The "Don't Know What I Want for Christmas Blues"..

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I can understand that. I guess that's why I always tell people exactly what I want.

Still it's nice to have somebody surprise you once in awhile with something you really love.

I know how this feels. Last week my mother and I were at Mastermind Toys and I found a giant L.O.L. Surprise package for around 100$ and she said I could get that as my "big" present but I wasn't sure I wanted something like that because I still find it hard to believe any toy is worth being over 100$. I thought about the Nintendo Switch but when I saw the price my eyes nearly rolled out of my head.

Of course, I have to think about what to get my parents for Christmas as well. I'll probably just send a greeting card with a gift card to a nice restaurant or the movie theater inside and send it to my brother and SIL. They might be coming home for the holidays but we can never be positive about that.

I did that from before my teens. Folks didn't have the kind of money to buy the things I really wanted, and I saw no point in having a load of little trinkets that I'd have no use for or get bored with quickly. Some things, like my own computer and TV for my room, I saved for over multiple Xmases and birthdays (along with any pocket money or paper-round wages etc.)

These days, I don't bother at all; everyone who knows me knows that I just don't mark Xmas, aside from getting to see a few people while they're off work or school. I neither expect anything from them, nor them from me.

I never really been into giving gifts & I don't really do that nowadays. Both my dad's side of the family & mom's side, quit doing the gift exchange thing years ago. Some members of the family still exchange with other members but but parents are not giving gifts to my aunts & uncles, their kids(which are my cousins), & their kids kids(kids of my cousins). It's too many people for my parents to keep buying for. Plus I'm an only child who never plans on having kids so my parents felt like they were getting jipped buying for my cousins & their kids when the only 1s who would give my parents or me any gifts were my aunts & uncles. My parents don't even really get together with the rest of the family anymore cuz my aunts & uncles are not really getting together with each other. I haven't even seen my parents at Christmas time the last couple years since my girlfriend would rather be with her family then & neither of us like traveling around that time of year. My parents give me money & that works for me.

I keep an updated wishlist year-round, and for the people that know me and put in an effort, i'm very easy to shop for. For people who ask me the day before my birthday or right at christmas it's harder, because I don't want a lot of stuff you could just easily go to a mall for. I've tried to help the people who want to follow a wishlist by adding online links to the things I want, from websites that have reasonable shipping (considering the country I live in). Most people don't get me stuff I want, but since I'm a grown woman I don't get a whole lot of presents anyway.. lol.

I help my kids and my husband make wishlists for christmas, and I love shopping for others (although it gives me some anxiety these days since I don't have much money and I always want to get gifts that are really special). When I was a little girl I felt so bad for my parents getting only a few gifts compared to me on christmas (because i have a lot of uncles and aunts and they only gave presents to kids), so I spent all my savings on presents for my family. Like.. I would buy them 20-something presents and make sure to divide up the presents when I handed them out. I still play this role as christmas organizer on christmas eve.

I can see how making a wishlist is stressful on the spot though, sometimes I can't even do it, and sometimes I just don't want to get too specific, but my best advice is to keep a list somewhere over things you might want to make this easier.

My family and closest friends know that anything cat-related is good for me. I mainly enjoy the company of family and friends.

I usually know what I want before Halloween. My mom already has my list.