All that glitters....

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Most folks know I am not a huge fan of Christmas.  I think I actually like the holiday.  It's just all the gift buying and wrapping and baking and being sociable stuff I don't love.  I like it all in parts.  I would just like those parts spread out over, say, a few months instead of a few weeks.

M asked me the other day:

Mommy, what do you want for Christmas?
Um, I don't know.  I have everything I need.
It's not about need.  It's about want.  What do you WANT?
Huh.  I don't know.  What do I want?
You want perfume.  Or jewelry.  Or pretty socks.  Not stuff you need.
Those are all good ideas.  I like all of those things.

Every Christmas (and Mother's Day and my birthday), it's kind of the same thing.  I need new tiles for the kitchen floor.  I need a new filter for the refrigerator.  I want something sparkly.  And I feel bad for wanting things.  I don't know why that is.  Maybe it's because I stress about money, the car, the girls education so much that I can't see past that. I need to stop doing that.

My ex and I limit the girls' requests of Santa to three things.  We've always done that.  Three very well thought out things.  This year they can't come up with three things so at least one will be a surprise.

Maybe my problem is that I have good (read: expensive) taste.  I like Channel Allure perfume.  I like gold and silver, not plated, jewelry.  I like electronics.  And my girls are taking after me.  This is a problem.

Some of the best gifts I've ever received were things I wanted and didn't know I wanted.  A keurig (I didn't even drink coffee then!).  An iPod.  Now I listen to it almost every day.  A double burner griddle - pancakes are so much easier now!  A Kindle - I read far more than I did before.  Those were all wonderful and were obviously gifts that required some thought.

I have a few folks in my life for whom buying gifts is tough.  I want to get each of those folks a gift that will give them that Oh, she knows me! feeling.  I'm coming up blank.  This makes me nuts.

If you, my fabulous readers, have great gift ideas, please leave comments.  



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