Found this recently.

http://notalwaysfriendly.com/a-time-...ing-only/34498


A Time For Giving Only
home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays

(Every year at Christmas, my family makes large batches of treats: peanut brittle, cheeseballs, fudge, brownies, and that's just a beginning list of the goodies we tend to make. Because my budget is tight, I've made my best friend and her family a huge basket with a large amount of all these treats I've made from scratch and carried it over the night before Christmas.)

Friend's Daughter: "Ooh, yay, goodies! I love your goodies."

Me: *laughing* "Well, feel free to dig in. Just remember you have to share. I wish I could have given you guys more, but my bank account is really tight, so this is all the Christmas I could give."

Friend: "I understand that." *goes into a tangent of all the expensive things she bought her three kids: smartphones, new game systems, new expensive shoes...*

Me: "Ah, yeah, I didn't even have money to get my car repaired. I'm scared it's going to break on me soon."

Friend: "Oh, I'm sorry." *doesn't sound sorry at all* "I just got a brand new car myself. I'm so excited. [Husband] surprised me with it, but the payments are so high on it."

Friend's Daughter: "There's only food in here. Where's the presents?"

Me: "Those are the presents. I made all of those for you guys to enjoy for Christmas."

Friend's Daughter: "That's just sweets. Why didn't you get me presents?"

Me: *really hurt* "You know, I don't remember you buying me a present, young lady. I remember I bought you that really nice jewelry kit for your birthday two months ago and your brother got that full collection of movies from me."

Friend: "That was their birthday, though. I can't believe you didn't buy any presents! That's rude, [My Name)!"

Me: *smiles and picks up the basket of sweets* "You're right. It totally was. I also noticed that you didn't bother to buy me anything this year, either. Or the year before. Or the year before that. I'll just remember how rude I was to bring you this large basket of food for Christmas."

Friend's Daughter: "No! Bring the fudge back!"

(I left with everything and haven't talked to her or her family in over a year. Apparently, she's mad at me for ruining her children's Christmas.)


(end)



Lenona.

On Wed, 9 Apr 2014 16:28:16 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>Found this recently.
>
>http://notalwaysfriendly.com/a-time-...ing-only/34498
>
>
>A Time For Giving Only
>home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays
>
>(Every year at Christmas, my family makes large batches of treats: peanut brittle, cheeseballs, fudge, brownies, and that's just a beginning list of the goodies we tend to make. Because my budget is tight, I've made my best friend and her family a huge basket with a large amount of all these treats I've made from scratch and carried it over the night before Christmas.)
>
>Friend's Daughter: "Ooh, yay, goodies! I love your goodies."
>
>Me: *laughing* "Well, feel free to dig in. Just remember you have to share. I wish I could have given you guys more, but my bank account is really tight, so this is all the Christmas I could give."
>
>Friend: "I understand that." *goes into a tangent of all the expensive things she bought her three kids: smartphones, new game systems, new expensive shoes...*
>
>Me: "Ah, yeah, I didn't even have money to get my car repaired. I'm scared it's going to break on me soon."
>
>Friend: "Oh, I'm sorry." *doesn't sound sorry at all* "I just got a brand new car myself. I'm so excited. [Husband] surprised me with it, but the payments are so high on it."
>
>Friend's Daughter: "There's only food in here. Where's the presents?"
>
>Me: "Those are the presents. I made all of those for you guys to enjoy for Christmas."
>
>Friend's Daughter: "That's just sweets. Why didn't you get me presents?"

**** 'EM!!!

That would be the LAST Christmas Candy any kid or anyone ever got from
ME!

I started this tradition 29 years ago specifically so I could give ALL
my friends and family a good and heartfelt home made Christmas present
for Christmas! Also as a rebellion against the exact ****ing attitude
this kid displayed!

John Kuthe...

You are well rid of that bunch.

On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:53:04 PM UTC-4, Kalmia wrote:
> You are well rid of that bunch.

You DO know I wasn't the one in that story, yes?

I have to wonder how Miss Manners would have handled it - if the kid is under a certain age, I suppose MM would have suggested talking to the mother in private and demanding that her kid apologize. The trouble with what the giver did is that the mother's knee-jerk reaction obviously was to take her kids' side - and from now on, they'll likely be telling the story to outsiders in such a way as to make HER look like the bad guy.

