Odd holiday traditions

[LukenDC]

I actually adored Joan growing up- my grandfather favored her movies after John Wayne so I saw most of them and thought she was extremely elegant.

I'm sure that there were many exaggerations- we always seem to remember things differently when it comes to Christina's book. I haven't read it as an adult because I honestly didn't want to hate Joan. I did find it interesting that she used a well known black market agency for several of the adoptions though.

I don't want to hijack the thread but do want to respond to your comment about the black market adoption agency. Are you referring to the agency run by Georgia Tann in TN? That agency and Tann enjoyed a favorable reputation until the early 1950s. Tann had received numerous awards for her adoption advocacy and was a well-regarded expert on adoption. It was not until the early 1950s that the horror of Tann's work and tactics became public knowledge. While I don't doubt that Joan may have engaged in some shady dealings when adopting the children, I doubt that she knew the magnitude of Tann's crimes.

 

[leight]

Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that she purposely did a black market adoption. It was a very reputable agency in her time, so I am sure she used them in good faith. I am just aware that she utilized their services. I didn't find out about it until the Lifetime movie aired and I read a book on Georgia Tann and it mentioned Joan.

 

[PUZZLDY5]

Back to our regularly scheduled thread here......


My DH is a good sport and every year he seems to get the "gag" gift. One year he got womens underwear in a much bigger size than normal, one year he got boxers that looked like Elf shorts. Jingle bells and all. This year the boys got him naughty lollipops from Spencers. Can't wait to see his reaction from that one. He swears that every year he's going to get us back but he hasn't done it yet.

 

[mickeymedic]

My DH writes clever things on the gift tags on my presents. They usually include a hint about what is inside. He also labels them as if they are from one of our pets (2 dogs and a whole family of chinchillas), Mickey Mouse or Santa. Although one year, after a several month long battle with pesky rodents trying to take up residence in our walls and basement, I received a Christmas gift from "the Rats." I am happy to say that they only had to buy me a present once. Shortly thereafter we finally succeeded in permantly evicting them.

 

[DisneyScraps]

We play present roulette. That is what it got nicknamed. It started because DBF is the kind of man that can look at a box with his x ray vision and know what is inside and even wrapping things in odd size boxes doesn't always work and I was determined to surprise him.

One year I started to not use tags but I numbered all the presents. That included my extended family and my DD. No one knew which persents were theirs or even how many were theirs. That expecially make my DD crazy.

On Christmas Eve my extened family comes over and we exchange gifts. By that time I had long forgotton what was in each box I just had that list that said what it was for. So rather than pass out gifts to each person in an orderly fashion my DD would select a gift from under the tree and that person gets the gift not matter what order it was. So my DD might get 3 in a row and then have to sit and wait for 4 people people to open gifts before she gets another one.

It was hysterical the little kids went nuts over it.

So now that is how we pass out presents.

To make it even more fun I am implimenting a Lets Make a Deal component. I am going to buy various stocking type stuffers and food items and mix them in with the regular gifts, then when one of those is selected I have an alternate gift to offer them, it might be another small gift, it might be an empty box. It might be the original gift. They are not going to know. So they have an opportunity to walk away with some fun food items and maybe some little trinkets and of course everyone will get the gift they are supposed to get even if they dealt it away. I can't wait to do this. It's taking a lot of planing but it's going to be a lot of fun.

Lisa

 

[NVDisMom]

Santa gets a beer with his cookies. We figure by the time he gets to our house he's pretty tired of milk! The year the kids got a swing set he helped himself to the six pack in the fridge. Santa must have had a difficult time putting a swing set together in a snow storm. Eldest DD finally found the last of the wing nuts in spring. I guess he spilled a bag...