Non-think presents at Christmas

SimonAH

It's very nice that friends and family give gifts at Christmas, but why the hell do they have to work on the principle that the bigger the mouldings and the more tiny parts a kids gift has (especially if it is basically impossible to dis-assemble into a storable box) the better a present for a child is? I again have the painful process of finding a way to either cull or somehow store a living-rooms floor area of plastic sh1t that my daughter has acquired this year.

And a special mention to my sainted (and slightly bonkers) father who (without consultation) gifted her a trombone. I suppose I should be thankful it wasn't a fukcing pony.
:evil:

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm ungrateful, but FFS we live in a smallish house.....

DDD, get the ground rules in with the relis early mate.....

whitebait01

SimonAH wrote:

And a special mention to my sainted (and slightly bonkers) father who (without consultation) gifted her a trombone. I suppose I should be thankful it wasn't a fukcing pony.
:evil:

Best present ever. I have no idea what I'd have done if someone gave me a trombone when I was a kid.

SimonAH

:-D I only told him a few weeks ago that I'd just paid for her guitar lessons to start next term!

PedalPedant

SimonAH wrote:

:-D I only told him a few weeks ago that I'd just paid for her guitar lessons to start next term!

Yeah but guitarists are ten a penny, a good 'bone player will always be in demand :-)

PP

SimonAH

Is that a euphemism PP?

That's my daughter you're talking about..........

(NEED that "I'm joking!" font previously discussed)

clarkey cat

EDIT.

too far.

PedalPedant

SimonAH wrote:

Is that a euphemism PP?

That's my daughter you're talking about..........

(NEED that "I'm joking!" font previously discussed)

Ha! no it wasn't, that interpretation hadn't even occurred to me

(seriously though, orchestras are always crying out for trombonists)

PP

cjcp

A trombone?

When's your birthday? Have you asked Mrs AH for some headphones?

Only a cat would be worse.

walkingbootweather

cjcp wrote:

Only a cat would be worse.

Especially one of the (pre-edit) Clarkey variety.

clarkey cat

damn didnt think anyone saw that.

walkingbootweather

clarkey cat wrote:

damn didnt think anyone saw that.

If only I'd had a Kieran_Burns-like foresight and quoted

clarkey cat

you're obviously a bit rusty

walkingbootweather

Now if I was, say a brass instrument, I wouldn't rust. Sorry will change the subject now.

Twostage

SimonAH wrote:

It's very nice that friends and family give gifts at Christmas, but why the hell do they have to work on the principle that the bigger the mouldings and the more tiny parts a kids gift has (especially if it is basically impossible to dis-assemble into a storable box) the better a present for a child is? I again have the painful process of finding a way to either cull or somehow store a living-rooms floor area of plastic sh1t that my daughter has acquired this year.

And a special mention to my sainted (and slightly bonkers) father who (without consultation) gifted her a trombone. I suppose I should be thankful it wasn't a fukcing pony.
:evil:

Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm ungrateful, but FFS we live in a smallish house.....

DDD, get the ground rules in with the relis early mate.....

Reminds me of when my daughters were young. I used to up until 2am on christmss eve assembling and putting stickers onto plastic Barbie accoutrements like houses, planes, stables, horse boxes you name it.
The small plastic bits end up in the Hoover, the big bits... the attic.

Agent57

Hurrah for kids who want iTunes or Moshi Monsters gift cards.

CiB

Or X-Box games; reassuringly expensive and received with utter glee. I do get riled though at cheap tat that you just know is going to be given a dismissive shrug before disappearing to the back of the wardrobe for three years before it's 'moved on'.

clarkey cat

Give it to charity. We always do a massive charity drop-off just after Xmas with old things replaced by gifts and unwanted gifts.

NGale

put it this way, she starts to learn to play the trombone and guitar, enjoys it, wants to become a musican, joins any one of the armed forces bands, gets paid to take her degree, travels the world, gets paid to take her PGCE to teach music and has a bloody good time over the 30 years of her armed forces musicians career before retiring at the age of 50 with a rather good pension.

Just an example like

seriously though, let her learn both the trombone and guitar, she'll soon find the instrument she wants to play more seriously than the other, plus music grades count towards UCAS points should she decide to go to university later on.

And just be glad she wasn't given a drum kit for Christmas :shock:

clarkey cat

I was chatting to a military Bandmaster t'other day and he told me that alot of the musicians in the West End musicals are military sorts doing a bit of moon-lighting.

NGale

clarkey cat wrote:

I was chatting to a military Bandmaster t'other day and he told me that alot of the musicians in the West End musicals are military sorts doing a bit of moon-lighting.

My cus does a lot of teaching on the side when she has free time from RM Band Service. Makes a fair few bob out of it as well. Her only regret is not going in sooner and persuing her music with a rock band instead. Still she's making up for it now. Just returned from a fortnight in Gibraltar and is off to Canada in the new year!

Twostage

clarkey cat wrote:

Give it to charity. We always do a massive charity drop-off just after Xmas with old things replaced by gifts and unwanted gifts.

I did ten bags of children's clothes from 18 months to four years a couple months ago. Must say it was a very strange feeling going back into the shop to drop the second batch off and seeing your own kids clothes for sale.
Got rid of the carry cot to someone who came into my office for a meeting.
The soft toys went also apart from a beaver, a monkey and hand puppet cockerel which stayed in my office for comedic purposes. ( I notice that the abbreviation for cockerel gets autocorrected to something else whereas my beaver gets through unscathed)

asprilla

clarkey cat wrote:

you're obviously a bit rusty

So many jokes, so little taste.....