Since I'm a Christian and I come from a Christian family, I celebrate Christmas and that's it. No (C)Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice or Festivus or Ritual of the Prancing Lamb, just Christmas.
Festivus for the rest of us!
That's it. And my family celebrates it pretty religiously. (See what I did there? Religiously? Christmas? Sometimes I crack myself up...*) We have the usual fare; tree, lights, presents, stories of Santa Claus descending out nonexistent chimney and eating the cookies we never leave out out for him, but also have various nativity scenes and we try to celebrate the real reason for the season**, the Birth of Jesus. All of this stuff is well and good and great, but there's one bad thing about Christmas:
Presents.
I am probably the crappiest gift-giver alive. The combined facts that I am a poor college student and that I am only creative when it comes to the Big Five (Fiction, Poetry, Songwriting, Playwriting, and Lying) usually means that I usually spend the better part of my time second-guessing myself when I try to buy gifts for my friends(my family has learned that I need a list of gift options, otherwise they're all gonna get weird presents.) which results in me purchasing the most generic of all gifts: Giftcards. *insert dramatic music*
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing inherently wrong with the giftcard. It's just that it can seem to be so friggin' impersonal.
So last year, I wrote down a list of solutions to this gif-giving conundrum, which i have now enclosed for your viewing pleasure.
Option 1-Just flat out ask recipient what they want.
Pros: Simple, to-the-point, guaranteed good gift. *Works well with guys*
Cons: No surprise involved, can be seen as overly forward.
Option 2- Ask the recipient's family and closest friends what they want.
Pros: Can be very effective.
Cons: Can be very weird if talking to people you don't know.
Option 3- Stalk the person, then create a chart on what they buy and deduce what you should buy for them.
Pros: Can be quite thrilling.
Cons: Creepy, odd, and illegal. And did I mention creepy?
Option 4- Create something as a gift.
Pros: Uber-personal and heartfelt.
Cons: Writing poetry, songs and young-adult dystopian fiction can seem cheap, and I don't think girls like it when you write songs and poetry to them, something about "sending the wrong message." Also, if all you're good at is vacuum repair, you're screwed.
Option 5- Pay attention to what people don't have, then guess on if they would want it.
Pros: Shows you pay attention to your friends (if you guess well)
Cons: Results in a confusing, lame, or useless gift (if you don't guess well)
Option 6- Giftcards/money!!!
Pros-Practical.
Cons- Impersonal, can be seen as reducing a friendship to the money it's worth.(Definitely not a good thing.)
So you can see why I'm so torn on what to do. Normally, I'd be an Option 5 person, but I'm constantly second-guessing if what I'm buying is somebody a person wants, as opposed to what they need.
I'm gonna do some work over the coming weeks in gift-plotting, and if you have any ideas, please let me know!
—Z
PS: If you are a friend of mine, you could also send me a list of what you want. That way, you are moderately surprised at what I get you and you at the same time don't receive an INCREDIBLY crappy gift. :)
*-This is not one of those times.
**-Which is terribly cliche, but it's so dang catchy at the same time!
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