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I’m a pretty easy person to please.  Watch my kids for a couple of hours while I go enjoy a movie and I’m ecstatic.  Yeah..how pathetic!  I remember the days when I HAD to have a new bottle of Bulgari or a new expensive purse to match an outift.  (Now I’m lucky if I even get out of my pajamas much less match a purse to clothing OR put on makeup!) My husband was looking at all the jewelery commercials this year and asked me what I wanted and I said, some peace and quiet!! (I have a VERY demanding 3 year old, a 6 year old with a STRONG personlity and a slight touch of OCD, and a whiney 8 year old that LOVES to tattle...but god know I love ‘em)
What I wanted but did not get:  I wanted a Peaches and Cream Barbie so bad one year (I was not usually a “barbie” kind of kid) and that Christmas there was a “barbie” shaped box under the tree.  Well, when I opened it I burst out crying because it was not barbie...it was “Miss Flair”.  You know, those cheap plastic dolls whose legs don’t even bend!  UGH!!  Now every year, my older sister puts a “Miss Flair” in my stocking and we have a good laugh at my parents. 
The furthest I’ve gone to get the perfect gift for someone is going on on “Black Friday”, which I do every year anyhow!

Liz dear, all I can say is you’re either committed or need to be committed. But I suppose it’s well worth the time if the son’s eyes burst into tears when he sees his new gaming system.

BTW I want the new systems but umm I’ll wait until the holiday frenzy is over and the prices drop. No way am I going to pay $500 bucks for a system. Shesh! Do you know how many Elizabeth Bevarly books that could buy? hehe

I look forward to the follow-up on this one.

I would love a pair of black boots and a $50 gift certificate to Borders for Christmas! I honestly can’t remember not every getting any toy that I really wanted when I was younger. If it was something I really wanted, 9 times out of 10 someone in the family got it for me. I’ve never been through any great lengths for Christmas presents and hopefully I never have to!

Sorry, I was in such shock and the lack of caffeine (hey if you can use it so can I).

This year I want a membership to the RWA.

The thing I never got when I was a kid..hmmm the kitten or puppy. I’m still wanting one. What does it take to get a hint in to someone?? Just teasing, sorta.

I tend to shop early, so I’ve never really had to deal with the “omgs” of shopping.  I suppose that makes my holiday shopping a bit charmed! Thank heavens.

I want a ebook reader.  Me and my sister went to Black Friday at walmart.  We got there about 3 in the morning, found the item we was wanting and waited.  Five minutes to 6, I was ripping the plastic covering it.  I reached one of the dolls to a little girl that was waiting for one and then started to get mine.  I almost had one out when someone grabbed it from my hands.  Well I just went and grabbed two more.  We ended up with just the two.  After that, I went back to layaway and got in line for one of the I Dogs.  I got the next to the last one.

We did the ELMO TMX this year and it went about the same as your search. Yes we finally found one. When I was growing up I always wanted a Barbie, didn’t matter which one as long as it had long blonde hair. Never got it.

One year when I was about 10 my family went to Penney’s to do our shopping and my sister Jody and I immediatly fell in love with a display of porcelain dolls--the ones with the beautiful dresses and the jewelry and hair arranged in curls.  We begged and begged for one of those dolls.  After that night, we were doing our usual snoop through the house trying to find the present stash and we spotted 2 white boxes just the right size on the very top shelf of the linen closet, too high for either of us to reach.  We checked every day till Christmas to make sure they were still there.  On Christmas morning as soon as our parents let us into the living room we rushed right to those boxes only to see the names “Sam” and “Mark” on the tags.  Why did they give Sam and Mark our dolls?  There was no way we were going to let our brothers have our dolls so we tore open the packages only to find DUMP TRUCKS!  35 years later, I’m still waiting for my porcelain doll.

Liz, I think I was in L’ville that very same weekend visiting friends.  It was REALLY cold.  REALLY, REALLY COLD.  I hope it was worth the bone-chilling, early morning and that you got 2 Wii’s, one for your son and one to sell on e-bay!  Can’t wait to find out what happened…

For Christmas this year I want books.  Lots and lots of books or gift cards so I can go guilt-free book shopping.

