Christmas FAILS???

[Heather in Neverland]

I'll go first... I bought my oldest ds two video games for his Xbox. He was SO EXCITED.

 

Until he tried to play them.

 

I am a moron and I ordered the NTSC versions from amazon and his Xbox was bought here and is PAL. So they won't work. He was really bummed and I am out a lot of money.

[thebacabunch]

Bummer! It happens though.

[lmrich]

Yikes! I do not even know what that means! We have three returns, but they were very happy overall.

Merry Christmas!

[Desert Rat]

I've been crazy spacy since my dad died.

 

I only had 4 items for the boys' stockings. I didn't notice until 10pm last night and I couldn't do anything about it.

 

I didn't realize my little one only got one thing on his Santa list. One little thing. None of the big stuff. :(

 

My mom saved the day with overflowing stockings from her. And the ipads, of course, which we also helped purchase and was why he didn't get the big stuff on his list to begin with.

 

Everyone loved their gifts, though.

[acablue]

The only "fails" today were clothes for the boys. Our families chose not to believe me when I told them my 6-year-old wears size 10, and every single thing ended up being too small. They're not too broken up about it, and I have the gift receipts, but this means I have to go into a mall. Ugh.

 

That really is a bummer about the games. I'm sure I would have made the same mistake.

[----]

.

[Sahamamama]

Well, the head already fell off one of my daughter's Polly Pockets, but other than that, it's been an A+ Christmas. :)

 

I'm taking it back on Thursday. She still dresses and undresses it. She thinks it looks "cool" without a head.

[lynn]

No fails here. Everyone appreciated everything they got. DS asked me for good headphones and my 17 year old did not know what he wanted so I gave him a nice sweater he saw last week and some money to equal his brothers gifts. I thought my oldest would be disappointed he did not get cash but he really liked the headphones I found and appreciated what I did get him (axe and a nice new wallet(his was falling a part) so all was well.

[Jenny in Florida]

No real "fails." We got our daughter a started set of baking supplies as her big gift, since she's starting to learn to cook some basic things for herself. She's super picky and incredibly organized and is already planning her first apartment. (By "planning," I mean she has lists of specific items from specific stores that she keeps on her computer and updates regularly. In theory, the lists are for "inspiration," but the point is she knows exactly what she wants.) I knew a couple of the items for sure that she wanted, but I had to take a guess on a few things to fill out the box. Only after I had reassured her three times that I had kept receipts on purpose and wouldn't in any way have my feelings hurt if she wanted to exchange anything did she finally admit I had not gotten the spatula(s) she had in mind. So, I think we'll be returning the ones I got and letting her pick the ones she'd rather have.

 

Other than that, we did remarkably well, I think.

[swellmomma]

No fails here, I didn't have much for the kids, most I bought at goodwill, or handmade and they still loved it all. I stressed so much about the fact that most of it was not new, and that I could not get them anything from their santa lists, but I did good.

 

I am sorry to hear about the video game mix up. It is one of those things you just don't think to check.

[sparrow]

Ugh. So sorry about the games!

 

Overall, we had a really nice Christmas and we had some genuine surprises, which are always nice. Our FAIL was Android tablets we bought each of the kids. Dd's works wonderfully and we got it for a steal. Ds's shuts down when it goes to sleep :glare: . The kicker is that we didn't even realize this was happening because ds didn't touch the thing. He prefers his old 2nd gen iPod Touch. Here we thought we were upgrading him to a larger screen. I can't complain he spent all day playing his is new HO scale railroad. I thought we were done with trains years ago, but he has decided he's doing a hobbyist layout. If you saw the recent Big Bang Theory with Sheldon dreaming of Santa bringing him trains, that's my son :001_smile: .

[kwg]

Amana :hugs Anyone who spends 5 hours in the ER on ANY day gets to be tired and cranky!!!

 

I bought my ds a trilogy I just knew he would love and he went to start it when we realized it was a 4 book series and -yep!- I did not buy the first book! Also, he was so excited about a tshirt I got him that once he held it up to himself I think it will have to be more of a night shirt for a while. *snort* He will still use it though.

 

Nice day :)

[GWOB]

My dh had to work today :(. Other than that, we all had a great day. The only other minor glitch was the fact that we were sent the wrong Amazon order, but my dd5 loved her gift. The kids were happy with everything they got. They played nicely all day. Everyone got along. We stayed in our pajamas. Cooking was kept to a minimum. We just missed dh.

