose a train ride over an arcade you have to put your foot down.

Merry Christmas

[bfauska]

So you're getting her nothing right? That's what my wife suggests.  Super nice uncle by the way, I'm sure your nieces and nephews will realize how great you are some day if they haven't already, too bad about you sis being a butt though.

[SavannahLion]

I'm kind of exhausted so this posting is kind of disjointed.

Don't feel bad. I still can't quite figure it out, but family tend to be back stabbers.

Want to know why I don't like those lame reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother? Because I live in one of those in real life, why the ---fudgesicle--- would I want to watch it? I take great pains not to tell anyone what gifts I'm getting for anyone (though this year I did let slip to my brother that I intended to get a laptop for her this year) for precisely the reasons you describe.

Just keep this in mind. There is a reason why there is such a thing as living trusts and wills.

[shmokes]

Not really super related, but I have a couple of nieces who love Animal Crossing.  Whenever they used to visit (before I lived thousands of miles away) the second they walked in the door they'd ask to play.  Then, I got a Wii about a year ago, so I decided to give them my Gamecube and all my games for Christmas.  My sister-in-law called Christmas evening and said, "Thanks for ruining all our gifts.  They are completely uninterested in anything but Animal Crossing."  She was totally laughing and didn't mean it at all.  She really was thanking me.  It was pretty funny.

[Cakemeister]

Sell the Wiis and get the kids a gift card.

[ahofle]

After they left the room my sister tells me that I’ve done so much for the kids already and that the kids don't know about the Wii so I don’t have to give it to them.  She knows I’m not going to change my mind about it, but if the kids didn’t tell me they already knew about it I may have actually thought she was being sincere.

Man, I would not have been able to leave it at that.  I can't stand being lied to. 

[ChadTower]

My sister-in-law called Christmas evening and said, "Thanks for ruining all our gifts.  They are completely uninterested in anything but Animal Crossing."  She was totally laughing and didn't mean it at all. 

Twice I have had family members call me all pissed off for "ruining Xmas" because I got their kids better gifts than they did.  Both times what I bought wasn't expensive at all, I just actually put some thought into the gifts, and the kids loved them compared to the "gotta have it waited 5 hours in line for it" crap that mattered to the adults but not the kids.  I couldn't believe I was being yelled at for buying insightful gifts for their children.

[Dartful Dodger]

When she told the kids that the train ride was their Christmas gift.  They knew it wasn't and they knew, I knew, they knew it wasn't.  My niece whose only 5 gave me a really uncomfortable look, so I didn't want to make things worse.  They’re good kids, I feel bad because they probably feel bad about this.  When they saw the disappointment in my eyes because I missed the joy in them finding out they responded we’ll be able to play it together on Christmas and we’ll be happier then when we found out.



I'm not that nice of an uncle.  I can never remember any of their Birthdays, and we have an understanding in my family, no gifts.  I have a lot of nieces and nephews so it could get out of hand if everyone bought for everyone else.  I don't have any kids so I usually give them something nice for Christmas.  I wasn't even looking for the Wiis and I'm not in any hurry to buy one for myself, I know as soon as I do I'll stop practicing the guitar and all my other interests will go out the window.   



I don't think the wiis are that good of a gift.  I'm like Chad when it comes to Christmas, I usually put a lot of thought into Christmas gifts.   Instead of buying one perfect gift for each of them I bought them all the same thing, it went over my Christmas budget, but it saves me time shopping around and thinking of ideas.

I did get a cramp in my arm from patting myself on the back over the polar express trip.  30 years from now they won't remember the Wii, but they will still be talking about how their uncle got them to see Santa, even after they missed the train.  the ironic part is my friend's wife is the one who did all the work to get us on the second train ride, so I’m actually stealing her thunder. 

[SithMaster]

My sister-in-law called Christmas evening and said, "Thanks for ruining all our gifts.  They are completely uninterested in anything but Animal Crossing."  She was totally laughing and didn't mean it at all. 

Twice I have had family members call me all pissed off for "ruining Xmas" because I got their kids better gifts than they did.  Both times what I bought wasn't expensive at all, I just actually put some thought into the gifts, and the kids loved them compared to the "gotta have it waited 5 hours in line for it" crap that mattered to the adults but not the kids.  I couldn't believe I was being yelled at for buying insightful gifts for their children.

Well now you know better than to do something nice for someone.

[ChadTower]

Well now you know better than to do something nice for someone.

It was pretty funny to hear "you ruined our christmas giving our son a gift he likes more than all of ours combined - and it's a ---smurfing--- trash can".


(the trash can was signed by 25 or so pro wrestlers)

[SithMaster]

Well now you know better than to do something nice for someone.

It was pretty funny to hear "you ruined our christmas giving our son a gift he likes more than all of ours combined - and it's a ---smurfing--- trash can".


(the trash can was signed by 25 or so pro wrestlers)

Wait what?  I can see their point of view (i mean its a trash can) but it was signed so that makes it okay i guess.  It seems to me they are just mad because you ruined the parents christmas not the kids.

[shardian]

Well now you know better than to do something nice for someone.

It was pretty funny to hear "you ruined our christmas giving our son a gift he likes more than all of ours combined - and it's a ---smurfing--- trash can".


(the trash can was signed by 25 or so pro wrestlers)

I'm assuming it was used in a match, and the wrestlers were big name - WWE, ECW, WCW back in the day. If so, then yeah that was a pretty damn cool present.

[ChadTower]

Not that big, mostly local indy guys, but some higher tier indy guys.  I think the biggest names on it were Low Ki (Senshi in TNA), K-Kwik (Ron The Truth Killings), and I think Francine from ECW may have been on it.  Probably April Hunter if you remember her.  The kid knew them all, though, better than I did.  It was everyone who was backstage at a local benefit for the MDA.  I think it had been present for a match but no one had been hit with it or anything.  It was given to me as a thank you for helping out with the show.

I think sithmaster gets the point now.     Yes, the parents were resentful that the kid liked my gift better than theirs - and that it was a trash can.

[ahofle]

LOL I'm trying to visualize how your trash can ruined their presents.  Did they throw the other presents in it repeatedly or something? 

[ChadTower]

Now that I think about it, I think the other gift I was referring to was an autographed baseball card.  Might have been Garciaparra's rookie card, can't remember for sure now.

[SithMaster]

Chad ruins everything.

[shmokes]

Hasn't April Hunter done some hardcore porn now?

[patrickl]

Now shmokes wants that trashcan too 

[ChadTower]

Hasn't April Hunter done some hardcore porn now?

Don't know about hardcore but she was in Playboy years ago.

[shmokes]

I could be wrong.  My porn collection is so huge that I sometimes get mixed up about names.

[Zero_Hour]

When they saw the disappointment in my eyes because I missed the joy in them finding out they responded we’ll be able to play it together on Christmas and we’ll be happier then when we found out.

Those are some cool kids right there.

[tommy]

What is DD doing posting outside of PnR? There really should be a be a law against this sort of thing. 

[Dartful Dodger]

I'm just sharing my holiday cheer.

[bfauska]

How the Gritch stole Christmas

UM, is that a typo? I can't decide if you misspelled "Grinch" or "---smurfette---" maybe it was intentional, maybe it was Freudian. Either way I think it's appropriate. (of course it's your sister so if you take offense at my interpretation, somebody else must have posted it under my account while I was logged on.)

[shardian]

Oh I definitely get the feeling it was definitely meant as a combo word.

I know a few people who fit that bill quite well - mainly my own sister.

[Dartful Dodger]

She's a Gritch with a capital B.

I only see her about every third month or so I forget how deceitful she was when we were growing up.