I ordered one particular gift “backordered” by two different very reputable catalogues, and I’m not going to say what it is because I ordered it for my two daughters and my husband, but let me say to the catalogues—what the hell would I want the freaking thing for in January?!?!

Off to call and cancel both orders.

Hi Liz!  I’m still on the Wii search.  I have the same problem - my son will be fine not getting one until later but I can’t handle the disappointment.  I can’t even get anyone at the stores to admit when they are coming in at this point (it may have become personal for them now; they’ve seen a lot of me).  And the worst part is that my son begged me to let him put $50 down on one earlier in the fall so he could get one when they first arrived and of course I wouldn’t let him.  I may have guilt issues.

I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of your story!

Hmmm...I did the Black Friday thing with my son. he got a lovely digital camera and printer for his wife at about 30% off the normal price. That was fun. The one thing I wanted as a child and didn’t get until I had outgrown it was a Spirograph.  I never understood how mother would say each year that she couldn’t find one. I think she just forgot what I wanted --even though I asked for four years in a row. Dad did buy me a horse one year to my utmost amazement! and delight.

LIZ!  I was getting into the story and you to-be-continued me! 

What happened?

I spent several hours on Tuesday morning looking for a Nintendo DS Lite for my DD.  Target was out.  Toys R Us was out.  Best Buy was out.  Wal-Mart was out.  I finally gave in and went to Costco where they have a package set.  The system is $130, the stupid package set with one game plus the system was $166.  But at least the shopping is done! The part that kills me is that this particular present is going to be from my in-laws b/c they sent us the money to go buy it, but I had to do all the leg work!!  All I can say is, she better be happy.

As for me, I’m getting several pairs of shoes and new cookware.  Whoopee.  I know b/c I picked it all out.  Sad, but no one knows what to buy me, so I tell them.

OMG Kay! I must have begged my parents for a horse every year from age 10 to 14, and I never, ever got it. Never even got riding lessons either. My two best friends were both riders, one competitively, and I used to spend HOURS at the stables with them just to be around the horses, but the funny thing about stables is they want you to PAY for lessons (which my parents couldn’t afford at the time).

And even though I’m 35 now, I still feel a twinge of envy when my baby sister (she’s 16 years younger) announces “I’m going riding Sunday”, as by the time she turned 10, the money was there for lessons. She rides every weekend. One of these days, I’m going to have to get her to take me to the stables and teach me to ride.

And Liz, I’m on the WII quest too, but I’ve been sneaky. I tasked my unemployed baby brother (he’s 24) with tracking one down for me. Unfortunately, he hasn’t managed to get his hands on one either, though he did manage to land a great job that he started this week, and I’m too excited for him to mind the lack of a WII.

There’s not much I want in way of gifts. I love anything and everything anyone ever gives me (except for 20 year old recycled gifts, then that’s just in bad taste). However, there is one gift I am harping on this year: a digital camera.

When I was a child, there was only one thing I ever wanted from anybody, a Barbie Doll! Now, every time I pass the Barbie section at Walmart, I always breathe a heavy sigh and push my inner child back within me, to stop myself from actually reaching out and buying one.

Hey, Elizabeth, funny, funny stuff as usual, and I’ll be back later for the to-be-continued part. I’m just smug these days, since I watch with glee as my daughters do the 4 a.m. shift on Black Friday to seach for the grandkids’ chosen (and very expensive stuff. LOL).

O.K. Andi, you are still a rookie at wanting your horse. As I just mentioned, I’m a grandmother, and I STILL am wishing for my horse.  I started begging as soon as I learned to talk, but my pleas came to naught all those years ago, and I too have never gotten over it. Sad but true. But, hey, I’ve been hobbying for my daughter to break down and buy a horse for my granddaughter. Never say die, Andi!

I don’t remember wanting anything that I never got as a child, I think I was easy to please, even now I don’t mind the gifts I get.  All I as is don’t give me a hundred dollar gift certificate for a store that is great, yes, but you have to spend 400$ to get anything you like!  My only peeve! Infact the year I got a 200$ giftcertificate from one of those particular places, I had to give them back to the giver, I said “I just can’t find anything (And I tried) in my price range...cause lets face it, that beautful dinning table is like 800$ and that duvet/throw is 600$, so here you go, enjoy!” Okay maybe I am hard to please!