[gardenmom5]

I bought ds headphones that apparently aren't usb compatible. apparently, just 'cause they were where all the computer accessories were doesn't mean they're a computer accessory. I may see if I can find an adapter before returning them.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I bought my 2yo a stroller. It came with 2 wheels missing. Not too big of a fail since Target has pretty simple returns.

 

 

 

 

 

ETA: actually we did have a pretty big fail. We got my dd a Posable My Generation horse. When she went to put her Madame Alexander doll on it to ride it she broke off one of the legs. The worst part...she laid in her bed crying for over an hour.

[CupOCoffee]

I bought DH 2 (yes, two) new wedding bands in different sizes/styles. And both were a bust. It's OK though, he's happy I OK'd the purchase of our new 60" TV -- so it's all good.

 

~coffee~~

[Joker]

Well, the head already fell off one of my daughter's Polly Pockets, but other than that, it's been an A+ Christmas. :)

 

I'm taking it back on Thursday. She still dresses and undresses it. She thinks it looks "cool" without a head.

 

 

:D My dd had a Barbie whose head fell off and she turned her into a mannequin.

 

No fails here. We were lucky.

[Forget-Me-Not]

My son's big Santa gift, a Skylanders set, is defective. The USB dongle (I hate that word) doesn't work. I can send it to Amazon and get a refund and we will go buy another somewhere in town tomorrow, it just means weathering the crowds.

 

 

[Sahamamama]

We had a lovely Christmas this year.

 

Here is one of the many love notes from my three daughters, along with a "treasure."

[Starr]

You would think after this many years dh and I would be better at buying books for each other. lol

[Evergreen State Sue]

We bought a watch for our son, it arrived in the mail a couple of weeks ago, I thought I gave it to my dh to hide, he thought I took it and hid it. We can't find it. The watch cost as much as two gifts we gave our dh, so our ds had to sit and watch his little sister open two more gifts and we had to tell him his gift fell off Santa's sleigh and the elves are trying to track it down. He was very good about it . . . in fact since he got to open the family gift of a PS3, he hasn't stopped smiling. :)

[AndyJoy]

Last night I tried to pre-make sausage gravy for today's breakfast but I ended up burning it because I was busy wrapping gifts as well. I just made it this morning without trouble.

 

The only fail here was that Denny's was out of hot chocolate. We went to the park after opening presents and went to Denny's to warm up, but it was cold in there and sadly, there was no cocoa. DS was still happy with his chocolate milk though.

[sbgrace]

Grandparents got my boys an xbox. They were thrilled. It's their only "big" gift. I'm an idiot and didn't realize you need a TV for it. I assumed it could be hooked up to a computer monitor. Ugh. Our TV is still at our old house and we can't go get it tomorrow as as the roads will be hazardous/we're under a blizzard warning. The boys handled the disappointment really well though. They are still so excited. I'm just kicking myself for not thinking about that ahead of time.

[jamijoy]

While I wrapped most of the presents for my kids early, I only recently bought the special 'Santa' paper and didn't wrap those gifts until late last night. That's when I found out that the roll of pretty sparkly red paper was not enough for my kids' gifts from Santa (there was only one per kid!). I had to use scraps and tape them to the holes in the wrapping where there wasn't enough to cover in the back. The kids never noticed and you can't tell in the pictures. :coolgleamA:

 

I bought the same doll for my girls, one that makes sounds and moves when you put the pacifier in its mouth. I must have only tested one in the store, because my younger daughter's didn't work. I changed the batteries and I could hear the motor running non-stop so it's actually not functioning properly. Dd was sad and I told her she could still play with it but she didn't want to. Looks like I'll be going to Walmart this week. Yikes. She didn't care for long though, so that wasn't too bad...just doing an exchange at Walmart will likely take forever this week.

 

In addition, dh is deployed and I tried to juggle taking pictures, video taping, positioning the iPad so dh on Skype could see the kids, and helping to open/put together gifts this morning. And my oldest, who is usually such a big helper, has a broken hand and has a cast on it so he needs a lot of help himself. The opening of presents didn't go quite as organized as I had planned.

