I am loving reading all of your celebrity encounters here. It’s like we are all one degree of separation from just about everyone. I forgot a lot of my people. I’ve met Maya Angelou, Corretta Scott King, and Gloria Naylor back when I typed and spelled things properly. 🙂
I have a bit of the narcolepsy this year. I was planning to go the church at the end of the block for services tonight but I am apparently going to sleep my way through the entire holiday. I fell asleep very early last night, woke up at four am watched a Christmas movie, fell asleep again and just woke up a bit ago. I drank protein shake with caffeine trying to wake up but I feel like another big sleep is coming. I am glad I woke up to see the beautiful sunshiney day outside though.
I thought it might be fun to share the best presents we ever received and the best present we have ever given. I’ll go first!
The best present I’ve ever given was too an old boyfriend many moons ago. It was an antique Victoria. That’s like a record player for you younguns. He had a nice vinyl collection and I gave him a few rare records at the same time.
My favorite gift ever was a silver Christmas tree ornament from Tiffany. It was my very first time getting a blue box and more importantly, it was the beginning of a very special friendship.
Your turn!
I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁
Looking forward to a peaceful 2019!
Totally unrelated but are we going to get a recap of the real housewives of Atlanta?
Since your obviously not going to discuss RHOA, I’ll be defecting over to reality tea. Merry Xmas. Hope your site gets better for 2019.
I hope my site gets better in 2019 too! And I am a huge fan of Reality Tea. Have fun at your new site. Give them some comments. Since this is your first, and hopefully last one here. I know them and don’t think you will last long there either. Merry Christmas Scrooge.
Hahahahaha!!!!
To be honest Reality Tea is a much better site. Even though it is owned by a corp, they have really nice editors over there who welcomed me with open arms when I started out and gave me lots of advice. AND THEY CAN SPELL WORDS! Seriously, I love them. Another great alternative is Straight From The A. my girl Michelle and I went to court together once with Sheree Whitfield and hilarity ensued ( put Court and Sheree in my search box if you missed it)
So Rooster Reed, this is my Christmas gift to you, these are two highly recomended sites that have probably already blocked you. You seem like more of the stupid kind so heat over to MTO or ROL. and believe that shit. LOL.
Recaps on demand ? Jesus H. Christ its Christmas Mr Rooster Read & we are all bonding together over the holidays.
Michelle ATlien Brown has mentioned you guys going to court over Sheree’s foolishness, SMH. Glad you guys were victorious.
All the best in the new year TT! ⭐️
Go TT!
I like Reality Tea and Ptv also. But you will always be my first and most loved.
Rude
Bawahaaaa!
Merry Christmas to you all & may we ALL be blessed in 2019.
Tamara, Happy Christmas.. I don’t normally comment I just want to say love from Ireland & thanks so much for the laughs x
Thanks Niamh. If I ever start traveling again I might just go all European on you and come to stay with you. LOL.
Sorry I have a story about this happening to me and it will have to wait for another time.
Anytime my friend, your more than welcome, all our love from Dublin to yourself & Banjo, x
Are you in NYC Tamara? Wishing you a happy, healthy and fun holiday season. I enjoy your website immensely……….
Nope. just sitting on the couch in the ATL with my trusty dog, Banjo.
Merry Christmas Tamara! And thank you for doing such an incredible job of keeping us readers entertained this year. You are one in a million! Now, I am behind on my celebrity sighting list…. Nicole Kidman in a restaurant, Bruce Willis at a furniture store, Tony Curtis and his last wife at a restaurant, Halle Berry on an airplane, Vince Vaughn in an elevator, Mike Ditka in an elevator, Jon Stewart in a restaurant, John Candy and Steve Martin while filming Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Bonnie Hunt at a fundraiser, John O’Hurley at a different fundraiser, and the entire Bon Jovi band. I think that’s it. We used to live in LA, hence all the sightings. Oh, I also played 9 holes of golf years ago with Ernie Banks who was a shortstop and first baseman with the Chicago Cubs at a little par 3 in Chicago which is now a Mariano’s grocery store and condo development. He was incredibly nice and we laughed a lot. Now for my best present received – a marriage proposal from my husband written on a piece of paper… I am not kidding. Best present given – a fake Warhol type picture of his favorite cat, Elizabeth.
Once again, thank you for all your hard work and effort put into this blog. I’m pretty sure I speak for all your loyal readers that we LOVE this sight. And into the New Year? Forget the haters – they just want to bring you down to their miserable level!
Sounds like you live in Chicago 🙂
Yes!! A portion of the year. And a portion in Newport Beach. Complete opposites.
