Steph, don't fear, I LOVE lists. I kind of wish my entirely family still wrote letters to Santa telling him what they wanted.
I do place a premium on getting things for people that they need or genuinely want.
When I had my Jesus birthday, lots of people bought me thematic Jesus presents which was sweet and I appreciated them, but frankly it was the thought that I appreciated more than the gift. It's often true of gifts.
And its compounded because the things I really need (help paying for childcare, money for gas) are not really gifts to be given so much.
Oh good lord. A friend just got engaged to this guy. (He's as charming as he sounds.)
I can't wait to see where they register. You may have to give us minute-by-minute updates on the progress of their betrothal.
The Notorious Mr. Smay.
"Notoriety isn't as good as fame but it's heaps better than obscurity."--Good Omens
Back-To-School clothing ads, 1957
eta: A line of clothes for "plump" girls called Chubbettes?
Can you buy gift cards for gas stations? 'Cause that would be a cool gift for a number of people I know. ( like recent grads). For people in need of practical gifts, but not sure how they would take that kind of thing -- I disguise it. For one friend I got disposable cameras for her kids for Christmas -- and then a grocery gift card to pay for the pictures. More $$ than she would need for that - so she could spend her paycheck on xmas.
brenda -- that guy lives in my neighborhood. or his brother or cousin. the guy in my neighborhood spends all his time suing the city. so he doesn't have to spend money on keeping up his building
Can you buy gift cards for gas stations?
I was thinking, "What, you buy x-mas cards for your gas station attendants?"
wait ... gas station attendants -- you mean people run these places?
Who else do you buy the candy from? Unless they have candy machines....
My family is all about the lists, at least for Christmas. (My sister and I have gotten into the habit of Amazon.com gift certificates for birthdays, which suits each of us just fine.) My sister's 8 years older than I, and left for college when I was 8. After that we were never in the same city for more than 2 weeks in a given year. 32 years later I'd know what color and style sweater would appeal to her? Sorry, not likely. And as her kids were born after I'd moved out of state there's no way in hell I'd know what to get them without a list. Her husband always needs driving gloves. I don't know why—maybe he sacrifices them to the gods of power-boating every April in a lavish ceremony redolent of WD-40 and myrrh. Meh, gloves I can find.
I wish my sister and her brood would pay more attention to Dad's lists, to be honest. They get him the belt/driving mocs/scarf/whatever that he asks for, and then they also get him some nifty techie thing that he can't figure out, loses the instructions and a couple of pieces for, and then asks me to make it work for him.
beth, my nephew got me a gift card for gas from BP. I'm pretty sure there are other gas stations that do the same thing.
It was a very welcome gift. When even a trip to Chicago becomes something to debate over because of the price of gas, having a gift card to help defray the cost was very nice.