 

Later today, my dd who is 4 1/2 and loves to do preschool asked to do school. I told her it was Christmas vacation and we weren't doing school today. She instantly got excited and thought we were going to see her cousin (since we took a vacation there last month) and when I tried to explain to her that Christmas vacation is actually just a break from school, and we weren't going anywhere, she got so upset that she started to cry in disappointment so I ended up doing preschool with her to make her happy. On Christmas. :laugh:

 

I can already look back and find humor in all of this though, so it wasn't too bad.

[Grover]

Very nearly a fail - I purchased a wii game for DS second hand and I very nearly just wrapped it when it arrived, but I decided to have a little sneaky go before packing it up. Good thing I did, because the case was empty. I'm really hoping it will turn up

9the seller is trying to find it) but, yeah, that wouldn't have been a good look on Christmas morning.

[PhotoGal]

This didn't affect Christmas, but Christmas eve night was a little crazy. I had ordered the kids beanbags to use in the family room while watching movies, reading, etc. I bought them online. The boxes arrived a couple weeks ago and were stashed in the garage. They were about the size I expected.

 

As dh was getting them out last night to set up, he read that you should allow a couple hours for the beanbags to expand after you take them out of the box. No problem - we had time. Well, they kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger! At full size they took up almost our whole family room floor space! They seriously took up the space between the coffee table & TV one way and fireplace & Christmas tree the other way. They were GIGANTIC! They actually made everything around them seem small since they were so big. The coffee table looked tiny next to them. The pile of Christmas presents looked tiny. The dogs looked like mice. Seriously, they were gigantic!

 

We kept laughing and trying to think of how they could still work, but I couldn't think of where we could possibly put them in our house! I think if we took out the couch, the two beanbags would take up the same amount of space. It was crazy. Dh kept saying the kids would love them and I kept saying "But then we will never be able to get rid of them and where would we put them?!"

 

Finally at about 3am we decided to put them in the garage for now and decide what we are going to do with them later. I think it would cost too much to mail them back (they are HUGE). I am toying with the idea of bringing them out some random day just for fun, as long as the kids agree that we can not keep them. Maybe if we had a large basement or something!

 

Luckily Christmas went very well and everybody enjoyed everything with room to walk and space to play in the family room. :)

[Hoot]

I think our only fail was the original Nintendo I bought for DH. It was his big gift and he's wanted it for awhile. I bought it, tried it as soon as I got it in the mail and it worked fine. DH went to plug it in yesterday and... NOTHING. I was so mad. He finally got it to work but discovered that there's something wrong with the A/V cord so there's no sound.

[Pippen]

I felt like a total Christmas fail this year. Between working and prepping for a trip we leave on tomorrow I was utterly disorganized. Newsletter didn't happen, usual cookies mostly didn't happen, and the house...oh, the house!

 

Don't worry and please don't send out the crisis team--I'm not a big Christmas fan anyway and I'll get over it. ;-)

 

Giftwise, I bought a small toolbox and some tools for my 16 yo teen that he wasn't jumping for joy over. I know they'll get used but he sure wasn't happy over them like he was his new Bose earbuds.

[melissad2]

My oldest two got a pretend camping set and one of the lanterns quit workin after a couple of hours...thankfully Santa (Amazon) is replacing he whole set via overnight shipping ;)

[boscopup]

We had a near-fail that turned out fine. We got DS1 a Kindle Paperwhite. He reads ALL the time, and especially reads a lot in the van. When it's dark out, he has to turn on a light, and then the other boys want to turn theirs on too, but they're too close to the driver, so light is a no-go for them. Fighting ensues, etc. Plus DS is always leaving a million books in the van. It'd just be easier to have his Kindle in there for reading. I even put a couple library books on there (thanks to Overdrive) that I knew he would probably like.

 

Well, he opens up the first present, which is the case and the cord, and he was getting pretty excited. Then he opens the actual kindle and realizes... it's NOT a tablet. :lol: His friend had gotten a Kindle Fire for his birthday earlier this month, so DS1 probably thought he was also getting one. But no, it's just an ereader. We purposely aren't giving him a tablet right now because I know he'd play games on it 24/7. :tongue_smilie: So I could tell he was a bit disappointed. Then we went traveling for lunch and dinner with separate parts of our families, and they were a good hour+ away, so plenty of time to read. He sat in his seat the whole way, holding his Kindle but not reading it. I think he was stewing. But then after dinner, it was dark, so the only thing he had to read was that Kindle. He finally picked it up, started reading a Rick Riordan book I'd checked out from the library, and he was hooked! He read 10 chapters in the 45 minutes or so it took to get home, and he was clearly happy about his gift now. :thumbup:

[Carrie12345]

Not an actual fail, but I felt bad for dh and my 5yo when dh was taping ds opening the set of framed comic book covers dh put together for ds's room. For some reason, there was a moment when ds thought the stuff inside the box was a Wii U. Totally took the shine off of what it actually was!