COMPLETE opposites! I’ve been to LA, SF, PS, SD but never Newport Beach / OC.
Merry Christmas from Bucktown!
It’s the last bastion of conservative republicans/moderate democrats. Hi Bucktown…. don’t you just love the crime rate here??
Vince Vaughn and Vincent D’Onofrio are kind of my type. lol. I think I have a thing for Vincents.
100%! I love the breakup because we get both of them ( plus Jennifer Aniston). I used to love Law & Order CI because of Vincent D’Onofrio!
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Tamara! Your site brings me joy everyday, and I wish the same amount of joy for you for the coming year!!!!!
I worked with Vince D once. He’s awesome!!!
Oh and the hater are great for business. They are more obsessed with me than the ones who love me! 🙂 It’s all good.
I gifted my mother a new set of dining room chairs which she loved I had to have 8 of them delivered so I gave her a photograph of one. She thought her gift was the photograph ( as I am an amatuer photographer ) Still makes me chuckle. The best gift I ever got was a beautiful Christmas tree delivered to my doorstep from a local farm in tbe town I grew up in. It was my first Christmas in the new house so I planned on being adult & skipped getting one. It was the most thoughtful gift I had ever recieved. I love decorating interior design etc so it was a very special gesture. Merry Christmas to all.
Merry Christmas, Tamara and Banjo!
Best gifts we ever gave? Once a relative of ours was having financial difficulty. She didn’t tell us till December 23rd that she and her husband had just gotten enough money to purchase gifts for her kids. Of course the shelves were bare where she shopped because they live in an extremely rural area. I took down the list and told her we would try to find what we could on the list and send it overnight on Christmas Eve, but it wouldn’t get there until after Christmas.
My husband came home from his Christmas party and I told him what was going on.
We went to bed. I awoke the next morning to my husband shaking me awake—I had slept in late.
He had been out shopping and found EVERYTHING on the list for the kids!
He said, “Get dressed. Pack a bag. We’re taking this home.”
We drove 16 hours back home on Christmas Eve arriving about an hour before dawn.
We got everything inside before the kids woke up and they had Christmas.
Best. Christmas. EVER.
Best gift I ever received? My husband used to be terrible at gift-giving. I’d get dust busters and power tools and ugly, ugly, ugly things. It became a running joke for me to guess what disastrous thing he purchased. One Christmas I was making fun of the present as usual. I opened it up to find an Irish china picture frame with hand-painted shamrocks all over it and it played When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. It was so beautiful that I cried. He’s always given me very nice things since then. The secret to his gift-buying success now? He asks for help when he shops now. lol
Again…Merry Christmas, TT & Banjo! Stay warm and cuddly on this fine Christmas Eve!
Lovely story! 🎄
That is one of the most touching stories ever. Your husband is a treasure.nan
Very, very nice. Talk about understanding and love….true spirit of Christmas. Thank you for sharing LaLaFly, Merry Christmas!
Have a Merry Christmas y’all! Bitchy GLH resumes in the new year due to unpopular demand ha, joke joke! Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Years Tams. I’m off to get drunk off my ass and sing along to cheesy tunes in the pub soon and pay £50 for a 5 mile taxi drive home in the early hours… kill me now 😣😫😂
Isn’t it close to midnight in your God Forsaken country?
Email me if you need bail, Asshole. I’ll paypal it. Dumbass.
LOL!! Merry Christmas TT!!
The Scottish Jesus hath risen! I didn’t nearly die, get arrested or argue with family on Christmas Day! Miracle? I think so 😂
Amen to that. God bless us one and all.
Curious how your feeling today GLH? Merry Christmas!
I made it through the day Kips ha. Hope you had a Merry Christmas too!
Another great gift I have received is all of you. Y’all are really great. It’s really nice to have you all. Some “troll” recently said something like I use you all as my support system. THAT IS TOTALLY TRUE. I totally rely on you for my income. (Please whitelist me on your ad blocker that would be the best Christmas gift ever) But you guys are always here for me and I appreciate it so much.
Thank you for being my friends. (insert Golden Girls song here)
But there is one of you, that shall not be named that prefers to remain unknown who really keeps this site going. EVERY DAY he sends me links to all the things that are happening that might make an interesting post. with links to the source. He also runs my IG because I can’t do it without a cellphone.
A few days ago, he told me that he was taking “time off” from this unpaid job to spend with the love of his life. and let me know he would be off the grid for a few days. I completely understood and wished him a Merry Christmas.
