Chicago: When Someone Rides Free We All Pay!!!!!!!!!

i just tell her that her grey hair looks distinguished

I love the knit scarves my sister Leslie and Nick's sister have made for me. I tried to learn how to do it myself for my own gifts but failed miserably.

In other news, who wants to guest on my Christmas album? Jooohhhhnnn? You could play some nice bell-sounding keyboards. I think I'll do the whole thing in Garage Band, with a mix of original and traditional songs.

I don't have enough time to do it up right as a FF album. Plus, Ben would have to pull a Streisand.

not me man, barring the inexplicable this will be the first year since 96 or 97 without a girlfriend at xmas. my sisters and i don't spend a lot of money on each other, we much rather prefer to get one another something completely rediculous (like the rooster shaped alarm clock that cock-a-doodle-doo's when the alarm goes off) to anything practical. shopping for my folks is hard because i don't talk to them often enough to know what they want or need.

This isn't entirely true. He's gone to India, Mexico, and Scandinavia within the last couple of years. But on a day-to-day level, he's still going to be watching a small TV on an old sofa wearing clothes from Lands End until he kicks it.

XPOST!!

http://www.lybrary.com/images/money_magic.jpg

http://gallery.rei.com/media/203562.jpg

my mom cried, it was really sweet.

i've tried making her mix cds, but i never get them quite right anymore. mix cds are wonderful presents though if you're decent at making them.

But that's because a) my dad has always been cheap, and b) I've heard him worry about his retirement fund, post-divorce, esp. since he makes considerably less than my mom does. So I feel more inclined to buy him dinner sometime in the future. But I also know that the meal won't be as extravagant as it usually is with my mom.

same here, i always go overboard with the motorhead.

xp yeah, i'm always looking at prices of different dishes and going for the less expensive ones if i possibly can...

i don't spend much on them really, but hopefully the scarves i've knit and all of that mean something. i'm horrible at buying gifts, and i've kind of run out of thoughtful ideas, which kind of sucks.

my parents have done a lot for me, but they also make fuckloads of money while i'm getting by with four figures. so it's tricky.

http://i.a.cnn.net./si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0609/campus.superfans2.week4/images/71874_04.jpg

With moms, I always pay because she has no money or source of income. Not that it comes up very much, because until now there have been zero kosher restaurants that she will eat it in Milwaukee (but this placed just opened up called, wait for it, Cafe Osher!).

People, recommend me some wonderful, inexpensive shampoo.

Lush shampoo bar. Lasts forever so the initial outlay is totally worth it.

I totally resent spending caps on gift-giving, for friends or family. This is a point of tension between Jeff and me because he has a totally different relationship with his family than I do and doesn't understand why I would ever want to buy something for my parents that requires financial sacrifice on our part.

Not that it has to require that sacrifice, but if the gift that I want to give them, be it something to do, eat, own, or whatever, is pricey, I figure, "I sure love these people so I'm going to buy this perfect thing, budget be damed, because it will make them really, really happy."

And yes, I love telling my Republican mother than she raised a little commie.