What gifts that you received for Christmas this year are already in the trash?
For me, there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke, and one toy for my kids that was a huge sparkly styrofoam mess waiting to happen, so I threw it out rather than curse anyone else with it.
The tree comes from the pagan solstice celebrations
Yep, from Rome to Rīga, they used to mark the death of nature with plants that refuse to die. Later, they started decorating them to symbolise the blossoming or the harvest of the year's last feast.
Source: school education from the last pagans of Europe.
I like the plot twist that the sister is pagan
Alcohol bottles (were full, now empty and in recycling, not trash)
Hooray for recycling!
My partner and I got scratch ticket packs for eachother for $38 total. I lost every ticket she won 20 dollar so we are starting the year 18 dollars short.
Don’t buy scratch tickets.
In Norway the profits are used to fund local football clubs for kids and such. It does not need to be exploitative and bad.
I was in line at a convenience store the other day, when the person in front of me bought a dozen or so scratch tickets. Normally, I wouldn't have gave it a second thought, people gamble. But what made it stand out to me was that the person made the cashier just immediately scratch the QR code square and scan the ticket. Like, the person didn't even touch the tickets. Just handed over the money, and made the cashier do the work. Not only that, but the cashier didn't even bat an eye; as this seemed like a normal occurrence to them. And the person in front of me didn't win anything, they just walked away with nothing.
So not only was it extremely sad to see this person, who is clearly addicted to gambling, waste their money. But, seeing how the industry has made it so easy and fast for someone to piss their money away was quite disgusting. These people don't even play the game on the cards now. They just scratch off the code and scan it. Just sad all around.
We call them a "stupid tax" but infrequently buying them is pretty harmless. I don't mind group lotto either it can be fun to buy in and run the numbers out over a course of a few months. There's some charity lottos I've done before.
Yeah they are always a loss overall but since we didn't buy other gifts this year it was just to have a little chance at winning.
Why not? They're fun and benefit numerous good causes, such as services for elderly citizens and low-cost prescription medication programs. No one of stable mind really thinks they'll get rich, but it's nice to win a few bucks here and there.
When I was 18, I worked in a convenience store. I was behind the counter with my manager and some lady decided to throw a few bucks at some dollar scratch tickets. I was behind silly and put my finger on the middle one and said it would get her at least five dollars. She laughed and took them out to her car. A few minutes later she came in looking like she saw a ghost. She asked how I knew and I just told her that I guessed. She won exactly five dollars on the ticket I pointed out.
As someone working in my family’s gas stations for the last two decades, this is something that happens at least a few times a month for me.
9 times out of 10 the big winners have sat and played on a roll until it hits something and they move on to the next making it nearly impossible for an average, non addicted customer to get anything. The gambling addicts will spend 200k to win 10k and jump up and down like the 10k winner is going to change they life.
Customers who always share their winnings, I point them to the ticket that hasn’t hit in awhile. Customers who aggravate me and bounce in front of people like someone pissing themselves at a slot machine, I lie and tell them a ticket hasn’t hit even if it has. It’s probably wrong, but my thinking goes that the longer a particular ticket has gone without hitting, the closer it is to a winner. Someone smarter than me can probably call me an idiot on that one.
Pointing people to winners (which is a total freak thing every time I do) has paid me probably 6k in the last 20 years. If decent folks think you assisted them in their luck, they always want to share in the luck.
I’m sorry I’ve pretty much just sat and typed nothing here. Too far in to back out now. :p
there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke,
My kids got two or three items each that promptly broke. Into the garbage they go.
I hate the dollar store so much. It's a waste of money and an environmental train wreck.
And sketchy. Who knows if any particular batch of any particular product was made to safety or quality standards.
Actually they are all the same, and none of them are, that's why they are all the same. The plan was made before fire codes required updated sprinkler systems or something and since they keep reusing the same plans they all are fire hazards.
A fire fighter buddy of mine was ranting one night and I caught the tail end of the discussion.
À bottle of wine, but it's now empty.
Hemingway-esque
At the other end of the spectrum: My wife and I made a minimal gifts pact. We each got each other minor crap we needed for around the house. It was perfect. No waste. No extravagance. Just stuff we were going to get anyway.
Just don't gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
My family did it and it was honestly amazing (obviously kids should get something if possible).
Just don't gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
We haven't made it that far yet. I imagine/hope we will eventually.
As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, in Iceland they buy each other books and on Christmas Eve they open the books and everyone sits around reading them.
We always get stuff for the kids and the nieces/nephews, and our moms. But we haven't gotten a gift for each other in years now. We both buy something if we want it bad enough throughout the year, and it's both of our money anyway, so what's the point? We will some years get a "household gift" that's something we need or everyone can benefit from, that shouldn't go to just one kid or "you two share this and try not to fight over it, or that they will care less about. Nice air fryer one year, Nintendo switch another, etc. But nothing really needed or wanted this year so we'll probably just take a pass.
this is how my family has it set up too, everyone writes a list of some reasonable stuff they'd quite like to get anyways and we just pick a thing from each list while coordinating with each other to not duplicate anything.
