Christmas can be wonderful, but it can also be somewhat… err… difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of these people who hates having to get together with all the family – I’m very close to mine and love the chance to all meet up. However, whilst I love giving presents as much as receiving them, finding the perfect gift can be taxing.
Let’s face it, some people are easier than others to buy for. My mother – and I truly mean this in the nicest possible way – is easy to please. My dad, on the other hand, is a complete pain. To make matters worse, during my university years, I dug myself a rather large hole by being very good at imaginative presents, so I now feel I have to live up to past success. One year I made everyone a gift bag containing an array of small presents, which proved fun come unwrapping time. One year I got everyone ethically-themed gifts from people like Remarkable and Oxfam Unwrapped. You get the idea… The problem is, back then I had time to spend gift-hunting, and could go to the shops during the week when they’re quiet. Since growing up and getting a proper job, I find the whole experience rather more traumatic. Shopping on a Saturday is a hideous experience, and whilst the Internet is a big help, it sometimes feels a bit sterile doing all your shopping from Amazon and the like.
This year however, something amazing has happened. Every single member of my family has told me what they’d like for Christmas. Well OK, my 15-month old nephew didn’t, but then he falls into the “easy to please” category. My mum wants a new case for travelling, and asked me and my sister to chip in together to buy her a nice one. My dad has been dragging out the slow and painful death of his 8ish year old PC for too long now, and announced that the only thing stopping him moving all his work to their shiny new Mac was a lack of image editing software, so I’ve found him a piece of Mac software to do the trick. My aunt suggested some books and CDs for her and my grandad, while my sister enthusiastically exclaimed that she wanted Wii Music.
I’ll supplement each of these gifts with a little extra, just to maintain some element of surprise, of course. And I’ve come up with a stocking filler which everyone will get and which will hopefully fulfil my requirement to come up with something imaginative, however I won’t share that lest my parents read this post. But all in all, my Christmas shopping has got a lot easier this year. The only question is, will knowing what they’re getting reduce the joy that people get from the presents? Or does getting what you really wanted make for a better gift anyway? I guess only time will tell…