(no subject)

[which_chick]

Christmas is now over. It would please me greatly if nobody ever complained again about how I am impossible to buy for and how I never, ever say anything about what I might like to have for Christmas.



I refer the lot of you to the following post in which I clearly stated what I would like to have for xmas and then explained why I would like to have it and finally provided a link to where folks could BUY what I wanted because it was weird and hard to find. Nobody got me coupe soup bowls in Mikasa pattern Citation. I had to wait for three months without them to see if anyone was going to buy them for me for xmas and then, after all that waiting, nobody bought them. Bugger that for a lark, I gotta say.

The reason that I do not spend time generating wish lists of crap that I want is that telling people what I want is not particularly productive. It takes lots of my time to make a list and then I can't buy-n-have the stuff on the list because that's stuff I've agreed not to buy so that it will be in the gift queue. And, y'know, all the stuff in the gift queue is stuff I want because if I didn't want it, I wouldn't have asked for it. Basically, I do the legwork and then I have to wait (instead of buying-n-having) to see if anyone buys me what I want and then nobody listens to me anyway. I'm not impressed with this system.

I've bought my own damn coupe soup bowls... which I really wanted. A lot. They'll be here in a week and a half. Go me!

Comments

[cousin-sue.livejournal.com]

I have never received anything I wanted from giving a person a list. Even if that way they would Know What I Want, even if that would end up being less expensive than what they got me. Instead I get books that I don't actually have a need for (though sometimes I get pretty darn kean ones I didn't know about...those are all from people who were really thinking about what I am like), odds and ends, and stuff.

The perfume I like is $50 a bottle. I don't like the other kinds. If you're not getting me Chanel Crystalle, do not try to give me White Linen or something else. They are not even vaguely alike.

If I ask you for a carbide lamp and caver's helmet, do not laugh and think that I am joking. I am not. I wanted one. Not a piece of jewelry. Not a tassle (yes, I got a brocaded tassle one year), nor teddy bear plates because you think I need a "fun" change.

So I've given up making lists because nobody has ever purchased anything for me from them. With one exception. I got a sifter one year from my children. I was THRILLED because it was what I asked for, and what I wanted!

Ranty, aren't I?

[carv1982.livejournal.com]

I don't like the system either, but I run into a different problem. People learn about one particular thing or interest of mine and I end up deluge of products related to that one thing. For example, I love good coffee. Last year I got close to 12 bags of bad coffee from different people. Oh well, its the thought that counts. I usually cop out and get the gift certificate or tasty seasonal food.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen that happen, too. I think the underlying problem is that culturally, we expect everybody to buy for everybody else, even if we have no good ideas for what loony aunt Jessica might like to have. It's tough to buy good presents for people when you don't spend hideous amounts of time with them. My brothers, yeah, I know 'em, but if I spend two weeks time (total) with them in a year, that's a good year. As a result, I frequently have no damn idea what they could use for xmas.

I'm trying to shove my people in the direction of "If you have no good ideas, do not buy anything" and also in the direction of "Small amounts of home-made goodies like fudge or peanut brittle make great gifts as do handmade utilitarian objects like embroidered tea towels, potholders, and mittens". The largesse of holiday presents is for the small fry in the family who have no buying power and who depend on grownups for the stuff that they want.

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

My family exchanges lists, and uses them. It works out quite well. I don't think I received anything this year that wasn't on my list, except from Ivy, who spends hours every day with me - and who was in the bookstore with me when I said, "Oh, hey, I want that."

I hear the complaint that there's nothing on my list, but that's because sitting at the computer working all the time isn't conducive to figuring out what your petty material desires are...

[moeckie.livejournal.com]

My mom asked for a list then didn't wait for it and went out shopping the day after Thanksgiving and got us a buncha crap we prolly don't want or have room for (we live in 500 sq ft of cottage). We still haven't gotten it because we're waiting for a trip to California to pick it up because evidently it would cost a lot to mail it and since David drives out there ... *sigh*

[not-your-real.livejournal.com]

My mom still demands that I provide a wish list, and she does buy the actual indicated items as requested - I've come to depend on it a little.

But now she's doing another annoying thing: she takes the Xmas list as an Xmas-and-birthday list. So in January, when I'm in the perfect mood for buying-up-the-stuff-I-didn't-get, I have to wait till February. Which isn't so long, except that as the dead month of January wears on, I stumble into a different set of hobbies, so once my birthday has come and gone I never get back around to the stuff from the wishlist... not because I no longer want it, but just because newer, shinier stuff has pushed it off of Page 1 and out of my budget.

Now, Eric is a stranger to the Land of Wish Lists. He will toss off a couple items I can send to Mom to get him, but in receiving my wish list he always puts his own stamp on it. I will get something *like* what I asked for, but *different*. Sometimes this is good - Baroque music I hadn't heard of - other times, it is, well, the deep, insightful gardening book I don't have time for when I wanted the "You live in PA, ok, here is when you plant what" one.