Best and worst gifts

[Alex]

My wallet is already too full of stuff I have to carry around with me for me. All the slots are filled and some double filled.

Besides does whoever it is that gave me the card (I have no recollection) really want to be saddled with the cosmic record of having purchased me, for my birthday or Christmas (or maybe it was for that Web site I helped with), two bags of cat litter and a couple rolls of paper towels.

No, better that when they stand before the Pearly Gates and St. Peter (or whoever it is that stands there) asks them to justify themself they are able to say "I once gave Alex $30 to spend at Wal-Mart with which he may have bought something that brought him great personal enjoyment" than "I once purchased for Alex $30 dollars worth of cat litter and he spent the next month scooping poop out of it."

Really, by not using that card I am saving somebody's soul.

[MouseWife]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

My wallet is already too full of stuff I have to carry around with me for me. All the slots are filled and some double filled.

Maybe you could buy a new wallet?

Try on line. Although I recall having a helluva time trying to order things via Target {on my old computer with a million blocks/issues, that could have been it}.

[Snowflake]

Best Gift: A Christmas day of peace and serenity, no drama, no angst and calls from many wonderful friends. With an afternoon nap with my kitty, a nearly perfect day.

[Alex]

You are suffering under the misapprehension that shopping online is not shopping. I have no more interest in doing it on a computer than in a real store (my online shopping is exacly the same as in real life: I don't go to the web site unless I know exactly what I want and then the goal is to minimize the amount of time spent there).

I bought the Movado watch that Kevy linked to in the other thread (actually Lani did because after she found out I got her a Christmas present she decided she had to get me one; but ultimately it will be my money that pays the credit card bill so it all the same). I never looked at another Web site or another page on that Web site. Perfect shopping experience.

And my current wallet is perfectly the right size (total shopping time: 4 minutes, it was within two feet of the door at Wilson Leather). I'm not looking for a solution to the unused Wal-Mart gift card. I'm completely fine with having it in my nightstand until I clean or move and then throw it away.

Someone got the small pleasure of giving me a gift.
I don't have to shop, which is a large pleasure.
Wal-Mart gets free money, which they enjoy.
Some prison worker in China wasn't oppressed to serve my overindulgent globalized eco-imerio-consumerism. The ungrateful bastard probably didn't even notice.

It's win-win for everybody.

[MouseWife]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

You are suffering under the misapprehension that shopping online is not shopping.

Hee hee. Must be that girl/guy thing.

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Wal-Mart gets free money, which they enjoy.

Nooo!!!! You can't help them!!! Give it to your mail carrier. That is the least amount of trouble to put you through, you go to your mailbox daily.

I had a guest come in with a handful of gift cards. Found them in the garage as they were cleaning. He had about $150. Cards he had forgotten about. I don't think I would. I love to shop. Even if it is just to see what is out there. I don't change up the house a lot but I do like to see what options there are.

[Alex]

Actually, I haven't been to our mailbox in months (Lani checks the mail when she gets home from work) and I live in an apartment complex with a communal mailbox and no way to give the card to him unless I stand around waiting for her. Plus, tipping mailmen is stupid. As soon as they start tipping me for a well designed online billpay application I'll start tipping them for doing their job.

But I understand what you're saying. PM me your address. Next time I open my nightstand and see the card (could be months; I'm only reminded of its existence because I hid Lani's present in the drawer over the weekend) maybe I'll mail it to you.

Now that we've resolved that issue, how about the B&N card that is in the drawer with the Wal-Mart card?

As for the phrase "love to shop," that is a concept as foreign to me as "I feel god's benevolent presence."

[MouseWife]

I wasn't hinting around....

Dude. You see, you are the person I would love to have on my list. While I love to give gifts, I am very practical and if someone doesn't need something, I don't want to buy them anything. And, I would like that they understand this and forego all of the 'hurt feelings'.

The only frivolous gifts we gave were to the very young. Silly stuff that their mom wouldn't buy. I'd have bought them clothes but I didn't know their sizes.

My husband, isn't this way. I thought we'd agreed to keep it simple, just buy for the kids and a few family members.

He bought me some nice things. Damnit.

He was shocked when I bought him a birthday card this year. He said I hadn't bought him a card in years. I said I hadn't found one I liked.

B & N. I just bought their membership....Was going to give gift cards but luckily they had the books the kids wanted. After all I spent on them, I wasn't about to give them cards on top of it. They can use my discount. That's a gift, right? {editing to add this~ you seem to like reading, i.e., books. What a nice rainy day thing to do to browse around the store, like a library, but, you get to take home what you want to keep. This is shopping but it also could be just a fun thing...really...}

The concept of God/loving to shop. A good day at the mall with friends can be heavenly bliss.

[Alex]

Just for you, I'll make this offer. I'm uncomfortable getting gifts from acquaintances, but I'll make an exception.

Put me on your Christmas list for next year. Then don't get me anything. I promise no angst. And you get to have the perfect person on your list.

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Now that we've resolved that issue, how about the B&N card that is in the drawer with the Wal-Mart card?

I'm sure the very next LoTer you see would be thrilled to get the B&N gift card that you will never use. Heck, you could just hand it to the next human you see and make someone's day.

If someone knows me well enough to get me what I want, and wants to take the time to hunt it down, then that is spectacular. But if someone doesn't know what to get me (which almost no one does) then I appreciate the thought of a gift card. Anyone that asked what I wanted this year got told B&N gift card (just family, I didn't do the gift thing with friends). I appreciate that while they really don't know me well enough to shop for me, they still want me to have something I want and will use.

What I really hate are the gifts that I've gotten where the person was obviously just in the grocery store because they were assigned to bring soda and picked up a gift while they were there. I've gotten a talking picture frame that way (actually, Indi loved that), a really crappy book of inspirational sayings about marriage (anyone that's ever met me should know I would hate that), and random boxes of really cheap chocolate. All for various wedding anniversaries. If you don't care about what you choose, don't care if I'll like it, and are just getting it because you feel obligated then please don't bother. Especially if you've been a member of my immediate family my entire life. I don't mind not getting a gift, really, but to get me something that any modicum of thought would reveal that I will hate is sort of offensive.