The Bottom Line- Ghosts of Christmas Present(s)

December 14, 2011 | by Joseph Brownell

As a child the biggest joy of Christmas was the restless sleep Christmas Eve night knowing that when I woke up there was going to be a bounty of wrapped boxes big and small under the tree. Christmas morning, I would race into the living room wide-eyed and uncaring that I would be exhausted before noon and I’d join the nation-wide Christmas celebration by frantically tearing through wrapping paper box after box as if the race were to unwrap the most boxes the quickest.

I remember quite clearly one year my sister received a New Kids on the Block sheet set; I was probably jealous because I wanted to sleep with Joey and Jordan, but reflecting upon my childhood, I can’t remember a single present that I received.

When the holidays come around I find myself in a precarious position- torn between the child who still longs for piles of presents and the man who knows he doesn’t need  very much, so over the years I’ve found ways to reconcile the two. For example, as I get older I wish my grandmother would spend her money on herself but there’s no way a grandmother isn’t going to buy her grandkids something for Christmas – no matter how old they are, so I’ll often send her a list of books I want to read and insist that she buy them used on Amazon.  It keeps costs low and actually provides many more hours of pleasure than the childhood toys I know I must have wanted so badly at the time but can’t even remember today.

If this condition has made gift receiving hard, it’s made gift giving even more difficult. I don’t want to just hand off a gift card to Bass Pro Shop to my dad, I want my gift to mean more than that. Finding the perfect gift that combines sentimental value with continuous real world use can be an enigmatic and anxiety-filled journey. You don’t want to see that faked face of joy that we’ve all perfected for those awkward gift moments.  (Don’t get me started on workplace secret Santa events.)

When someone asks you what you’d like for Christmas this year or when you’re shopping for someone special, spend a little bit more time and think about your gift. Remember that spending the most money doesn’t always equal the best gift. But if you’re still at a loss and just need to get something, I’ll always accept Ticketmaster gift cards.