Liz,

My 12 year old son gave me a Wii update everyday since last February when they announced a launch date. When we missed all the pre-orders, by being 38th in line, he was devastated.  He would call every store and ask how many they were getting and when did their doors open.  Everyone said to camp out.

I employed my 17 year old daughter and several of her high school friends (guys and girls) to camp out.  They took my son along with them.  They had a ball and they were 15th in line.  The store had 33.  And yes, they froze their butts off.  I showed up an hour before the store opened to check on them (and to write the check.)

As a kid, the only thing that I can remember begging for was a microscope set.  It took two Christmas’, but I finally got one.

Liz I wait with baited breath!! They should award these Wii based on merit because it sounds like a war of attrition from your posts!

I’m easy to please. I get more kicks out of unwrapping things and admired big piles of whatever under the tree than anything else.

And I’m just starting my holiday shopping this weekend so I hope the shortages haven’t gotten really bad. But I figure I’m good because I usually wait until the night before.

I was blessed as a child.  Even if I didn’t get everything I ever wanted (I have exspensive taste, and was reminded of that constantly...you can have this or that, make your choice) I had all I could possibly need and enough of my wants to make me happy.  I never did get the pony, though.

However, my greatest shopping quest wasn’t for somebody else (I’m sorry to say).  It was for my wedding.  I wanted boots!  Wedding boots!  Granny boots! And yes, they needed to be white, but not satin.  When I couldn’t find them in Boston--I was told you couldn’t find white shoes after Labor Day--I took the show on the road!  Fifth Avenue!  It was glorious!  Designer showroom after another.  We shopped for days!  Only to come to the realization that white leather granny boots just weren’t something that was made.  When I refused to settle for the standard white satin dyable pump and insisted I would continue the search, Mom and Maid of Honor nearly shot me.  My sister-in-law found the boots, finally, three weeks before the big day.  In a Western wear shop!  Not quite Granny boots...they came with lace applique, but they were white, leather and of the granny boot style.  My costume was complete!  Just don’t ask me what I went through to find the boots for the men…

I’m loving all these stories. Keep ‘em coming!

It’s funny, brownone, because having worked in retail for so many years, I always swore I would never shop on Black Friday. But now that I’ve braved it, I can totally see myself making it a tradition. If you go out with the right attitude--i.e. knowing you’ll have massive waits and such--it’s actually a lot of fun.

Haven, it’s definitely the latter, but I got to that point where I didn’t want to be bested by Nintendo. So I showed them. I got up at an ungodly hour and stood in the cold for three and a half hours. So there. 

It WAS really cold, Rhonda. But you know, after a couple hours, you’re so numb, you don’t notice.

Carolyn, I got to be like that at one particular store. The manager would see me coming in and automatically go to the computer to pull up the manifest for whatever was coming in that day--and there was never a Wii.

Kay, I forgot all about Spirograph! I LOVED mine. Um, not that I’m trying to rub it in or anything. 

Check back around 3:00, J! I promise to tell the ending.

Andi and Carolyn, good luck to you both in the hunt.

Amal, you’re never too old for Barbie. I have two in my office right now.

Deltajo, you’ve earned your smugness having done the childrearing thing. (And it sounds like you brought your daughters up right. *G*)

As for my own childhood gift I never received, it was a chemistry set. Every year I asked for one, but I never got it. I don’t know if it was because I was a girl (very traditional parents mine), or if they were afraid I’d blow the house up. Hmm. Maybe I should put one on my list this year…

Yay, Prudence! It’s always great to hear another Wii success story!

Nearhere, I still have to shop for my husband, and I have NO IDEA what to get him. He wants a massively expensive digital camera and massively expensive electric guitar. I’m thinkin’ “Get Smart” on DVD…

Bettysbounce, good for you! I say when you undertake a shopping Quest, you don’t give up!

Elizabeth...I don’t know if you’ve heard of gifts.com, but it’s a great site for finding gifts for people that are “hard to shop for”.  It’s helped me shop for my middle girl, my husband, and my brother in law!  I highly recommend it!

