Christmas haul

[patrickl]

I got... Nothing.

Me neither. But then we celebrated the original Saint Nicholas a few weeks earlier.

just looking at that wiki:

"He was also a patron of the Varangian Guard"

sounds kinda star trek-y to me 

That makes no sense at all. Saint Nicholas gives presents away. That must be against every "Varangi" rule of acquisition 

[Ummon]

I ran into Santa at Best Buy yesterday, and after a brief tussle, he was persuaded to get me an lcd TV. 

House Brand Dynex LCD. The reason I got it was because the floor model Dynex looked better than most of the other brands - even the fancy Sony's and such. They are rebadged LG LCD's apparently. 4 year warranty was only $69 too!

What size?

[shardian]

What size?

Just a 32". Anything bigger would have been too big for my basement. My couch is only like 8' away.

[Cakemeister]

I got a GPS system I didn't want, but to balance that out I got Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and a stairstepper.

[massive88]

In-laws rocked it with a portable fold up table saw for my tiny town-home garage, it also has a router attachment leaf plate which I am excited about, as it will double as a router table.

Aside from that, some wireless headphones for the Xbox, and Left 4 Dead on the PC are the highlights.

[ChadTower]

In-laws rocked it with a portable fold up table saw for my tiny town-home garage, it also has a router attachment leaf plate which I am excited about, as it will double as a router table.

Interesting.  Could you post a link to the product? 

[JamIt]

I got a GPS system I didn't want, but to balance that out I got Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and a stairstepper.

I also got a GPS (Garmin Nuvi).  I never even thought about getting one, but after playing with it for the last few days it seems pretty cool.  It should prove useful on some of our family road trips.

Also got Midnight Club LA for the 360 and it absolutely rocks.  Haven't even tried it online yet; I'm having too much fun in "campaign" mode.

[ChadTower]

Oh, I forgot to mention, my wife and kids also got me four pounds of backbacon, three french toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree.   

[massive88]

In-laws rocked it with a portable fold up table saw for my tiny town-home garage, it also has a router attachment leaf plate which I am excited about, as it will double as a router table.

Interesting.  Could you post a link to the product? 

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00921829000P

Think it was another $100 off at the time of purchase, pretty excited to get some projects up and running with this, as before all I had for large cuts was a circular saw and sawboards.  You can see the plate with the router hole and attachment splines on the right part of the picture.

[chopps]

Oh, I forgot to mention, my wife and kids also got me four pounds of backbacon, three french toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree.  

five golden toques!! 

[orion]

We got a 52 inch Sharp Aquos LCD for the family. It wasn't even my idea...not right now anyway. My wife called me from her work the day after Christmas and told me of a great deal she saw in the paper on it (close to $1000.00 off the original price). She told me if I liked it to go ahead and get it...... so I did! I love my wife!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hockeyboy]

This was a "light" year for my family so not a lot of money was spent. I'm hard to shop for as I've got tons of t-shirts for work and golf clothes, I just built 2 Quad-Core PCs for me and the wife less than a month ago, and I don't need (or have the room for!) any more power tools. My wife got me NHL 2008 for the PS2, Lego Star Wars II for the PS2, a Garmin Nuvi 260W navigational device, the new Clive Cussler book, and a couple small items. I know that sounds like a lot, but the 2 games were $20 for both on sale. 

I'm not upset, it's just this year was trying, in more ways than one, and we decided as a family to keep things simply, inexpensive, and treasure each other vs. spending tons of cash on presents we don't really need. Oh, we did get the girls Guitar Hero: World Tour for the PS2 and I proved to them what I've known for years -- even though I love 80's songs, I can't sing them into a microphone to save my arse. I sound great when the radio is turned way up in the car and I'm driving down the road, but, at home, in front of a TV, with my wife and daughters right there? Forget it.

[shmokes]

 I sound great when the radio is turned way up in the car and I'm driving down the road

ROFLMAO . . . Don't be so sure.

[boykster]

Oh, I forgot to mention, my wife and kids also got me four pounds of backbacon, three french toasts, two turtlenecks, and a beer in a tree.   

Take off, EH!

[wp34]

Wife surprised me with a U360.  She got me one last year as well.  At this rate it will take two more Christmases to get my cab done.   

[Ummon]

Just a 32". Anything bigger would have been too big for my basement. My couch is only like 8' away.

32 inches for seventy bucks?  Wow.

[ChadTower]

Just a 32". Anything bigger would have been too big for my basement. My couch is only like 8' away.

32 inches for seventy bucks?  Wow.

The warranty was $70.

[Ummon]

Just a 32". Anything bigger would have been too big for my basement. My couch is only like 8' away.

32 inches for seventy bucks?  Wow.

The warranty was $70.

OH. Silly me.

[shardian]

Went to the in-laws, and father-in-law got my wife a Garmin Nuvi 200 GPS. It is a neat little tool, but I would never blindly put my faith in it.

[shmokes]

Why not?  If you don't know where you are, what better alternative do you have?  I've had quite a few experiences where the maps were wrong in my GPS, but it's never a big deal.  If it's wrong you're not gonna pull over and give up.  You just say, "WTF?  There's no Walmart here," and you do another search and head over to another one.  But 99% of the time the thing is spot on, and it's a gajillion times easier and safer than using a traditional map (which is also often not up-to-date, just like the GPS).

[Franco B]

I'm not weighing up presents in this but I had one of the best Xmas's ever

I did however get a 120GB Classic iPod (my choice, 120GB Classic>16GB Touch for =£), a Spacies T-shirt (she knows me too well! ) Wall-E on DVD, some Argos and WH Smith vouchers. We've spent the WHS vouchers on cooking books already, the Argos ones will go on some random kitchenware as were getting our first place soon.

Why not?  If you don't know where you are, what better alternative do you have?  I've had quite a few experiences where the maps were wrong in my GPS, but it's never a big deal.  If it's wrong you're not gonna pull over and give up.  You just say, "WTF?  There's no Walmart here," and you do another search and head over to another one.  But 99% of the time the thing is spot on, and it's a gajillion times easier and safer than using a traditional map (which is also often not up-to-date, just like the GPS).

Heh, you should read my post in the Garmin vs. Magellan GPS thread. I have had mucho experience of not putting my faith in a Nuvi 200, if I followed its instructions I would have been bottom of the frogger leader board.