A window into the life of a professional geek, wife and mother (and nonni), stitcher/designer, bibliophile, old-school gamer, and whatever other roles she finds herself in.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

On the threshold of chaos

A wondering friend reminded me that there are a mere 38 days until Christmas. 38 days in which to decide what to get my loved ones as gifts, and 38 days in which to buy them.

I hate shopping. At least anywhere other than in bookstores and craft stores. I think "mall" really should be spelled with a "u". Especially after Thanksgiving. I dislike the crowds, the hassle, the crass commercialism. And the insanity begins a week from now...I'm already overhearing folks discussing what they're going to be doing on the day after Thanksgiving, commonly called Black Friday. One would think shopping is an Olympic event, the way some people are so worked up about it!

I'm sorry, but count me out. I have no intention of going anywhere *near* a store on Black Friday.

But despite my loathing of malls, department stores, and other dens of heated monetary exchange, purchasing of gifts must be done. And so, I owe a great deal of gratitude to Jeff Bezos - for the past 7 years or so now, I've done most of my Christmas shopping on amazon.com. Books, music, gift certs for lovers of such...and they will even giftwrap and ship to your victim! I love it.

Of course, in some ways amazon has also been my downfall in the past...I have a notorious tendency just to order myself what I want, so when it gets close to Christmas or my birthday, I have no idea what to offer as suggestions. I have been a bit better this year about holding off, and putting items I'd like on my wish list instead of my shopping cart. So I have little things I can offer as suggestions to folks. (Though I may just ask for home improvement gift certs from parental units...)

I have actually been thinking about gifts for people for about a week now, and I think I have a good handle on what to get DsD. I need to get with my mom for some suggestions for my nephews. DD is at the age where she wants almost everything she sees on TV, so it's just a matter of deciding which of those items to potentially get her.

The trickiest person for me to shop for, though, is DH. Our anniversary, Christmas, and his birthday all fall within a fairly short span of time, so my gifting frenzy for him is just around the corner. I have only the vaguest of ideas for what to get him....

Oh, the insanity!

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