Liz, I remember those days well, getting on those lines at 4:30AM, but now the majority of “the children” are grown and I don’t have to do those things any more. 

When my friend-Stacey and I use to go to Toys R Us and couldn’t find the items we were looking for on the shelves, I would pose as an employee and go through their storage area.  She would be my lookout (someone had to be the innocent in order to bail the other out of a jam)and since the store was so chaotic nobody ever questioned me or ever stopped me.  I did that for 5 years in a row and always found our hard to find items. Our “babies” needed toys.

Wow, I see now how lucky I am to have scored the Wii.  I got mine at midnight at its release; the store got 19 and I was third in line.  I waited 5 hours, but inside, in the warmth.... love my small town Wal-Mart! 

As badly as my son wants the Wii, I think I want it just as much.  Having to put it away and not touch it for over a month has been a true test of will.  I’ve been a Legend of Zelda geek since the very first one was released, and my son and I can’t wait to sink our teeth into the new one.  I hope we’ll be able to tear ourselves away on Christmas Day long enough to go eat lunch at my grandmother’s!

Andi, Sorry you never got your horse!

Actually I am easy to please when it comes to Christmas gifts. My sister understands me totally. I saw the wrapped gifts under her tree and I saw my name on four gifts! i told her she didnt’ have to buy me four gifts! And she laughed and told me she only bought me one gift but separated it into four boxes so I would have more to open. So Cool! i get to open my gift four times!! But darn! I have to wait until Christmas to find out what it is!

I can remember the craze for Cabbage Patch Kids. I worked for K-mart at the time and people would phone ahead to find out when exactly the next shipment would arrive. I actually didn’t like them at all. But then, I wasn’t a kid at the time.

I can’t think of anything I really wanted badly enough so that I was upset and still remember what I didn’t get as a kid. It’s more the items I need now that I have no means of getting--like voice-recognition software and other computer accessories or programs. It’s no fun not being able to work and still being responsible for everything I need--no significant other or my own children around anywhere. 

Liz, I love my nieces and nephews, but no way am I going through all that, lol, let their parents do it.  Actually, in my state, they were lining up at doors of stores way before midnight in the cold, and then those lucky ones who got the WII were getting mugged, They even had to put out alerts on the news. 

MY BIL did go to Walmarts at 5 am one morning to get the Playstation portable his boys wanted and was in and out quick.

I remember the Cabbage Patch craze, too, what a marketing gimmick, lol.  That year, we had young nieces, so my talented mother and aunts made their own Cabbage Patch version and the girls were quite happy with them - very close to the originals.  They had to do that when my sisters got nuts over not being able to get one, lol.

LOL,

Sorry worked retial to many years to even think about shopping on Black Friday.  I usually wait till abou tnow to get started, although this year I was actually done before Thanksgiving.

As for what I want this year - well.............if I can’t get the garage torn down and rebuilt (it’s my workshop you see and it’s leaking like a sieve and started to collapse), then either books and/or gift cards for books.

I’m getting a house this year I hope, it has only been 5 years in the designing and building so no big Christmas present this year.  I remember my best present that I REALLY REALLY wanted was the Barbie Dream House.  I got it when I was about 8 and it was such a surprise because we never got “big” presents.

I can remember always wanting a pony.  Of course there was no place to stable it, but that didn’t matter to me then.  I did always ask for books for Christmas and birthdays and I got those so I was a happy camper.

I would love to get an ebook reader or pda for use in reading the ebooks I have rather than using my laptop.  There was not any gifts that I recall not getting as a child.  Basically, I told my mother what I wanted from “Santa” and it was there on Christmas Day.  The furthest I would go to get that perfect gift is Black Friday.

I would love an iPod or eBook reader this year.

As a kid I always wanted a Teddy Rupskin (the talking bear)...never got one...but I did have a Talking Pound Puppy named Cooler.

This year are books, dragon figurines and cd on my wishlist.

what I really wanted as a child was a care bear, but I never got.