Lenona.

On 4/9/2014 7:28 PM, wrote:
> Found this recently.
>
> http://notalwaysfriendly.com/a-time-...ing-only/34498
>
>
> A Time For Giving Only
> home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays
>
> (Every year at Christmas

Christmas. Really? It's April. Your browser must be stuck in a time warp.

Jill

> wrote in message
...
> Found this recently.
>
> http://notalwaysfriendly.com/a-time-...ing-only/34498
>
>
> A Time For Giving Only
> home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays
>
> (Every year at Christmas, my family makes large batches of treats: peanut
> brittle, cheeseballs, fudge, brownies, and that's just a beginning list of
> the goodies we tend to make. Because my budget is tight, I've made my best
> friend and her family a huge basket with a large amount of all these
> treats I've made from scratch and carried it over the night before
> Christmas.)
>
> Friend's Daughter: "Ooh, yay, goodies! I love your goodies."
>
> Me: *laughing* "Well, feel free to dig in. Just remember you have to
> share. I wish I could have given you guys more, but my bank account is
> really tight, so this is all the Christmas I could give."
>
> Friend: "I understand that." *goes into a tangent of all the expensive
> things she bought her three kids: smartphones, new game systems, new
> expensive shoes...*
>
> Me: "Ah, yeah, I didn't even have money to get my car repaired. I'm scared
> it's going to break on me soon."
>
> Friend: "Oh, I'm sorry." *doesn't sound sorry at all* "I just got a brand
> new car myself. I'm so excited. [Husband] surprised me with it, but the
> payments are so high on it."
>
> Friend's Daughter: "There's only food in here. Where's the presents?"
>
> Me: "Those are the presents. I made all of those for you guys to enjoy for
> Christmas."
>
> Friend's Daughter: "That's just sweets. Why didn't you get me presents?"
>
> Me: *really hurt* "You know, I don't remember you buying me a present,
> young lady. I remember I bought you that really nice jewelry kit for your
> birthday two months ago and your brother got that full collection of
> movies from me."
>
> Friend: "That was their birthday, though. I can't believe you didn't buy
> any presents! That's rude, [My Name)!"
>
> Me: *smiles and picks up the basket of sweets* "You're right. It totally
> was. I also noticed that you didn't bother to buy me anything this year,
> either. Or the year before. Or the year before that. I'll just remember
> how rude I was to bring you this large basket of food for Christmas."
>
> Friend's Daughter: "No! Bring the fudge back!"
>
> (I left with everything and haven't talked to her or her family in over a
> year. Apparently, she's mad at me for ruining her children's Christmas.)
>
>
> (end)

Good for you. That mother is a damned disgrace and they are not worth
bothering with.

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

> wrote in message
...
> On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:53:04 PM UTC-4, Kalmia wrote:
>> You are well rid of that bunch.
>
> You DO know I wasn't the one in that story, yes?

Since you didn't make that clear, how were we supposed to know.

Ignore my previous post!

--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 8:01:48 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 9, 2014 7:53:04 PM UTC-4, Kalmia wrote:
>
> > You are well rid of that bunch.
>
>
>
> You DO know I wasn't the one in that story, yes?
>
>

I spoke to the author, but I suspected you'd been thru a similar experience.

On 2014-04-10 1:50 PM, Moe DeLoughan wrote:

>
> It reminds me of my brother's family and their reaction to our family
> gathering at Christmas. Being a huge family, it is our family's practice
> to only give presents to non-immediate family members under the age of
> eight. Kids between eight and eighteen get their gifts from their
> parents, but the rest of the family is not expected to give them
> anything. We all grew up under this practice and have no problem with it
> - except for my oldest brother's kids. They were incredibly rude about
> it, and he let them get away with it. Finally, one year he announced his
> family would no longer participate, because it didn't make sense to meet
> with the family if the family wasn't going to give his kids presents. A
> lot of eyebrows were raised, but nobody tried to talk them out of it.
> Now, two decades later, he and his kids complain that they have been
> 'excluded' from the rest of the family, as well as being 'singled out'
> by not being given presents. They conveniently forget it was their
> decision to break away - we just didn't try to talk them into staying.
>
> **** 'em. Christmas is a happier event without that bunch of complaining
> ingrates.