 

Later, dh pulled a "Hey, I think we forgot one!"

The kids did get a Wii U. *I* was not informed of this in advance. :-/

[lisamarie]

Both my girls got My Little Pony r/c cars. They were playing with them in the basement and DD7 came running up to tell me that something weird was going on with the cars--they moved when you weren't pressing the button. Turns out ALL the MLP cars are on the same frequency and you can't use more than one at a time. The only one that came from someone I could ask to return it was my YDD, who loved her car the most. Sigh. I searched for an hour trying to find another "girly" r/c car that ran on a different frequency to exchange hers for that she was happy with.

 

And for DH, I bought him a sound track to a video game he plays. I ordered it Dec 2 assuming it'd get here in plenty of time. Only after ordering it did I find the small print that said it's coming from Europe and will take 4-6 weeks to get here. Oops. Maybe he'll get it in time for Valentines Day. But it's a specialty item and you can't buy it from anywhere else so there is no way to get it faster.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Bought all the males RC helicopters and the two I spent $$$ on turned out to be junk. The one I bought on the fly and for considerably less was great though. The sad part is the expensive junk helicopters went to the two who asked for a RC copter. They were bummed.

[Guest inoubliable]

We had a really great Christmas, actually. The kids were thrilled with their surprises and it was so nice to wake up in our own place. My brother and sister pointedly didn't bother calling/texting/emailing/Skyping us at all and that was actually nice. No passive-aggressive comments or complaining. The kids Skyped with my parents after my grandfather dropped off presents from them and that went well. The only thing that annoyed all of us was when DS12 mentioned something about learning small unit tactics to prepare for a zombie invasion (he was joking around "off camera") and my father snorted and said something like "Oh riiiight. Yeah. Who's going to teach *that*? When are you going to go over *that* lesson?? I'd loooove to be there to see that!" and my mother actually told him to say nothing if he couldn't say anything at all. :ohmy: And I was annoyed last night when I realized that DH had to work today. I swore he said he was off of work today! But, nope, he had to go in today and is now out driving in this bad weather. I can't stand it when he has to drive a big truck all day in nasty weather! :crying:

[Jann in TX]

DH's toys did not work.... RC helicopter and RC car-- both Ipad controlled... copter will not charge and car will not turn.

 

DH purchased me an electronic thermometer for my grill... it was broken when I opened the box-- (I realld DID NOT NEED one-- my old one works perfectly fine and I only use it 4-5 times a year when I grill/smoke ribs--but then DH loves those ribs!).

 

We had an extended family 'dirty Santa' gift exchange-- everyone brings a NICE $50 gift... DH ended up with a set of books we have no interest in and I ended up with a bottle of rum... DH and I do not drink-- and if we did it would NOT be rum! Now if it were vodka I could make vanilla-- but I HATE the aftertaste of rum! We were able to regift the books but are still looking for someone to regift the rum to... at least the people who opened our gifts will actually USE them!

[MiniBlondes]

The only 'fail' here is that my ex DH bought DD9 a Furby and that thing will not shut the heck up!!

[happypamama]

No major fails, just a couple of clothing items for DD that need to be exchanged for a different size (which we knew would be a strong possibility, since she's a little hard to fit right now). And a couple of DS2's gifts are a bit complicated for him, but that was also expected; he's 4 and really wanted a Transformer toy, as did his 7yo brother, so I got one for each of them, but someone has to help the 4yo with his. Thankfully he doesn't mind.

[jennynd]

Forgot candies for stocking and card for my hubby. Grrrrrr

[Parrothead]

Not to brag, but this was the best Christmas ever. I got an ipad and the long lens for my camera that I've wanted for two years. I've been so happy the house could have fallen down around me and I wouldn't have noticed.

[Nakia]

The only thing that isn't perfect is Emma's new ballet leotard, which is a size too small. It doesn't matter because she and Cora got Justin Bieber concert tickets!!!