I love to find the specical gifts for my family and I think really long what makes them happy

Hmmm - what do I want for Christmas this year? Everyone in my family to be healthy. Somehow I don’t think I’ll get that one so how about everyone being there (alive is a given) on Christmas Day! If I was selfish (and let’s face it who isn’t at some stage) I would wish for a magical soundproof closet ...along with all the Squawkers books of course...where I could hide. You can’t expect me to hide without fantastic reading material Maybe, if I’m really good, Santa will send me my soul mate..or at least give him some directions as I think he is lost...or perhaps that’s me?

Merry Christmas All!

orannia

Thanks for the tip, brownone. I’ll check it out!

Elsie! I salute you! Dang, girl, you got some shopping chutzpah there. 

Cherry, Zelda will be waiting for my son on Christmas morning, too. That’s the only game he’s craving right now.

Pambook, the morning I bought the PS3, as the manager was bagging it, he stuffed another bag on top, to hide what it was. He said, “Be careful going out to your car.” I laughed, thinking he was joking, but he said, “No, I mean it. Be very, very careful going out to your car.” Scary.

I was another one who wanted the peaches and cream barbie, broke my heart I didn’t get it. But my 2 yrs older cousin did. And she wasn’t all that into Barbies!

But I did score a couple cabbage patches and I love my dad’s story of how he got the first one so almost makes up for peaches :o)

I can’t remember ever wanting a present that badly as a kid. Besdies, my mother had us well trained because eveytime we asked for something in a store, she’d always say ‘Next time.” and we always beleived her!

What do I want this year?

A gift card to Borders (100)
Tickets to a show on Broadway....any show
That crooked diamond necklace they are always advertising.

What will I be getting?  None of the above.  A few sweaters and dinner out and that suits me just fine.

I want books for Christmas. Hopefully I’ll get a gift card so that I can get them!
Something I wanted: A cabbage Patch doll. I never got one, but my Mom made me a doll that was beautiful and so much like one that I eventually didn’t mind. She hand painted the eyes and mouth. I wish I still had that doll. As for going to extremes, I searched for a week at SEVERAL stores for a certain Lego set for my Son this year. Finally found it and he’s going to be happy (hopefully).
BTW, do you have any idea how hard it is to find Marvin the Martian merchandise now? My Dh loves him and the only good place to find Marvin anymore is on eBay.

Christmas 1962. I was ten years old. All I wanted was a Thumbelina doll. My Dad asked me if I wouldn’t rather have a real baby sister. I said no. I wanted THAT doll.
I got the baby sister . DIDN"T get the doll, but SHE got one when she was 5.

I was always reminded that Christmas was for kids, and as one of the older siblings, I was no longer a kid at 10.

When I was little I always wanted the Cabbage Patch doll or a Barbie. Never got either one. It was always socks and underpants. One year my mom made me this hideous pink (neon pink) pants suit. I hide it in the back of my closet. The following year she wrapped it up and gave it to me again. *sigh* No. I never wore it. It was hideous!

This year I want romance! A night alone with my husband and him acting like the most romantic man on the planet. I lost my sexy and I need it back! What I’m really going to get...the in-laws. Already got suckered into Christmas eve with them and hosting New Years. Yes, I have sucker written in bright red across my forehead.

I had 2 things I wanted for Christmas this year and I got them both....hehe.

A Long Black Cashmere/Wool Coat with a black velvet hood (hehe, on sale 50% off, plus a 20% coupon, SCORE!)

The Burberry London gift set (boy did I hunt for this one, Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Ulta, Dillard’s were all OUT), but I got it at Neiman Marcus online.....YES!

I am receiving Kitchen Aid appliances from my mom and brothers......hey, who says you have to wait to get hitched to build yourself a kitchen!!!!!

Cheers!

oooh! We got our Wii!!! It’s totally worth everything you’ve listed so far--but MAN am I enjoying your story!

I love those circle diamond necklaces, Santa. And I’d get myself one, too, if they cost, like, five dollars.

Here’s hoping we ALL get what we want this year! (Hey, it could happen...)

Oh, how funny. My word is perhaps56. So perhaps we’ll all get 56 things we want this year. (Hey, it could happen...)

Gift certificates, because I haven’t decided what I want yet!