I know the feeling. We used to give Christmas presents and birthday
presents to 12 nieces and nephews. Only one uncle, who had no kids,
sent him a birthday present faithfully. Sometimes he got one other
birthday present. He got Christmas presents from my brother (wives and
kids collectively). I didn't expect one gift from each cousin. I would
have been content with one present from each family. The concept of
exchanging gifts resulted in us buying and delivering or sending 24
gifts and, in exchange, our son got 4 or 5.

They year that none of the others bothered with his birthday was the
year I was announced we were not buying Christmas gifts for the kids. I
had discussed it with my mother and she had suggested that at the family
gathering we would do the $5 gift thing. That worked for me.

Wouldn't you know that the SiL with the most kids was the one who tried
to dump on me for being the Scrooge. She actually whined that it was
unfair to her and my brother. One brother and I only had buy one gift on
behalf of our kids, one had to buy two and she had to buy four.

For years I had been buying four birthday gifts for her kids and four
Christmas presents for her kids, and they bought one Christmas gift and
didn't even bother with a birthday present for my son. Yet she was the
one who complained about unfairness. I had never even considered that
he should get one present from each cousin. One from each family would
have been perfectly fine.

I did the math.. I figured that at the time were were spending on the
average about $25 on each present. That meant that I was spending $600
total on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and nephews. Our
son got three presents the year I cut it off. Her four kids were
getting a total of $200 in presents while they spent about $25 on our
son. The gift exchange meant I was spending $5 on behalf on my son and
she would be spending $20.... less than she would have been spending on
one present. She was saving at least $100 on presents. Knock of the $20
for the $5 gift exchange and he is ahead by $80.... but still whining
about the unfairness.

Ophelia wrote:
>
> <lenona321 wrote:
> > A Time For Giving Only
> > home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays

YAWN. Another cutsey "forwarded message" type story
> >
> > (Every year at Christmas,

<snip>

> Good for you. That mother is a damned disgrace and they are not worth
> bothering with.

This stupid clone story is a damned disgrace to me. The only thing
missing was the traditional last line that accompanies most of these
tales:

"Please forward this to all of your friends and have a lovely, caring
life."

Gag! I have a couple of relatives that constantly forward crap like
this to me.

G.

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 2:47:24 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
>>
> >>
>
> I did the math.. I figured that at the time we were spending on the
> average about $25 on each present. That meant that I was spending $600
> total on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and nephews. Our
> son got three presents the year I cut it off. Her four kids were
> getting a total of $200 in presents while they spent about $25 on our
> son. The gift exchange meant I was spending $5 on behalf on my son and
> she would be spending $20.... less than she would have been spending on
> one present. She was saving at least $100 on presents. Knock of the $20
> for the $5 gift exchange and he is ahead by $80.... but still whining
> about the unfairness.
>
>
Our family got so large we went to the 'drawing names' routine; adults only! Parents bought for their children. No trying to guess if you bought a gift one of the kids wanted or not.

"Gary" > wrote in message ...
> Ophelia wrote:
>>
>> <lenona321 wrote:
>> > A Time For Giving Only
>> > home | TX, USA | Bad Behavior, Family & Kids, Holidays
>
> YAWN. Another cutsey "forwarded message" type story
>> >
>> > (Every year at Christmas,
>
> <snip>
>
>> Good for you. That mother is a damned disgrace and they are not worth
>> bothering with.
>
> This stupid clone story is a damned disgrace to me. The only thing
> missing was the traditional last line that accompanies most of these
> tales:
>
> "Please forward this to all of your friends and have a lovely, caring
> life."
>
> Gag! I have a couple of relatives that constantly forward crap like
> this to me.



--
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/shop/

On 2014-04-10 5:58 PM, wrote:
> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 2:47:24 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>
>> I did the math.. I figured that at the time we were spending on the
>> average about $25 on each present. That meant that I was spending $600
>> total on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and nephews. Our
>> son got three presents the year I cut it off. Her four kids were
>> getting a total of $200 in presents while they spent about $25 on our
>> son. The gift exchange meant I was spending $5 on behalf on my son and
>> she would be spending $20.... less than she would have been spending on
>> one present. She was saving at least $100 on presents. Knock of the $20
>> for the $5 gift exchange and he is ahead by $80.... but still whining
>> about the unfairness.
>>
>>
> Our family got so large we went to the 'drawing names' routine; adults only! Parents bought for their children. No trying to guess if you bought a gift one of the kids wanted or not.
>


These days we get together with my younger brother and his family for
Christmas. It is usually the three of us, three of them, SiL's parents
and this year their daughter's boyfriend. We upped it to $15 gift. It's
the luck of the draw.

On Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:04:28 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:

>On 2014-04-10 5:58 PM, wrote:
>> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 2:47:24 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>> I did the math.. I figured that at the time we were spending on the
>>> average about $25 on each present. That meant that I was spending $600
>>> total on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and nephews. Our
>>> son got three presents the year I cut it off. Her four kids were
>>> getting a total of $200 in presents while they spent about $25 on our
>>> son. The gift exchange meant I was spending $5 on behalf on my son and
>>> she would be spending $20.... less than she would have been spending on
>>> one present. She was saving at least $100 on presents. Knock of the $20
>>> for the $5 gift exchange and he is ahead by $80.... but still whining
>>> about the unfairness.
>>>
>>>
>> Our family got so large we went to the 'drawing names' routine; adults only! Parents bought for their children. No trying to guess if you bought a gift one of the kids wanted or not.
>>
>
>
>These days we get together with my younger brother and his family for
>Christmas. It is usually the three of us, three of them, SiL's parents
>and this year their daughter's boyfriend. We upped it to $15 gift. It's
>the luck of the draw.

My family does the "Mad Santa" thing, where each person buys a gift
under $30, and we spend a couple of hours sorting out who gets what.

It's *way* more fun than just exchanging gifts, and the max budget
keeps everything under control. We've been doing it for years, and
it's something that I really look forward to at Christmas.

Explanation of Mad Santa is he

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-craziest...93.html?cat=74

Doris

On 2014-04-10 11:22 PM, Doris Night wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Apr 2014 19:04:28 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
>> On 2014-04-10 5:58 PM, wrote:
>>> On Thursday, April 10, 2014 2:47:24 PM UTC-5, Dave Smith wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I did the math.. I figured that at the time we were spending on the
>>>> average about $25 on each present. That meant that I was spending $600
>>>> total on Christmas and birthday presents for nieces and nephews. Our
>>>> son got three presents the year I cut it off. Her four kids were
>>>> getting a total of $200 in presents while they spent about $25 on our
>>>> son. The gift exchange meant I was spending $5 on behalf on my son and
>>>> she would be spending $20.... less than she would have been spending on
>>>> one present. She was saving at least $100 on presents. Knock of the $20
>>>> for the $5 gift exchange and he is ahead by $80.... but still whining
>>>> about the unfairness.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Our family got so large we went to the 'drawing names' routine; adults only! Parents bought for their children. No trying to guess if you bought a gift one of the kids wanted or not.
>>>
>>
>>
>> These days we get together with my younger brother and his family for
>> Christmas. It is usually the three of us, three of them, SiL's parents
>> and this year their daughter's boyfriend. We upped it to $15 gift. It's
>> the luck of the draw.
>
> My family does the "Mad Santa" thing, where each person buys a gift
> under $30, and we spend a couple of hours sorting out who gets what.
>
> It's *way* more fun than just exchanging gifts, and the max budget
> keeps everything under control. We've been doing it for years, and
> it's something that I really look forward to at Christmas.
>
> Explanation of Mad Santa is he
>
> http://voices.yahoo.com/the-craziest...93.html?cat=74
>
>
That is what we did .I didn't know it has a name. We had always done
that with my father's family Christmas gatherings because there more
kids on that side. There was a variation on the rules. A person who
lost a gift does not automatically get to keep the next one, but an item
can only be stolen twice. The third one gets to keep it.

It is fun. It is inexpensive. You don't have to spend a lot of money and
hours and hours trying to get the perfect gift for someone and then find
out they don't appreciate it.

On Thursday, April 10, 2014 5:06:30 AM UTC-4, Ophelia wrote:

>
>
> Since you didn't make that clear, how were we supposed to know.


Er, I did make it clear. Note the first sentence I used: "Found this recently."

People don't usually talk about "finding" things they wrote themselves.

Lenona.