I just realized he kept right on sending me stories and putting my posts on IG ( I think my IG is tamara_tattles follow me if that is your thing)
He and the love of his life are celebrating the holidays and he is still helping me out. Plus I got the most endearing Christmas letter from the both of them.
I am very blessed this holiday season to have all of you.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Right back at you !
See?? Good karma!!
Merry Christmas 🎄🎄🎄 Tamara and Banjo!! I hope you have whatever experience you want to have the next two days. I love your blog very much and am very happy to have found it.
Best gift given to someone, my best female friend Tonya. She suffers from PTSD and needs a safe place on occasion. I brought her a vacation in the Bahamas for a week. She came back feeling great and stayed that way for at least 8 months that year. Her doctor was very pleased.
Best gift I received, there were two. One,my Grandmother’s 100 year old China tea set. I keep it wrapped in bubb!e wrap so it doesn’t get damaged. The 22nd gift was a 8 by 10 picture of me eldest brother who had passed away. He and I were very close. I miss him every day.
Wishing all of you a blessed Christmas!💕
I hope one day you take that teaset out and ENJOY it. I have many lovely things that my grandmother kept stashed away because they “were too good.” NOTHING was too good for her.
USE THE DAMN CHINA! Make tea and drink out of it! USE IT!
What is “whitelisting you on the ads”? I’d do if someone will tell me!! The best gift I ever gave was a pair of leather boots to my sister in the ’70’s. She ran around the house screaming!! Best present? Probably my Martin 3/4 size guitar. I am thankful for TT and all my fellow commenters-we share a special kinship here. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY 🎄!!
Some people block my ads when they come here so whitelisting means you don’t do that on my site.
Merry Christmas, nice balls
heh
Merry Christmas, TT! I really can’t say the best gift I’ve ever given because it’s in the eye of the receiver. But when I was in Kindergarten our house burned down, in the fire our dogs died. The next Christmas I got a present from Santa – two poodle puppies who were searching the North Pole for me. I really believed they were the same dogs and I’m so happy my parents did that for me.
Did I read once that if we buy something from an ad linked to your blog you get a “finder’s fee” or did I dream that?
I don’t think it makes any difference. I’m not really sure. As long as you see/view the ads It counts.
This is the saddest and happiest true Christmas story rolled into one.
Merry Christmas to you. Thank you for entertaining me during the rough times of the past couple of years.
We are all going to be okay my love.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Is anyone else watching Ex On The Beach? I’m so hoping these girls take Farrah out. Also I’m glad she can be a web whore on some shows and on others it’s so unacceptable. Crazy MTV
II get this is an an open forum, but we are trying to be in the Christmas mode and not inn the realit ymode. Can[t we do that for a couple of days at least
Ok
Thanks my friend. I jut want do have a few days off from that bullshit. and watch Christmas movies and chat with you guys.
Merry Christmas, Tamara and to all the old and new familiar names. My go to place everyday, often more than once. I cant answer the question because my brain isnt in think mode at the moment. I did have a wonderful dinner with my 3 siblings and their spouses. We laughed till we cried, sang songs, made songs up, and laughed some more. And we were in a restuarant to boot. Cray cray but ever so grateful. And to all … a good night.
Merry Christmas Tamara! I’m not posting much in the comments section these days, but still a faithful reader!
Merry Christmas and thanks for the news and entertainment all year long. I love your mispells, but was the word you meant to use Victrola? It has been so long since I have heard it that I just have to ask. Best gift I gave was paying for a strangers cancer meds when they were running short of cash.
Merry Christmas TT!
Love your site so very much. We are besties “in my head” LOL.
Thanks for sharing your heart with us all year long!
xoxo
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, TT!
I was married one week before Christmas thirty six years ago, so I have to say that was the best present given and received. Mushy, I know, but with all the ups and downs over the years, some days it seems a miracle we’re still together, lol.
The personal touch makes your site the best.
Merry Christmas all.
Tamara I want to Thank You. You are so gifted and really appreciate all that you do. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone, hearing your points of view and for tolerating mine, Merry Christmas to Everyone!
Merry Christmas Tamara and Banjo.
Love and Best Wishes from me and Beau.
A very Merry Christmas to you, Tamara, and the faithful Banjo!
Best gift given: Well, I really don’t know but last week I paid for purchases for the young woman in line in front of me at Walmart when her card was refused repeatedly. She had tiny red dresses for her two very young daughters as well as decorations, paper, etc. I even threw in a toy that the oldest had been playing with in line which her mother made her back. Seriously, the young lady’s reaction to my offer really touched me. She cried and hugged me as she kept saying “thank you” and “gracias” over and over. And “Merry Christmas”, of course! This is not the first time I did this and I know it won’t be the last. It is a powerful reminder of just how fortunate (lucky?) I am.
