In Praise of the Traditional Christmas Wish List

Chris and I tend to mix up Christmas gift giving a bit each year. One year we’ll do great big gifts of awesome, like the year there was a laptop, a Playstation, *and* a Wii, back when those were hell to get ahold of. And the next year we’ll do small, thoughtful gifts, like a small piece of jewelry, or something that we really need for the house. Last year we went to the big maul in Orlando together and had a really nice lunch with beers and took each other shopping. Chris came home with some fancy shaving stuff that he wouldn’t bought otherwise, and I bought a gorgeous fancy purse. Plus it was a ton of fun to spend an indulgent day together. Oh shit! I just remebered that that was the trip when Chris flim-flammed me into getting a new couch! So yes, that was kind of a big Christmas. One year I told him, ‘I want a concertina for Christmas and you have to get it for me.’ Guess what I got that year! Exactly what I asked for, and that was great!

The thing is that we usually just go ahead and buy stuff for ourselves when we want or need something. We don’t usually hold off very long on getting things for ourselves. We’ll think about it for an appropriate amount of time, but once we feel that we would really and truly use the thing, we just buy it. The reason the shopping trip worked so well last year is because we had both been thinking about buying those things, but hadn’t pulled the trigger yet.

And we always talk about how we’ll do Christmas well in advance. I don’t want to get Chris some $4,000 drone toy and end up getting a pack of rechargeable batteries in return. No one wins there. So when I brought it up this year, Chris said that he’d been working on a list and that maybe I could do one too. He said he had some crazy big stupid things on his list (Yes, there really is a $4,000 drone toy on there. Good luck with that, Buttercup.), but there are small things and reasonable things, and middle of the road things as well.

So I somewhat reluctantly began my wish list. One of the things that brought me joy about it making my list is that I could write it in my planner. I love writing lists in my planner. Especially if those lists will come to fruition within the next month. Especially especially if it’s a list of things that I want that I might get! I was stumped for a couple of days, but when Denise posted her planner wish list ideas, I went to town. I put a photo sticker printer on my list, along with all kinds of non-specific planner stocking stuffers like washi tape and stickers and stamps and such. From there I went to my Etsy favorites list, since I was kind of already right there looking at planner shit anyway. I added a sapphire stackable ring, and a metal clay setup (Look it up metal clay if you aren’t familiar with it. It’s kind of amazing.) Since I started it, I’ve gone back and added things to my wish list whenever I’ve realized there’s something I should be shopping for. When we had our first cold morning last week I got into my car to go to work and immediately realized that I forgot to buy driving gloves last year. Onto the list! When I started to shop for a new wallet, onto the list!

And while I’m making my list, I’m looking at Chris’ list too. Other than the aforementioned $4,000 drone toy, he’s got a couple of other slightly outlandish items there, along with some practical things that we should get anyway. And a bunch of really reasonable, fun things too! This was about the time that I realized the beauty of the Wish List. You have options, and your gifter has options. Say I want a puppy for Christmas. I can simply put ‘puppy’ on my list, and leave the fun part of choosing a puppy to Chris! Or I can put ‘hound puppy’ on my list, giving him some guidance, but not choosing my own puppy. I can even put ‘see link of puppy on Petfinder that I emailed you’ on my list if I’ve already choosen my puppy! It’s genius! It gives the gifter a chance to have fun shopping for you, picking out what colors and such he thinks you’d like, and it gives you the chance to name your specific gift if you are super picky about this one item. It’s so much more fun the going to an Amazon wish list and clicking buttons. The bonus is that if your list is comprehensive enough, you still won’t know what you’re going to end up with!

So start a list this year! And have your people start lists! And write them down and exchange them and send each other photos of your lists and have a very merry holiday season!