Adventures · Cheers

On my bucket wish list for Christmas

Shelley

The last phase of my Black Friday shopping weekend is gift wrapping.  It’s a tradition of mine so that the items bought are magically turned into the perfect gifts for each adult child as they open them up on Christmas morning.

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It will be like I knew exactly what to get them.  They will be tickled pink with joy as they open each gift.  When they were little, it was so much easier to surprise them.  I wonder if somehow I can pull off a surprise gift this year?

While we were out shopping on Black Friday, I mentioned to my kids that when I was growing up, gift giving seemed so different from how it is nowadays.

They asked me why, and I said, “Because it was more about the thought that counted.  We didn’t have much money to spare.  It was a challenge to try to come up with a gift that was unique to the person we were buying it for while sticking to our budget.  It often times took me right up to Christmas Eve to find that perfect gift.  Nowadays, there are so many things readily available, and every store has much of the same kind of stuff – so finding something unique that you can’t buy yourself seems hard to come by.”

So, did I do that during my shopping this year?  Did I try to do something unique to surprise them or find a perfect surprise gift?  Yes, in that I was planning for it by listening and watching them as they picked up items and returned them to the shelves.  Hoping that I could see if there were clues I could use for shopping by myself later.

But mostly, Heck No – I’ve learned that the best gifts for my daughters (who like to try things on first) are the items they pick out for themselves.  They know what they like, so why fight that ability to discern the best gifts ever, right?

Stop dreaming about your bucket list and start living it. – Annette White

I just wrap the gifts the same weekend they are bought.  By the time Christmas day rolls around, we’ve all forgotten what we picked out while we were in our delirious Black Friday states.

On Christmas morning, we realize each gift was perfectly chosen for each person, and everything fits.  I do love hearing, “Thanks, Mom, it is exactly what I wanted – it fits perfectly.”  Those gifts make for no-returns needed the post-Christmas day and beyond.  This year, my youngest even removed the tags and washed and dried the items.  That way when she opens them up they are ready to wear!  Brilliant, right?

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As I wrapped the gifts, I munched on my snacks and thought about my own bucket wish list for this year’s Christmas.  I bought everything I wanted (gee…wonder where the girls got it from…I did get great deals though!?).  And yes, I made Mr.’s Christmas shopping for me a breeze.  He loves it when I open up the gifts and say, “Aw…hon, you did such a great job shopping, it’s perfect – thank you!”

But there are 2 things I’d still like for Christmas – 1.  Find a small unique item for each girl that they didn’t know they’d be getting.  I do want to surprise them somehow!

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2.  Learn how to take a clear photo of candle flames…I didn’t know how hard that would be!?

Post Inspiration – Sunday Stills Bucket List Images

PS – What do you remember from your childhood about buying Christmas gifts?  Do you let your adult kids (or your young ones) pick out their own gifts?  Do you know what the heck I’m doing wrong with my camera so I can get a good candle flame picture?  

 

 

Published by Shelley

Letting my quirk out one post at a time.

22 thoughts on “On my bucket wish list for Christmas”

  2. I am impressed you have everything wrapped already! When I was a kid, I did my Christmas shopping at the local drug store – cologne for my mother, cigars for my father. That kind of thing. Stretching ten dollars to cover everyone – siblings included.
    These days I ask my adult children what they want – sometimes I’ll get a link to a website for the exact item. Otherwise I’m on my own.

    1. Ah, yes, I did the drugstore shopping route many years too. I taught our kids the tradition by taking them to the dollar store. It was fun to see them get creative on their gifts for everyone. Happy cyber shopping to you.

  3. HAHa- I buy my own gifts sometimes but I make my husband wrap them. Sometimes I just make a list with pictures and the store name so he knows what to get. This year we are trying a Secret Santa approach. We’ll see how that goes. I am in awe that you have everything wrapped already!

    1. That’s great – I sometimes even wrap the gift myself. But now I just wash and wear and go – no need to waste the wrapping paper ;-)! We might try the Secret Santa thing sometime. I may have everything wrapped, but the set-up for the wrapping sessions remains right where I left it! LOL!

  5. Can’t help you with the flame pics–but they look pretty nice to me! I do think gift-giving and receiving used to be more fun. I still love a surprise gift, but I married into a family that wants item#/size/color. I’m thankful; it’s just not quite as exciting. I am sneaky with gifts for friends in that I’ll leave catalogs out and when they’re over they’ll flip through and say “oh, that’s nice,” and I remember what it is, so I can surprise them later. You’re right that watching and listening is the best way to make for a good surprise gift!

  6. I thought it was a good picture of the candle flame – I’ll learn from you as I’ve never taken a picture of a candle flame. I have no family now and it was just my parents and me growing up. We went to my grandmother’s house until we moved here in 1966. When it was just my mom and me, we’d go shopping together and pick out something for each of us, sometimes several things, and just get it – no surprises and no kids around so no need to even wrap things up … we sound like heathens. We did get a few presents on the side though and called them “stocking presents”. My bear tree I sent you the link of earlier today was a Christmas present from my mom – got it several months before Christmas.

    1. Thanks! One of these days, I’ll figure it out. I think I remember how to do it…it has to do with lighting and ISO 200…soon I’ll have another post about it. That tree is adorable, my mom would’ve loved it. I see it is sold out, you could sell yours if you don’t want it and buy yourself something for your photography hobby? Do you think your mom would approve?

      1. I didn’t know it was sold out – didn’t notice that. We did get it at the Danbury Mint, so I just looked on their site to show you the tree. It has very tiny lights that make the tree twinkle. No, I will keep it for sentimental reasons and I will promise myself to put it up next year … my living room is small and nowhere to put it or anything else, so putting up decorations always required tucking other things away. The problem is I never go into the living room at all. My laptop is set up here at the kitchen table, and once I arrive here for work at 11:00 a.m., I am usually here til 10:00-11:00 p.m. I only go into the living room to get the mail and to dust/vacuum. We never sat in there … we had a TV room and sat in that room or mostly in the kitchen. My mom and I would watch TV but she had difficulty getting in/out of the chair and didn’t want to get a new chair (like a straight-back chair with arms instead of the chair that matched the loveseat) so we quit watching TV about 12 or so years ago. I still was paying for cable and I taped some movies – we set up a VCR and monitor in her room when she was confined to bed, but other than that I’ve not watched TV in about a dozen years. I don’t decorate anymore – I used to decorate for every holiday. My mom also bought me a Boyd’s Bear Christmas jacket from Danbury Mint. It is when I see all my holiday clothing collected through the years, not to mention my wardrobe, that I do feel guilty about working from home and not getting dressed up. The jacket was not on their site, or on ebay. It was tapestry with huge bears decorating for Christmas and a big bear on the back – very nice and tasteful and downstairs now. I guess I wore it the last Christmas I worked on site which would be 2008.

          2. YAY! That post is so much fun – way to be extra creative. As I read it, I could tell you were having fun!! I can’t wait to see what the bears do once they are freed from storage! 😉

  7. So glad you participated in Sunday Stills, Shelley! The candle flames look warm and inviting. Hard to capture. You might have to adjust your ISO or aperture setting if your camera allows for adjustments.

    1. Thank you, Terri. I love to participate in your challenges. Glad to hear flames are hard to capture – I’m thinking that my daughter had changed a setting on my camera that I can’t figure out how to change…I may need to pick her brain on how to switch it back so I can try again with those settings. Thanks for the tips, much appreciated!

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