Best gift received: my un-husband flew me out to Dallas to meet him. He had planned a road trip from Texas to Natchez, MS for Christmas Eve and Day. I was still recovering from another breast cancer related surgery, and to see the wonderland of this lovely town decked out for the holidays was somehow life affirming, and I had previously not been optimistic about my so-called life. The town was not crowded at all but the people were warm and welcoming. We explored downtown on foot the incredible shops and dined on delicious food, ending the evening at a casino on the Mississippi River. It was just the two of us and it was divine! I returned home to Florida with a new perspective.
Today we’re having an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, where I’ll start with oysters on the half shell – YUM! This is now a tradition of several years (except last year – don’t ask!) and it’s also our gift to each other. We might even get to dine alfresco!
Thank you, Tamara, for keeping us informed and entertained! Hoping 2019 is an improvement over this year for all of us!
Mery Christmas y’all! Thanks to TT for a little sunshine in my day! Remember, Miss Georgia, you are not alone and you are loved. Cheers to Banjo!
Given— I found out after knowing her for years that a friend had always loved taxidermy and found an antique English bird in a case that she loves. Received— Artwork from my children and finding out that my husband’s co. was moving us to Europe.
I made Hummingbird Cake for Christmas this year after your reminder that it was essential to authentic Southern-ness, besides tasting great. I’m grateful for the push,TT. It’s half gone already. Merry Christmas.
I love hummingbird cake! Strawberry cake and Italian creme cake are two other southern staples..
Tamara i enjoy coming here to your blog every day. Merry Christmas to you and Banjo, and all the other commenters.
Merry Christmas to all. The best gift I received was my father and grandfather and the best gift I have given hopefully is that I have lived up to their expectations.
The best gift I’ve ever received? Well I am madly crazy about my older brother. I used to torture him constantly with my presence. Search his room steal his stuff follow him around. So at 23 I of course moved to Margate nj with him after he got a job at the Sands Casino. He had one new friend. He told me “don’t snake my only friend. “ I snaked that friend and am still married to him! My brother and I just look at each other and start laughing. Best gift given? I love to give to others. If you want the shoes off my feet you can have them. Giving to others makes me so happy. Thank you Tamara for giving me this blog. I love it. I’m here creeping all the time.
I worked in restaurants that were open for Christmas but somehow got every one off (worked lots of Thanksgivings) and made it home for every Christmas, even in the snow. I HAD to make it every year in case it was my grandmother’s last. When I moved to L.A., a friend gave me a round trip flight to the Bay Area for the holidays. It turned out to be my dad’s last Christmas and every year I remember how great a gift that was.
It took a long time to think of the best gift because it really comes down to how much the recipient enjoys it. The most enjoyed gift was one I gave my youngest nephew two years ago. On the way to the register with his “real” gift, I spied a Farting Machine in a cart to be restocked. The fart machine was the #1 present that year and no one in our family had topped it yet. (The youngest nephew is in his 20s, BTW.)
I grew up with farting machines, known as brothers. Ironically this year’s favorite present is a Dutch oven. Childhood memories.
WHICH type of Dutch oven? I tremble to ask.
The dreaded crack of no return. A twin bed pulled six inches away from the corner ofa wall with a chest of drawers obstructing the foot of the bed, the only means of escape. The sibling is shoved without mercy into the abyss.A parting shot is fired in your general direction just before the mattress is shoved back against the wall, trapping said victim. I’ve been stewing on it ever since.
Wow that sounds like an ISIS oven vs. a Dutch one
(and please don’t take offense!)
Thank God for brothers, no?
Too bad they don’t use their powers for good, not evil. They might be the next Wright Brothers. Alternate fuel developers. No limits.
I baked a shitload of cookies this year, which I never do, and folks seemed to really like them. That made me happy. We didn’t really exchange gifts this year, I just got a couple of things I needed. Family is very small and spread out now, so we made a steak dinner and chilled out (read: drank and smoked ourselves silly). Belated merry Christmas to everyone. Here comes a new year!
Oh – best gift I ever gave was a beagle puppy I found in a pound to my high school best friend. Her family was really good to me. I can’t think of I great gift I received. A few diamonds, I guess…
When I first came across Tamara Tattles, I read the recaps and the comments thinking I would not ever be able to comment myself, I was really scared of Tamara…but after I read the posting regs and realized that I was just as special of a snowflake as everyone else I decided to comment…and this is my favorite place to come!!
