(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

[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.