this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2024
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Some of us adults are getting smarter about this, also. In the months leading up to Christmas, we'll ask each other for what we want and hold off on buying stuff for ourselves. I know that my sister wants new oven mitts. She can get by with her old ones for a couple more weeks and I'll be buying something I know she needs. I told her I needed a new light on the bike. Gave her the exact light I wanted and a link to the store she can get it from.
My other sister is all about the surprise. So with her, we have the painful process of buying and receiving things neither of us actually want.
I know it is a popular way to do things, but that sort of buying to order always seems a bit pointless to me. It does at least get you what you want, but it feels like a convoluted way of just shopping for yourself and pretending it is a gift exchange. A bit like the secret santa at work where I managed to draw the same person who had me, and we both bought each other a bottle of Baileys!
We did have a period where we exchanged token handmade gifts (usually food) which worked ok too. But it all pretty much petered out after a few years.
It is a little pointless, until you give the present to the kids and have them pass it to their aunty. They then stand and watch the gift getting opened, literally jumping and flapping their hands in excitement as she unwraps the present they gave her.
Kids bring the magic of Christmas back. There is still a little of the surprise: I don't know what oven mitts my sister would have selected, but I'd be surprised if it had dashunds on one hand and galahs on the other. But those are the ones the kids chose. She'll love them because of who they're from.