I don't know about you guys, but I have, in my immediate family, 17 people to buy Christmas gifts for. We've tried drawing names to exclude the adults, but that still leaves 8 people. This, of course, doesn't include my boyfriend, my best friend, my pretty good friends, the close co-workers, etc... It seems like every year I try to narrow my gift-giving list down and I still end up getting gifts for 20 people. And if I *don't* get those gifts, then chances are they've gotten ME something really cool and I feel like a total turd. How do you manage your gift-giving list? What's your criteria? Do you have any good suggestions on what to do when you get a gift from someone, but you left that person off your list?

P.S. I know, I know, Christmas isn't all about the giving and getting of material crap, but humor me.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000

Answers

I always make sure I have some small gifts available at the last minute, like nice candles or candies/cookies/wine/whatever. That way if someone gives me a gift I have something to give, but usually I'm the one giving the gift and the other person didn't get me anything.

What really chafes my ass is when my husband tells me that he needs a gift for someone at work, and he tells me the night before he intends on giving the gift. If he doesn't like the backup gifts I have, he is just up shit creek.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000

me to nic!!!! i all ways make sure i have some o f my paintings to give justin caes!!!!

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000

I totally don't do Christmas lists. If I feel like getting someone a gift, I'll do it (which is not too often, not even for my in-town immediate blood relatives). My wife always gives me shit about this. It's gotta be at least partly a gender thing, because I bet a lot of men are the same way. And it's at least partly me and my own personal attitudes. I'm buying gifts for maybe five couples this year... maybe.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 2000

I bake like crazy this time of year, so I make sure I've got some extra breads or cookies around. Small-sized loaves of cranberry bread or my cherry-almond pound cake keep well in the freezer and can be pulled out and easily dressed up with a nice ribbon for a last- minute gift. If you don't give them all away, you get to eat them after the holidays. :-)

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2000

We keep extra presents around, usually books that we would be happy to own if we don't give them away. One of my favorite books is "Living a Beautiful Life" by Alexandra Stoddard, and it has served me well as an appropriate gift for any woman ever so I buy a couple of copies every year.

For the person who got you a great gift and you didn't get them anything-thank them for your gift and ask them if they like the wreath. William Sonoma makes a fresh bay leaf wreath that costs $25 or so. When you order it, you can have it sent directly to the recipient as a gift, and it only takes a couple of days. Because you are ordering it to be delivered directly to them, you can always pretend that it's already been ordered, then order it, and then later make up a story about all the hassle you had to go through to straighten out the order for their Christmas gift. You get the added bonus of getting to act totally bewieldered when they say they haven't gotten the wreath...and you can storm off right then to go call the company to find out what's going on. Best of all, the wreath is a "whole family" gift, so depending on the size of the family, you can knock out several birds with one wreath.

Those are my two best secrets. Almost inevitably I buy men Jerry Garcia ties and women Mikasa crystal pieces if I have to buy individual gifts. You can always get nice crystal really cheap at T.J.Max and Marshalls and stores like that, but only buy it if it comes in it's own box-otherwise it's obvious that you bought it at a discount store (I come from snobs, this is important shit to them).

Now I'm ruined if any family member sees this post...

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2000

Hey, don't forget those big ole tins of stale popcorn that Wal-Mart sells with cute little holday scenes on them. They're WAY cheap. Just avoid eye contact with the recipient while you're opening their lovely, personal, carefully selected gift to you.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000

I never have to make a list because I'm a year-long cruise shopper. When I see something I KNOW someone would like, I buy it then and save it for their birthday or Christmas, whichever comes first. I also buy a lot of different kinds of booze at Christmas time in holiday decanters for last minute gifts for casual gifts. The decanters are cool and they don't charge extra for them, usually. I have a friend who has three different Elvis decanters he thinks are cool. Whatever.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2000