How you doin' on those Christmas gifts? Ready to start wrapping yet?
I keep an Excel spreadsheet with the gifts I've given to people over the past few years. There's a column for ideas for the current year as well. I had grand designs about tracking expenditures, too, but so far that hasn't happened. Maybe next year.
Queen Bee and her sisters have been working on Christmas for a couple of weeks now. We did two or three rounds of e-mails discussing some big ticket gifts that we might all participate in, which was nice, it knocked a few things off my spreadsheet. Then they asked me what I wanted. I named a couple of things and showed them my Amazon Wish List (it's right there on the sidebar) and let it drop. I always feel weird telling people what I want for any occasion. Queen Bee said she was surprised I hadn't sent the info in a spreadsheet and I explained about the weirdness.
To me it's just a common sense organizational idea to spreadsheet one's giving but it feels greedy to spreadsheet the receiving. Yet, as a giver, it's always helpful to have a list and if someone handed me their spreadsheet I'd be grateful for it. OK, sort of grateful and sort of annoyed.
I feel like I ought to know what people I'm close to want, and that I ought to be magic enough to figure out the right gift for someone that they'll love and that will make me look smart. I have been lucky enough to hit that balance with a lot of people but, of course, not every time. For instance if I ever hit that balance even once with ChemE I will stab myself in the heart right there and die happy.
My biggest success rate is manipulating the wedding registry. I like to cobble together theme gifts with something from the registry and something off the registry to make it personal. When my cousin got married I got them a cake plate and a cookbook holder they wanted then a cake cookbook that they hadn't asked for but, you know, tying it all together. It was either that or I was going to get them a big bowl and a popcorn popper they registered for and then a selection of DVDs to funk it all up.
Anyway, so, blessing and a curse, right? What's your opinion? Do you have a wish list that you share, or would share, with people who asked or do you think it's a bit of the skank?
Monday, November 27, 2006
Receiving
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You know what? I think that Wish Lists are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
ReplyDeleteSeriously.
I've lived with the man who is my husband for going on FIFTEEN YEARS, and every time his parents call to ask me what they should get him for Christmas, I brain freezes like I'm sucking down a Slurpee to break some sort of speed record. I'm closer to no one on the face of the planet, and I still can't tell you what he wants for Christmas (though, this year, I have ideas for him - some of which I'm sharing, most of which I'm keeping for myself).
I know what you mean by this, though - it DOES feel a little cheesey to offer up a list. I'll often do something like what you do, though, and use the list as inspiration rather than as a check-off-the-box sort of thing. If I see a couple of movies on a list, I'll see if I can think of one LIKE those that the giftee might like. Ditto with books or other such things. It's nice to be surprised in the same genre of things you already know you love, you know?
MY brain freezes up. I hate discovering typos after I hit "publish." Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI have, for the last two years, sent my mother an illustrated and annotated christmas list. I'll confess that I find myself obnoxious for doing so, but forgive myself only because, on both occasions, it was done at her request. It seems to be dually satisfying; she feels confident in her choices and I am guaranteed to like her choice.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I have every faith in my mother's ability to predict what I like, but she has nothing but doubt.
I find the list to be preferable to the strategy she employed one year, in which she chose inappropriate or mind-numbingly generic items (so that I'd have something to unwrap) from stores I like, so that I could return them for items of my own choosing.
It's a little like the difference between a multiple choice test and essay question- it seems a matter of preference.
I love wish lists - they are helpful. I agree on the registry idea, I have to always do something that isn't on the register just to kind of connect. Or at least I hope I"m connecting..
ReplyDeleteI'm dumbfounded that you have an excel spreadsheet that goes back YEARS into your giftgiving. I don't know how to use excel and the whole idea really makes me see you in a whole other light..
I tell my Mom what I want, size, color, who to buy it from, but that's about it. I have tried it with Husband once or twice, but I get disappointed when he doesn't listen or choose to buy, and I LOVE it when he hits the jackpot on his own. I love presents that I don't know I want until I get them -- last year it was Veronica Mars Season 1 on dvd -- and if I am explicit, I lose that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI tell my Mom what I want, size, color, who to buy it from, but that's about it. I have tried it with Husband once or twice, but I get disappointed when he doesn't listen or choose to buy, and I LOVE it when he hits the jackpot on his own. I love presents that I don't know I want until I get them -- last year it was Veronica Mars Season 1 on dvd -- and if I am explicit, I lose that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI'm gift-business-as-usual--I submit a list of books and maybe CDs to the local council. The sock drawer replenishes.
ReplyDeleteI get really busy on the giving within hours of zero hour.
Right now my life is a massive turmoil and I can't even think about it. Career move possibilities. I'm getting too old for it. Big interview tomorrow at the edge of Ground Zero.