I REALLY do not understand my husbands family

We have been doing a family name draw at Christmas for 15 years since my husband is one of four and each couple has kids (9 cousins)

For awhile, when the kids were small kids did kids and adults did adults, then once the kids were in their teens we just drew names.

The whole point of this was that if you had one person you would be able to find something meaningful FOR THAT person AND because we have two family members who are cheap asses, if you only had the one gift you SHOULD be able to spend enough to get them a nicer gift.

As the years went on the gifts from SOME got lamer and lamer...for example one of my sons got a Camelback water bottle...ONE

My husband who is in charge of the exchange finally had enough of the lame gifts and thought that maybe NOW we should cull the exchange down to family to family instead of one on one gifts. SO instead of figureing out a present for each member of a family group you just figured out one thing the WHOLE family would like. Sounds easy huh?

So we have my sister in law and her family, 4 people and the boys are both still at home, one stillin high school and the oldest going to community college. None of them really get along but one thing I know they all like to do is BBQ and they have a really nice outdoor space in San Diego so my husband thought we should send them an Omaha Steak basket. Ok I was going more along the line of a couple of hammock chairs but he insisted so we got them:

4 (7 oz.) Filet Mignons
4 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins
2 (8 oz.) Breast of Chicken Cordon Bleu
4 (4 oz.) Boneless Pork Chops
4 (4.5 oz.) Stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crabmeat
8 (5 oz.) Gourmet Burgers
8 (3 oz.) Gourmet Franks
8 Potatoes au Gratin
1 (6 in.) New York Cheesecake

So, I just got a package from my sister in law that is for my family group...there are 5 of us. I figured it was probably wrapped so I opened the shipping box to place the package under the tree and OOPS it wasn't wrapped, and there was no gift card...

AND NOW I AM PISSED OFF!

Not only was it a cheap ass gift, there is only one and it can only be used by one person AND only TWO people in the family would even be remotely interested in it. We got an Eagles Snuggie from my sister in law for the family present!

It really isn't the cost etc that is the point its just...REALLY??? A SNUGGIE...ONE SNUGGIE FOR 5 PEOPLE???

I don't mean to sound petty but really ONE? I mean really IF she had sent 5 snuggies, it could have been a funny gift (you know they are lame but deep down, you think well MAYBE a snuggie would be a good thing when your cold) but ONE? to be shared between 5 people?

It is the thoughtlessness that really got me. How about something like a movie gift basket with a couple movies, microwave popcorn, some candies.

One snuggie? I'm completely offended at our entire family being a total afterthought in a drugstore. The gift shows a distinct have to feeling instead of a want to creativeness that is supposed to accompany gifts.

I spend more time, effort and money on my SSSH then she did for her oldest brother and his family

I swear we are done with this gift exchange.

Wow...People actually give snuggies as gifts and aren't embarrassed?

I'm sorry Velvet..that just sucks. Especially after a gift like that...My god that looks delicious. lol

I am having christmas dinner with my family for the first time in 8 years this year. Our last one resulted in a huge blowup while my wife and I sat there watching what felt like a jerry springer episode. Now with the kids being young and impressionable, I can only hope civility wins out.

I am not optimistic. Mostly because most of my family found out recently that my wife is Pagan and they are mostly fundamentalist christians. This should be fun.

Please film it...Oh and get all your ammo rdy...have all the facts about how the Christians took over Pagan symbols and how there were no equivalent Christian symbols until Christians moved north etc.

I'm sure your wife knows it all =P

She does, and So do I.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

Gotta love the holidays + families eh?

Depends on the Snuggie http://www.offlinetshirts.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=Safehouse Snuggie

Personally, I'd consider any Eagles merchandise to be a slap in the face.

Ha...my husband and oldest son are Eagle fans

Good try, but I inspect the element of every link before clicking. :D

That's lame. You should call her out on it. Send her an email telling her you got the first package and to let you know when the rest is getting there!

We do the gift exchange thing in our family most of the time, but we set a price amount to prevent it from going over/under. We usually say get a gift between $40 and $50. Might work in the future.

My friends and I did a gift exchange as a way to save money - you drew a name out of the hat, and had to buy that person a $50 gift. Sounds simple enough right? We discontinued it after 2 years, and now do NO Xmas gift exchanging, except for home baked goods from those of us that bake.

We had one guy that you would hope and pray didn't get your name because you knew he was going to get you a lame gift (he wasn't too good at gifts even before we started the exchange), and he never came close to the $50 mark. The 2nd year, he drew my name and I got a T-shirt and 3 small picture frame ornaments. He got a huge rolling tool chest for his 40K army and a Lowe's gift card from me.

Then we had another guy who just couldn't get his mind around the fact that we were only buying one $50 gift for one person and got everyone gifts (and it's not like he could afford it anyhow). My boyfriend actually outright refused a Best Buy gift card from him the 2nd year, but this guy kept trying to sneak it into his bag and car...

On the plus side, if you ever decide to smother one of them, they just gave you something you won't mind ruining.

I am not sure which concerns me more..The fact that this is the first place your mind went? Or the fact that I laughed...hard.