Looking forward to another year of snarky, sometimes crude but undeniably hilarious posts!!!
To Tamara and everyone that posts here… Merry Christmas all!!
♥️ 🎁 💝 to a very special ❄️ from a very verbose ❄️!
Sharon we all welcome you. Heads up you are never to worry about T.T. going off on you she is an equal opportunity snarker. We all get reamed & I for one love it. Her bark is much worse than her bite. Years ago I commented on a post about Taylor Armstring regarding her refusal to let her in laws view pertinent information on the death of their son. I replied that I thought they were entitled to know & it may help them thru the grieving process. I got slammed hard on that comment. T.T. came charging thru to defend my honor. It was a thing of beauty. We are all friends here. Sometimes family. Sometimes dysfunctional family to the max but a better group of people you will never find anywhere on line. HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Marc, I hope all of your wishes for the New Year come true, including being stuck in an elevator with Christopher Meloni. (OK, I embellished, but I hope you get to meet him.)
You my dear are HILARIOUS! God willing Christopher & I will be stuck in that elevator for days / weeks / months on end. No disrespect towards his wife or family but that man is hella fine. Smart funny Italian my MAUM ( my misspelled nickname for her ) would be so pleased ! Happy New Year Nannette xo Marc
I agree with Marc. TT can be tough but also sweet as cherry pie. I’ve had a lot of changes in my life the past few years, coming to TTs site has this comfortable home type feeling throughout all of it.
You must have never had a decent cherry pie in your life. 🙂
Oh man that reminds me of the first time I read TT’s and there were a few misspelled words and it took me by surprise at first, then I went to the comments and NO ONE remarked on it. Then the more and more I’ve read all her posts I get it, there’s fast typing and yes autocorrect (me too) . Oh and now like for example someone told her that she said Emily when she was talking about Gina and I immediately thought oh they must be new here
Don’t forget, spelling is just a cheap parlor trick.
The best gifts I’ve given were not for Christmas. In 1979 my late husband’s friends & colleagues started dying at their desks or having midlife crises, so I decided it was time for him to do something different. For 10 months I diligently clipped grocery coupons & submitted rebates on purchases & saved every penny I earned doing this, so when Rocket Man’s birthday arrived I gave him a leather gladstone bag with his initials & a solo ticket to Alaska. I told him it was his choice. He could have his own midlife crisis like his friends or he could take the trip. He chose the latter, & had the time of his life cruising the coast via the hop-on-hop-off Alaskan Ferry, flying glaciers with a bush pilot, detouring to the Yukon Territory via a narrow gauge railway, making friends along the way & staying in bunkhouses. I enjoyed his journey vicariously on his return, & never had to suffer through the spousal problems of that period of life that some of my friends experienced. Not quite as expensive, but much enjoyed gift was for a great-granddaughter last January on her 16th birthday. Her goal is to become a Naval surgeon, & in fact next month is interviewing at the Naval Academy at their invitation. Last year she was looking forward to her Biology class, but bemoaned the fact that since it was online she wouldn’t actually get to dissect a real frog. I got her a dissecting kit & a preserved frog as a gift so she could do the real thing, & then for Valentine’s Day the following month, gave her a preserved pig’s heart (nearly identical to human) so she could have a crack at that, too. On the receiving end, I have two favorite gifts. The first was from Rocket Man for Christmas about 20 years ago. It was a much loved & used floor model drill press (women with tools have the Power). My other incredible Christmas gift was this Christmas from Fly Boy, my amazing new-this-year husband. He is retired military (special ops) whose code name was Dragon. Our custom wedding/engagement rings are dragons, & my engagement ring has his birthstone for the dragon’s eye. My big gift this Christmas is an amazingly detailed custom one-of-a-kind dragon pendant with two of my birthstones. It is something I will always treasure, not only for its beauty, but especially for the thought & meaning of its creation. No other gift will ever top this one.
One of the best gifts I’ve ever given was our rescue pup, a lab mix. She grew up right along with my boys (and me). We still miss her so and she passed about two years ago. The best gift I received was this year. My husband surprised me with tickets to Harry Connick, Jr. He was in New Orleans about a week before Christmas. TT, hope you and Banjo have gotten some refreshing and relaxation. Thanks for providing laughs and diversion. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends!
TT I met Mayo Angelo when she spoke at my college! Omg I feel so close to you know. Hehe.
What is happening NYE in everyone’s world?