[Halftime Hope]

The really cute Pink Panther footie jammie bottoms that are too small. Apparently the giver didn't realize that clothes these days are made for women with zero curves, seriously the cloth on these is four inches too short to cover the tush. Even the Grinch ones for dd are the same and she wears a 6. Oh, well.

[Miss Mousie]

My poor DH bought three computer games for DS11. He read the list of requirements on the backs of the packages very carefully, because DS's computer has no internet access. Unfortunately, all 3 of the games require an internet connection for "activation" - noted only in the very fine print, separate from the regular list - so not one of the games will work. :(

 

DS was completely gracious about it, though. We really had a fantastic day - not one single yell! :) DS seemed so genuinely grateful for each item, and chose his gifts for DH and me so thoughtfully. I was floored and very pleased.

[Truscifi]

Ds and I are very happy with our presents, but poor dh...he got a computer game he has been itching for for months, only to find our video card is too old and outdated to run it. He ordered a new video card, but it won't be here til next week.

[Mommie_Jen]

Legos for our 5 year old. We bought 2 basic beginner sets for him. It's overwhelming for him unless DH is playing with him. I never would have thought Legos would be a bust. I have him signed up for Lego Club next month in co-op, I'm thinking I will need to see if I can change that.

[Wheres Toto]

The only 'fail' here is that my ex DH bought DD9 a Furby and that thing will not shut the heck up!!

 

If you ask DS, his one fail would probably be that he didn't get a Furby. But, I knew better since dd had one 10 years ago.

 

No real fails. A few items weren't greeted with exuberance right away but everything will get played with.

[happypamama]

Legos for our 5 year old. We bought 2 basic beginner sets for him. It's overwhelming for him unless DH is playing with him. I never would have thought Legos would be a bust. I have him signed up for Lego Club next month in co-op, I'm thinking I will need to see if I can change that.

 

 

Oh, don't consider it a bust yet -- that's how both of our boys started with Legos, with a parent sitting next to them, scaffolding by looking a step or two ahead and lining up the pieces. At 7.5, DS1 can do the harder sets on his own, but DS2 is only 4, and we do it with him. It's actually a bonding experience, especially for me, since the boys have so many "boy" interests that I don't share -- it's really nice to have things I can share with them.

 

Also, following the set directions might be less overwhelming than free building, so if you have one of the free building sets, maybe check out one of the Lego idea books from your library and see if that gives some inspiration. I've found that our boys build the prescribed sets and enjoy them for a while, and then they use the pieces to build their own creations -- but the prescribed sets give them some inspiration.

[Cosmos]

Ds woke up with a stomach virus at 3am Christmas morning. I spent the wee hours cleaning up vomit from his carpet and then sitting with him for several hours of . . . unpleasantness. Poor kid was miserable. :(

 

Luckily it seemed to pass quickly and by mid-morning he was able to enjoy stockings and presents. He was able to keep down fluids but no food so we put off our Christmas dinner for a couple of days. He was quite chipper by yesterday afternoon, but I was exhausted. :tongue_smilie:

[mommymilkies]

We had very little Christmas money and I had to really scrimp and save and buy a few things for my 5 yo that she specifically pointed out to me. Yeah.....she complained loudly and grumpily about every present. Either it wasn't the best dress on the Barbie, or she already has a doll like that (I bought it first, family Xmas came first and family got her one like it), or comments that made me worry she was a future kkk member. And my dh seems mad at me for the bongo drum I got him. No idea what that's about.

 

Oh, and my new washer's inner door exploded into a million glass pieces for NO reason during a small load of shower curtains on the 23rd...when we had house guests and right before dd's bday party. Being the holidays, we can't even find out if the warranty covers it, so dh has spent the past few days in the bathroom using the camp washer on our mountains of laundry. Did I mention that my 5 yo also ate too much candy and vomited all over her new sheets, pillows, and blankets? That's a whole other kind of fail, though.

[Mommy22alyns]

Fail - Rebecca's MP3 player that came with two sets of earphones and no USB cable. And no, we didn't have one at the house that would have worked.

 

Rebecca didn't have a big reaction to news of her beam via a picture on a scroll. It won't be here until mid-January - I will NEVER wait so long to Christmas shop again. I didn't have a choice. But DH gets it now.

[Quiver0f10]

Everyone liked what they received, but my one fail was that I forgot to buy one gift for DS 21, who was very understanding.