Fantasy Christmas Wishlists 2011

You know how you know that you're blessed? When you sit down to compose your annual Fantasy Christmas Wishlist post and you can't really think of anything to list. Seriously, I know there are things we need around here, like a weed whacker, but for Christmas gifts? There's just not a whole lot that I need or want. Therefore, to make this post a little more interesting, I put my ideas for things I'd like to get my husband and son on here too. Since I usually do a Fantasy Wishlist for Bubba too, I'm killing two birds with one stone!

Here's my list:

Hot Tools 1.5" Curling IronI don't own a curling iron. When I do put curls in my hair, I have to use my flat iron. I think it would be nice to have an actual curling iron, and I've heard really good things about this one.

Johnson Brothers Snowhite Regency Ironstone

This is my "china" pattern. It's actually ironstone, and I love it! I've collected an almost complete set of ten place settings a piece at a time from various thrift stores. The serving pieces are harder to find though. I would love any of those, but especially the tea pot. I saw it once on ebay, with the matching coffee pot (that one is taller) for $12.99 but I passed because the shipping was $20 and I thought that was too high. I could kick myself now! That's such a steal! Sometimes I'm too cheap for my own good.

Vintage Pyrex

Source: antheam.wordpress.com via Sara on Pinterest

I started collecting vintage Pyrex this year. I know, because I need something new to collect, right? I just think it's so pretty! I'm not collecting any pattern in particular. I think it looks pretty when you have a whole bunch of colors on display together. I love the colors on this set of bowls.

Source: etsy.com via Sara on Pinterest

This pattern is called Amish Butterprint. You've probably seen it in turquoise, which seems to be one of the most common patterns available. Although the color is pretty, it's not my favorite. I do love it in pink or even better, tangerine, though. Really, with the exception of the butterprint, I love any of the patterns in aqua, and of course you know I love all the pink dishes.

Julienne Peeler

Source: solutions.com via Sara on Pinterest

How genius is this? What more needs to be said?

iPhone 4s in White

Okay, this is a fantasy wishlist, right? I've had my iPhone for four years, and it's running really slow these days. It's a 3g, which means it's now three generations old. The maps function, which is one of the main reasons why I got it, struggles badly and sometimes won't work at all. It doesn't support the new operating system, and I keep coming across more and more apps that won't work, or won't function fully with my old OS. It needs to be upgraded, but with a baby on the way, it's definitely NOT in the budget. Ah well, a girl can dream...

On to my husband! He is seriously hard to shop for. He never really seems to want anything, and worse, his birthday is a week before Christmas so I have to come up with presents for two occasions super close to each other. He just got a phone this year, so he doesn't need that. He doesn't really have hobbies or interests beyond video games. He does like to read, but he reads very slowly so I know he has books in line and doesn't need any. Even if my funds were unlimited, I'd struggle to know what to get him.

Khakis

I'd probably get him some new pants for work. I don't know how he does it since he has a desk job where he sits all day, but he can wear out his clothes faster than anyone I ever met. He likes plain khakis, but I think he would look nice in charcoal gray ones too.

A vacuum cleaner
Okay, this is probably going to sound mean, BUT...

Our current vacuum cleaner is a bagless Eureka that we got over a decade ago. It was a Christmas gift to me from my husband. I thought it was the most awesome thing ever when I got it, but a decade of struggling to find the stupid expensive replacement filters for that thing made me start to think otherwise.

Well, a few months ago, my husband did something and he broke the latch for the dust collector cup. If that thing isn't on there securely, it can't make suction and it won't work properly. For a temporary fix, he smacked some duct tape on there.

I know.

So, I told him that the next vacuum cleaner was not only going to have bags, but that it was going to be HIS Christmas present this time when we got it. That's the story behind that. :)

XBox 360

Redemption for the wife! LOL!

My husband actually used to have one of these, but it succumbed to the "Red Ring of Death" that seemed to plague these things. Luckily it had the good timing to do it three weeks before the extended warranty that he also bought ran out, so he was able to have it replaced. Since Best Buy gave him his entire original purchase price back on a gift card, he decided to go ahead and get a Playstation 3 as the replacement since that meant we would also have a Blu-Ray player.

The problem is that all his friends have the XBox. They used to get together and play online, and now he can't do that with them anymore. Like I said before, he doesn't really have any hobbies or interests beyond the video games, so I think it would be nice if he had one of these if just for the slightly more social aspect of it compared to the one he currently has.

For Bubba, we've established an official Christmas gift policy. He gets a pair of new pajamas on Christmas Eve. They are delivered to the front door at bed time by an elf as a signal that Santa is on his way so it's time to get ready for bed. On Christmas morning, he gets ONE gift from Santa. The man and his crew are very overworked since there are so many kids in the world, so it's best not to be greedy, you know. From mom and dad, he gets three presents. The baby Jesus got three gifts, and if three presents were good enough for Jesus, then they're good enough for Bubba! Honestly, I don't want Christmas to be more about presents and material goods than what it's really about - the celebration of the birth of our Savior, and the spirit of giving and caring.

Of course, these guidelines are for us only, and don't apply to grandparents or anyone else.

Here's what I'd choose for Bubba, since he really wants nothing beyond everything he sees every time we go to Target. Seriously, this kid hasn't really changed interests in the last year, so he already has plenty of all the things (cars, wooden trains, Legos, Play Dough) that he loves. We struggled to come up with just the three gifts for him and still haven't figured out what Santa is bringing.

Batting Tee

We have a nice big yard, but never really go back there to play because there isn't a lot to do. He got a sandbox for his birthday, but we still haven't gotten around to filling it with sand. Slackers. Maybe this weekend? Hmm...

We found him a little slide (new in box!) on Craigslist, and that will be under the Christmas tree for him. I'm struggling to think of what else he could do back there. My husband and I actually thought about getting him a baseball tee earlier this year, but then forgot all about it when the weather got hot. I think it would be good for developing his hand-eye coordination, and it's something he can do with his dad.

Melissa and Doug USA Map Wooden Puzzle

I saw this puzzle on Blue Eyed Bride's blog. I probably would have thought that it was too advanced for a three year old, but she says her two year old can do it, so maybe not! Bubba does love his wooden puzzles, but the ones we have are all a bit too easy for him now. I think this would give him a bit of a challenge and should keep him busy for a while.

There's a floor puzzle version of this as well as one with sound made by the same company, but I think the plain wooden quiet one would work just fine.

Strider Balance Bike

One of my Facebook friends posted about this and I think it looks really cool! Basically, the idea is that training wheels don't teach the one thing kids need to learn in order to ride a bike - balance. They just turn the bike into a glorified tricycle. This bike teaches kids how to balance. If they ever feel shaky, they just put their feet down. There are no pedals to get in the way. This way, they learn to balance while coasting instead of having to learn how to pedal AND balance simultaneously.

Even crazier - this thing is rated for ages 1-5! Can you imagine a one year old on something like this? I definitely think it's something a three year old can do though. I love how it looks like a big kid bike too, unlike a lot of the other balance bikes available.

And that's what I came up with this year!