Dear 2012 Me,
Fight all urges to be helpful. When extended family asks you to give them an idea for Christmas gifts for the kids,
do not do it!
Do not listen carefully to every reaction the kids have in the store or to the advertising between shows. Do not scour the web pages of places like Toys-R-Us and Amazon for things you know the kids will like.
And especially do not take the time to make lists for each child of various ideas in different prices ranges to be emailed or read off over the phone.
They don't really want those lists!
Half of the family will just get what they want to anyway and the other half will just contact you a couple of weeks later--multiple times-- to ask you to tell them again, and then they will just get what they want to anyway.
Please remember: Your family members are incapable of reading through older emails or phone texts to read what you painstakingly compiled, so don't do it!
Please trust me on this. You do it every year. This year you have this warning, heed it.
However, with the world getting ready to end and all, at least this is the last year you have to fend off those relatives.
P/S Don't forget to stock up on mince pies-- I hear they are THE party food for the End of the World parties.
Ewwww! Mince pies!!!! Yuk! Ha!
ReplyDeleteI agree with this advice by the way. So true!!
Hugs
SueAnn
Oh my gosh! SO there right now and it's driving me up a wall. Not to mention all the time I spent compiling a list of the kid's programs, recitals, etc., etc., and I still get asked constantly when such and such is, or told they're coming, on the wrong date, to an event. How hard is it to just read an email.
ReplyDeleteThe last straw was when Jason was clueless about something or other and I asked him if he had read the email...he said yes, he read the first part, but I put multiple things in it so he didn't read it all. Really?? I think people have just completely forgotten how to communicate. They want everything in one or two sentences.
Maybe it will help to know you have company.
This post made me smile. Every year my mother-in-law calls and asks for ideas for my boys for Christmas, which I try to give her. And then every year she ignores everything I have suggested and buys them a sweatshirt with either the Cleveland Browns or the Cleveland Indians logo on the front (usually the shirts are in the wrong sizes--and yes, the correct size information had been given to her). The last couple of years when her annual phone call came, I just said, "I don't know what they want. I'm sure whatever you choose for them will be fine." The results were the same as previous years, and it saved me a lot of hassle. hahaha! :-)
ReplyDeleteHave a good week, J!
Making a list? That's crazy talk! They will always get what they want to give, lists be darned.
ReplyDeleteoh is the world ending again? Good to know. That will save me a lot of stress. ;)
ReplyDeleteI do the lists too... but only for my mother and my mother in law who both diligently consult said list. I don't bother for anyone else because no one else sends the kids anything anyway.
Feel the love people.
And if you do make the lists the kids will just change their minds anyway- at least mine do
ReplyDeleteI'm not even gonna start with my in-laws. I'll just say I'm glad I'm not the only one!
ReplyDeleteoh yeah, we've been there. if you're just going to buy what you feel like buying anyway, don't even bother to ask me for a list. or if tell you something super specific, don't get something that's similar, but not it, because by me making a point of being specific, it was for a reason. sometimes, imitation just doesn't cut it.
ReplyDeleteWhat about just making donations to the needy in everyone's honor? Isn't that what Christ was all about anyway? Sorry. Just sick of the nonsense more than ever!!
ReplyDeleteBest post on gift giving I've seen! I'm all for the old Name Draw idea!
ReplyDeleteSandi