Gifts are Shipped!

Finally, the gifts are on their way - way earlier than I thought we would ever get them out. Usually I wait until I have to send them next-day-air or include a note saying 'I have decided to make Christmas on the 28th instead of the 25th, this is why you are getting this present two days after the old Christmas celebration date'. It doesn't work very well, but it makes you feel better.

Now that all of your purchases are in the mail and gone, you begin to wonder if it was the right gift for that particular person. Did I think this through or was it just a waste of money and time?

The worst part of buying gifts is wondering if they are good enough, that is, will the recipient of your generosity think that you really care about them when they open the gift. Will they say ' now this is cool' or will they say 'what will I do with this?' or 'good god Ethel, what was he thinking?', or wasn't.

Even if the quality is the best, it is a must to find something that has equity. By equity I mean, will the gift provide some use in their lives? I want to say practical use, but there are just so many things that one can buy, or afford to buy, for another person that will be practical. Be honest, how many gifts have you gotten in the last ten years that have been useful and that you liked? How many are still in the closet? How many have been regifted?

It's also very hard to buy cloths for someone else. How can you possibly know what they like to wear when they really have no idea. I bet the majority of gifts that are returned after Christmas are cloths. Here's another thing, It's impossible to buy shoes for someone else although I have considered it on more than one occasion when I couldn't come up with anything else and time was running out. Shoes?

And jewelry, what a bust. I have boomed so many times that I have given up even trying except for ear rings - you almost can't go wrong in that area if you keep them small - heh

Probably the one thing that concerns me the most about buying Christmas gifts is making sure that I give a gift that will be as good as the one that I know I will get from that person. Sometimes their gift doesn't have much practical use but it is costly and of good quality. It seems to make up for not having any good use in my life. Of course, the gift that I got for them is useful but inexpensive.

Is there a balance there? Most of the time, I don't think so. But I always feel bad when this happens. I feel cheap and there is no good reason to feel that way. I did the best that I could and that's that. Yeah right! well, I am a little cheap -

So I guess if you can't think of anything to buy for a person that has everything, buy something that you would like and make sure it is of good quality, i.e. drop a ton of money on it and you will have a winner for sure. I always say that's what I will do, but I never do. I always look for something that's practical.