Shopping for others can be difficult. Seems like the Christmas or Hanukkah giving list is too-often filled with names for which you’re just not sure what to get. But as tough as the holiday season can be on givers, recipients face a dilemma as well. How the heck does one decide on what gifts would be the most satisfying, not just for a moment but for the long term?
Things were so much easier when we were children.
Shopping for others can be difficult. Seems like the Christmas or Hanukkah giving list is too-often filled with names for which you’re just not sure what to get. But as tough as the holiday season can be on givers, recipients face a dilemma as well. How the heck does one decide on what gifts would be the most satisfying, not just for a moment but for the long term?
Things were so much easier when we were children.
With a few page turns of a toy catalog, the consensus of small friends on the block or in school, and some repeated bludgeoning by cartoon program commercials, kids have it all too easy composing a sizable inventory of must-have toys and accessories.
One does have the option of leaving their gifts to fate, allowing well-meaning friends and family members free reign to purchase anything at all that catches their shopping fancy. Thus, one receives another closet-mounted motorized tie caddy, a desktop game set for one’s already too-crowded desk top, or an insulated Frosty the Snowman travel mug.
In this case, the recipient’s greatest challenge is to convincingly deliver a grateful smile and a most sincere “Wow, this is great” (as they stifle the impulse to sincerely say, “oh, you shouldn’t have.”).
There is also the problem of determining what unfilled needs, if any, we have. After all, everything but the waistline stopped growing years ago, so very few of us want or need our clothing replaced (new underwear? Wow, Aunt Sally, this is great.).
No, you reach a station in life when you have all the “things” and few places to put any more. So whatever do you ask for?
One could request gift cards to restaurants, movies, and the like.
One could suggest subscriptions to a magazine or two, or even a fruit of the month membership. If the giver is completely clueless as to your present, ideas like these can be helpful.
I suppose the central issue in making a gift list is this: we hardly know what we want. But events of late have inspired me to take a swing at it. This year, I don’t want to be afraid.
Too many of us are scared. Scared that we’re not going to get what we think we need, scared someone else might take what we think is ours, and scared that there are people getting things they do not deserve.
Heck, if we all stopped looking at things solely from a selfish perspective, and if we all stopped worrying about ourselves or about someone else getting too much of something we don’t think they are entitled to, what a happy world we would live in.
So, yeah, this year, I’d like a little peace of mind, a little more ease with which I can get outside my own head and see things with the eyes of others. ‘Cause if I’m not scared of my brothers and sisters, it will be easier to treat them better. If you ask me, that would make the perfect gift.
Here’s hoping we get what we truly need this year.
Pat Grimes, a former South Bay resident, writes from Ypsilanti, Mich. He can be reached at pgwriter@inbox.com.
