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Christmas Contest!

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Two winners will be selected and each one will be awarded $50.00 to spend in our store!

To enter simply tell us about how someone was surprised for Christmas. It can be how you surprised someone or how someone surprised you. Or it can be about relatives or other people. This is CONUS only please. Winners will be drawn by random.org. Will let it run just a few days so that the two winners will be able to receive their free selections in time for Christmas.

~ The Captain
 
Back when my kids were younger, we were having the kind of year where Christmas presents were going to be pretty sparse. This was the year Nintendo first introduced the Wii. Naturally that was at the top of my kids Christmas list. But there was no way we could afford it.
One day my wife and I were out Christmas shopping and on a whim I decided we should go to GameStop or one of those gaming stores to see if they had any used Wii's. It was a long shot, but sure enough someone had just brought one in. It worked, but it needed to be cleaned up a bit and the price was right. But that also meant fewer gifts to open. We took it home, I hooked it up and played with it a bit and created my own Wii person or whatever they called it at the time. I put it back in the box and wrapped it. Then we decided in order to disguise it from our nosey kids, we put my name on it.
Christmas morning, we opened what few gifts we had. The last gift had my name on it. It was the only Christmas I ever saw my kids visibly disappointed. I unwrapped the gift and gleefully announced, "Hey, Santa got me a Wii!". My kids were beside themselves with glee. We set it up and played all day.

Merry Christmas Scott, but I will sit this one out. I've gotten enough freebies from you.
 
Great PIF and I’m in.

My favorite surprises started a few years ago. My wife generally does the Christmas shopping and was commenting that she is never surprised by what is opened, so that year I stealthily bought my 4 daughters a small “dad gift.” They were cheap little gag gifts that got some laughs and cheers and my wife enjoyed watching, too. After that it kind of became a tradition for me to find silly little gifts, which was easy with little kids. As they got older, this tradition has become more difficult for me to be creative, so I asked my youngest (who is now 16) how it would go over if I skipped it this year. I was immediately informed there would be so much disappointment if there were no dad gifts, so that annual surprise will continue!
 
I'll throw my santa hat in the ring. My girls were about 5 and 12, so about 20 years ago. The oldest was almost at the no santa tipping point and the younger had heard from a friend there was no such thing. We had a good Christmas snowfall that year, but Christmas morning it was starting to thaw. We went outside after presents to build a snowman. Now, what I saw as an adult was some rabbit tracks in the snow that had melted into single prints. What my girls saw were hoof prints...reindeer hooves. I still tear up thinking about. To this day I still thank God I wasn't too vain to have to explain their misinterpretation.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I thank you for your kindness sir! I'm in.

We had some lean years growing up. My best Christmas, er holiday, LOL, was when Santa brought me a drum set! No way! But there it was. I think I was about 8 or 9. Drove my dad CRAZY with those. Mom always loved the racket, bless her.

Mom's are the best.
 
Definitely in. Been eyeing some CC for a while now.

I love surprising people for the holidays. My mother never asks for anything because of course she thinks I can't afford them (which I do have to save for major purchases, so she's not wrong). One year she was so frustrated the months before with her computer, I decided to surprise her with a new laptop that was easier to use and had a bigger screen and whatnot. Was not expecting it at all, but she broke out in tears she was so happy. That's a hard gift to beat lol.

These recent years I've been trying to PIF to them by cooking holiday meals for them and hosting with our house instead of theirs, since they're getting on in age and hosting the family takes a toll I can see in them.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Definitely in. Been eyeing some CC for a while now.

I love surprising people for the holidays. My mother never asks for anything because of course she thinks I can't afford them (which I do have to save for major purchases, so she's not wrong). One year she was so frustrated the months before with her computer, I decided to surprise her with a new laptop that was easier to use and had a bigger screen and whatnot. Was not expecting it at all, but she broke out in tears she was so happy. That's a hard gift to beat lol.

These recent years I've been trying to PIF to them by cooking holiday meals for them and hosting with our house instead of theirs, since they're getting on in age and hosting the family takes a toll I can see in them.
It is hard to see/watch as they age before our eyes...
 
Merry Christmas Captain! I'm in.

As for how someone was surprised... I'm always surprised how fast Christmas comes around. Haha.

Going back to the topic, Christmas has often been a normal day. A day to rest and to relax with the family. During my college years, I was able to get some presents for my parents because I worked part time while studying. Although I did not earn much, I got couple things like coffee maker, panini press, and couple belts as gifts. It's not the most expensive gifts but my parents still appreciated them. I would bring those gifts in the morning while they were still sleeping and surprise them. That said, I probably need to do some Christmas shopping to do an another surprise this year. Thanks for the reminder!
 
Scott, another great PIF. Thank you.

I remember one time when I was scheduled to be somewhere else for work during the holidays and so I told my parents that I would not be spending time with them. I went with the others to the job site and it turned out to not be as big of a problem as they had expected and we got done early. The folks that hired us pulled some strings with travel and we managed to get a flight home on Christmas day. I took a taxi from the airport and rang my parent's doorbell at 8 AM. They were surprised to see me especially when they resigned themselves to celebrating Christmas with me closer to the New Year.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Scott, another great PIF. Thank you.

I remember one time when I was scheduled to be somewhere else for work during the holidays and so I told my parents that I would not be spending time with them. I went with the others to the job site and it turned out to not be as big of a problem as they had expected and we got done early. The folks that hired us pulled some strings with travel and we managed to get a flight home on Christmas day. I took a taxi from the airport and rang my parent's doorbell at 8 AM. They were surprised to see me especially when they resigned themselves to celebrating Christmas with me closer to the New Year.
That is so cool.
 
Another great holiday tradition. Respectfully, not in this one as I have been very fortunate in the past


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Happy holidays Scott and thank you for the PIF chance.

I surprised my wife one year with most of her presents (jewelry) being on the tree in cleverly crafted ornaments. They had been on the tree right in front of her the whole decorating season up til Christmas day. She was very surprised and delighted.
 

brandaves

With a great avatar comes great misidentification
I'm in.

One Christmas when I was stationed a boat I surprised my wife and daughter by driving through the night from California to Washington. When I arrived I had the office of our apartment complex call my wife and tell her that they sent in a UPS man to deliver a package for her that required a signature. When she opened the door, there I was. She immediately started crying and hugging me...it was a good day.
 
I'm in.

Surprise:

Me

I'm my parents' first child. I was due mid January. But I arrived about 1:00 am on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I'm in.

Surprise:

Me

I'm my parents' first child. I was due mid January. But I arrived about 1:00 am on Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas
I would SO use this as a reason to not have to buy them a gift!

Of course, your mom and dad might not agree!!!
 
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Random.org has selected as our winners:

Timeclo
Robbyboxers


Thank you to each who participated. May all of you have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. For the winners, email The Captain at: [email protected]

You each have $50.00 to spend in our store and we look forward to getting your winnings into your hands and under your Christmas tree!

~ The Captain
 
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