Every year, I promise myself that “next year” I will make a Christmas shopping list and get started it on it as soon as this year’s season is over. Every year, something happens and that promise is not kept. I am beginning to believe that it’s just a “I’m gonna do this” kind of activity. I am beginning to realize that this kind of planning and organization may need corporate style planning and budgeting to pull it off.
I have never been a big gift giver at those special moments throughout the year. I have always been a proponent of the “give for givings sake” concept that doesn’t need a special day or date or occasion for gift giving. Traditionally, I will see something I know a friend (or family member) likes and buy it on the spot, giving it with a “just ‘cos” kind of message or card or note.
I remember, just before I left Jamaica, I walked into a shoe store looking for shoes. While I am trying on shoes, I am looking up at the array of handbags that this store also sells. Premium leather bags, just beckoning to me from the wall behind the showcase. I am a sucker for leather, let me tell you. I know I don’t NEED another handbag and so I am ignoring the urge to check them out in detail. And then I remember that my mother had expressed a need for a new handbag since the one she had been using for years suddenly came apart on the inside. Apparently the handbag was lined on the inside with fabric which suddenly tore away from the leatherette exterior.
So, now that I had good reason to shop for a handbag, I stepped up to the counter and found the nicest of the bunch and purchased it on the spot.
I don’t remember it being a special occasion (although, Mother’s Day might have been approaching), I just remembered her saying she needed to replace her handbag and I saw the opportunity to treat her to one.
That is usually how I operate – I am out, I see something I know someone can use or would appreciate and I pick it up and give it to them “just ‘cos”.
I can’t say I have ever thought about the concept of not being restricted to gift giving at specific times in the year, but I know that while I am not against it, I really just don’t care to observe it. If I can, I will but I am not trying to adhere to the specific dates for giving.
Some might say that is somewhat selfish of me, especially if at those specific dates, I give nothing – selfish because the receiver is likely to want to receive on the special day (Christmas, for example) and because I gave them something on the 3rd of August, I have nothing to give them for Christmas and it makes them feel left out. I can understand that, which is why I have thought that I may need to readjust the way I do the whole gift giving thing.
Hence the promise to myself that I will make a Christmas shopping list and get started on it as soon as the current season is over (there are tons of deals to be had after the current Christmas season is over).
To be honest, with the upcoming deployment, things like that will serve to keep me occupied. My plan is thus:
- I can make my list
- Choose 1 or 2 people to focus on for a month
- Purchase something for them and cross them off the list
That I despise wandering around in shopping malls is showing clearly now, I am sure. I can’t imagine wandering around for 2 presents much less all within a month time-frame. If I focus on one or two gifts to score per month, I’ll have 24 by the time Christmas rolls around … I don’t even think I HAVE 24 people to gift.
Of course, there are many flaws with this kind of plan:
- changing tastes
- changing costs and prices of items
- the possibility that the subject of the gift will have acquired same gift at some point within the year …
So I am open to suggestions. Tell me, how do you do your Christmas shopping?
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