Posts Tagged ‘christmas’
A John McGivern Christmas
If you haven’t heard of John McGivern, he is Milwaukee’s Garrison Keillor — only funnier. Tonight we took in his laugh-til-you-hurt, one-man show Home for the Holidays. My wife said it was her favorite part of this Christmas holiday. In this YouTube clip, John shares his childhood memories of Christmas presents.
If you know a Milwaukeean, consider giving one of John McGivern’s funny and nostalgic DVDs, like the Emmy-winning The Early Stories of John McGivern.
Tags: christmas, dvds, gift ideas
She prefers no raindrops on her roses; she’s allergic to whiskers on kittens. Still, I know a few of my wife’s favorite things. This Christmas, I reflected on her favorites to inspire my gift choices.
Her Favorite TV Shows:
- Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album on CD
- The Fabulous Beekman Boys: The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir
Her Favorite Singers:
Her Favorite Movies:
Her Favorite Sleepwear:
Her Favorite Jewelry:
And she clearly knows my favorite things from the great Christmas presents I received:
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth: A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures for Nintendo Wii
- Lego Batman: The Video Game for Nintendo Wii
- The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Seasons 1 and 2
- Toshiba 32CV100U 32-Inch 720p LCD/DVD Combo TV
Tags: books, chocolate+candy, christmas, clothing, dvds, for her, gadgets, games, jewelry, movies, music, television shows
Yes, Virginia, I was Santa Claus at age nine. I put on my snow boots, winter coat and red hat. I wadded cotton balls into a beard and Scotch-taped it to my face. Then I surprised my sister and brothers, taking my place in the living room’s big chair. Each sibling sat on my lap and told me what they wanted for Christmas. I’ve always loved playing Santa to kids, and now I get to re-live being Santa with my nieces and nephews. Here’s what I gave them this Christmas.
For the nieces:
- Fancy Nancy: Tea Party Time for Nintendo DS
(for a five-year old)
- LeapFrog Cook and Play Potsy
(for a two-year old)
- Zipfy Freestyle Mini Luge Snow Sled
(for a ten-year old)
- iTunes gift card
(for a ten-year old)
For the nephews:
- Angry Birds children’s tee shirts (for nephews, ages four to seven)
- TRIO DC Super Friends Batwing
(for a four-year old)
- Donkey Kong Country Returns for Nintendo Wii
(for an eight-year old)
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Nintendo Wii
(for a five-year old)
- Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz for Nintendo Wii
(for a six-year old)
- Zipfy Freestyle Mini Luge Snow Sled
Tags: christmas, clothing, for kids, games, gift cards, gift ideas, toys
Smartphone users, you know the chilly drill. iPhone rings while you’re outside; quick, remove your glove. Got a message on your BlackBerry Storm? Take off those mitts to reply. Foursquare check-in on your Droid? The gloves must come off to keep your mayorship.
Now your smartphone-loving giftee can stay warm and perform with Agloves ($17.99). These knitted gloves feature soft, silver-nylon threads that allow your skin to connect with several touch-screen devices (like iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Droid, Palm Pre, BlackBerry Storm, Nintendo DS, TomTom GPS and more). So your gift recipient can keep the Agloves on and swipe, tap and scroll away with all 10 fingers.
I’ve used my new pair of Agloves for a few days (a great early Christmas present), and I love the comfort and convenience in winter weather. These machine-washable, unisex gloves come in three sizes (S/M, M/L and XL), and the XL size fits me, well, like a glove. Note that each glove has a small, screen-printed Agloves logo. That “Ag” in Agloves comes from the symbol for silver on the Periodic Table of Elements.
On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, you can immediately send an e-mail gift certificate that covers the cost of Agloves, shipping and tax. To estimate the total cost and send an e-mail gift certificate, follow these steps.
- Go to the Agloves order page at http://www.agloves.com/products/Agloves.html
- Select a size and click Add to Cart.
- The shopping cart page appears. Under the subtotal, click the “Estimate Shipping & Tax” link.
- Enter country, state and zip/postal code for your recipient. Click the “Estimate Shipping & Tax” button.
- Decide which shipping method you want. (For me in Wisconsin, FedEx Express Saver was $8.38.)
- Click the “Update Shipping Cost” button.
- You return to your shopping cart. Be sure to note the grand total.
- Scroll up to the cart. Under Qty, click “Remove” to empty your cart. That way you only buy the e-mail gift certificate and not an extra pair of Agloves.
- Go to the Agloves Gift Certificates page at http://www.agloves.com/giftcertificates.php
- Enter recipient’s name, recipient’s e-mail, your name, your e-mail and a brief message.
- Use the grand total from step 7 and enter it under Amount. Click the checkboxes to agree to the gift certificate terms.
- Select the Christmas theme and click the “Preview” button to see the e-mail gift certificate you will send.
- Click the “Add Gift Certificate to Cart” button.
- Your cart appears with the gift certificate ready to purchase for the total cost of Agloves. Click the “Proceed to Checkout” button to pay and immediately send the e-mail gift certificate.
I just e-mailed an Agloves gift certificate to a friend and iPhone fan as an extra Christmas surprise.
Tags: christmas, clothing, for her, gadgets, gift ideas, guy gifts
Are you among the 125 million users with credit cards linked to iTunes? If yes, Apple makes last-minute gift giving easy to a fellow iTunes user. This week, I sent my friend and office mate his Christmas gift — the thriller Inception — using iTunes. Here’s how you can immediately send iTunes gifts via e-mail.
Launch iTunes, click iTunes Store and choose from 12 million songs, 55,000 television episodes, 8,500 movies and 300,000 iPhone apps. When you find the item to give, follow these steps.
Click the arrow on the right side of the Buy button.
A drop-down menu appears. Select the “Gift This” option.
iTunes takes you to a “Give a Gift” screen. To send the iTunes gift as an email, keep the delivery option set to “Send gift as email.” Enter your name and your recipient’s name. Make sure you have the correct email address then type it for “Recipient’s Email.” If you want to send to multiple giftees, separate the email addresses with commas. Type the e-mail address or addresses in again to verify. Now enter a brief personal message. Please note if you take too much time with your message, iTunes will time out your session and ask you to start over. Click the Continue button.
iTunes will prompt you to sign in with your Apple ID or AOL screen name and password to buy the gift. Enter both and click the Continue button. You’ll see a review page. Confirm your entries and, if correct, click the Buy Gift button. iTunes will display a “Thank You” screen indicating your gift has been sent. Within minutes, your gift recipient receives an email to redeem the gift on iTunes.
Tags: christmas, for her, gadgets, games, gift ideas, guy gifts, movies, music, shopping online
