I am not a fan of pre-appointed gift giving. It is a deplorable quality I have to own up to. And I do not love receiving gifts since I only really enjoy giving them if it's on my terms. That is to say, if I see something I think a particular person would like, I'd like to get it for them regardless of calendar considerations. These opportune gifts, ones that make sense to me, then ought to be tallied at the end of the year towards whatever gifts I am supposed to be giving on specific occasions. Tallied on such a qualified "impact" basis as to cover all the bases. If I spontaneously give a present to a distant cousin on a random day and not to my brother on his birthday, the gift still ought to be counted at the end of the year as equal merit on the sheet. So maybe this year my brother doesn't get a present, his cousin sure got one that was astonishingly and surprisingly effective! I think this is a far preferable way of gifting. It gives me more latitude regarding my spending, and makes the gifts far more personal and inspirational. And I don't buy into the whole "keeping a list" thing or the "squirrel approach" to gift giving. These do not contain the emotional impact for giver or receiver I am looking for. Of course I know this is not how the world works. No one will keep track for me. No one, at the end of the year will say "Oh, I didn't get a Christmas present from Todd, but he gave Sally a rad book on the 5th of August!" And I haven't yet figured out how not to care about the notoriety, so I'll just keep being an absent-minded miser. Sorry, it isn't personal, I'm just not comfortable with the current system. I still appreciate the heck out of you.
I am not a fan of pre-appointed gift giving. It is a deplorable quality I have to own up to. And I do not love receiving gifts since I only really enjoy giving them if it's on my terms. That is to say, if I see something I think a particular person would like, I'd like to get it for them regardless of calendar considerations. These opportune gifts, ones that make sense to me, then ought to be tallied at the end of the year towards whatever gifts I am supposed to be giving on specific occasions. Tallied on such a qualified "impact" basis as to cover all the bases. If I spontaneously give a present to a distant cousin on a random day and not to my brother on his birthday, the gift still ought to be counted at the end of the year as equal merit on the sheet. So maybe this year my brother doesn't get a present, his cousin sure got one that was astonishingly and surprisingly effective! I think this is a far preferable way of gifting. It gives me more latitude regarding my spending, and makes the gifts far more personal and inspirational. And I don't buy into the whole "keeping a list" thing or the "squirrel approach" to gift giving. These do not contain the emotional impact for giver or receiver I am looking for. Of course I know this is not how the world works. No one will keep track for me. No one, at the end of the year will say "Oh, I didn't get a Christmas present from Todd, but he gave Sally a rad book on the 5th of August!" And I haven't yet figured out how not to care about the notoriety, so I'll just keep being an absent-minded miser. Sorry, it isn't personal, I'm just not comfortable with the current system. I still appreciate the heck out of you.
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