Works brilliantly.
My neighbour gave me a TV. To be precise, he rushed it to me unannounced at the exact moment I was leaving to go to a party. I accepted as quickly as I could in an effort to still make my train.
It turns out it's about 15 years old and I have no use for it. He's a lovely man but I intend to post it as free to a good home then drop it at an e-recycling station if nobody is interested.
Is it a CRT? Big giant tube tv? They can fetch decent prices.
Nope, just an LCD. It'll make you feel old but 15 years ago CRTs had already lost majority market share. Sony shut down its last CRT manufacturing plants in 2008.
I know, I'd kill to hear that sweet degaussing zap again.
Not trash, just returned to the shop. HP Smart Tank 580 printer.
Did you buy a brother instead?
I currently have a printer, also HP, but an old one (20 years).
When I'll finally need a new printer, I'll be deciding between HP and Brother. I am not sure about Linux support with Brother printers. I heard it's great, but I need to search more. I know HPLIP works well, but I also heard these new HP printers don't last long. Then there's also the thing called HP+ (not to be confused with Instant Ink) that many of those printers have, which REQUIRES HP account AND a connection to internet.
Only thing in all of these posts that deserves to be trashed.
The Canon version of that has been good for me. No subscription or anything, just fillable ink tanks.
My mom got me a sweater, where they accidentally sewed the neck/zipper/ tag part inside out. I’m guessing she bought it online and never looked at it.
Can confirm. That sparkly styrofoam stuff became a huge mess approximately 5min after opening.
Kudos to your foresight, and congratulations for the free time you saved by not cleaning up this pink and purple bullshit
Do you happen to have pictures/videos? I can't imagine what you're talking about.
I haven't opened any Christmas presents yet. We're having a late Christmas due to crazy schedules for everyone involved.
I'm actually just about to celebrate Christmas in the next hour or so. My dad's health went downhill over the holidays and he needed to be moved to assisted living, so we had to delay Christmas for a bit.
I asked my family to get me gift cards because I don't like receiving a bunch of trinkets/cheap toys. And the non-cheap "toys" I want are too expensive for my family to afford. So I'd rather they contribute cash toward something I really want.
Sounds like a good plan! I hope the event is a fun time, despite the hardships
The baked goods a lady from my dad's church gave me. I don't even know what they were; it tasted and looked like it was just a bunch of dallops of cake frosting sprinkled with almond dust. I don't really eat sweets, and these offended my taste buds when I ate one. Nobody else wanted to take them off my hands so into the trash they went.
Meringues?
Maybe? I've never had meringue as anything other than what tops a lemon meringue pie, and that's pretty fluffy and light and doesn't really taste like frosting (butter cream frosting to be specific). These treats in question were fairly dense, and a bit crumbly. Could be meringue that's dried out some, I guess.
All the chocolate is already down the toilet, or on my waistline.
Ah, the old "either went to waste or went to waist."
I'm not much for receiving gifts but I appreciate fancy candies and food items I wouldn't buy for myself, and I turned most of them in to poop already.
Finished off a thing of oreo caramel with a creamy filling.
My mom bought me a xlarge sweater. She must think I'm fat because I'm large at best.
Oh, idk, oversized sweaters are kind of a vibe. Extra cozy.
Yea, fully agree. Our workplace had a sweater selection one year for birthdays (the second sweater selection actually) and I deliberately took a size too large for myself. Super nice in a chilly winter day
The lady and I started just buying our own gifts and profusely thanking each other for them a few years back. So. Nothing.
It's nice because there are still gifts under the tree, without the angst of shopping and the likelihood of disappointment.
This is what my wife and I do but we also usually throw in a surprise too.
My wife and I have decided to adopt the Icelandic tradition of buying each other books, and opening them on Christmas Eve. We then have a wonderful quiet read that evening.
We might buy each other small presents aside from the books, but nothing is expected or required.
Had the original floam as a kid. Smelled terrible and didn't stretch at all like in the commercials. Definitely went into the trash and I can only imagine how much worse the kind you had was. Slime or playdoh would have been better or easy to make.
The in-laws know I love to cook and got me a (to me, they're familiar with the author through some TV show) random cookbook. It's aimed at people who don't know how to cook and lack confidence trying. Also who cook with things like Velveeta and cream of mushroom soup.
I mostly eat from-scratch Asian food.
My husband's mom bought our cats a chirping kicky toy that I guess is supposed to look kind of like a ferret. It was really shrill and annoying and they wouldn't leave it alone because the noises made them so curious. It mysteriously vanished later on christmas day lmao.
Nice!
Dumb cheap acrylic pyramids with silly decorations laid into the base.
What was it?
The slinky my middle child got didn't even survive the day.
Has anyone had a slinky that survived more than a week?
The plastic ones never do, but I had a steel one growing up i played with a lot tyat lasted me a decade.
Christian devotional book from my aunt, I’ve straight told her I don’t read or want them but she keeps doing it
Take a picture of you burning it in a pentagram
Better to use a Bible as kindle As to use a Kindle as a bible