What does 'hard to shop for" mean?? [View All]

[wyldwolf]

My wife and friends tell me I'm hard to shop for.

This statement is absurd for several reasons. One, my family has a tradition of everyone making a list of what he/she wants and passing it around. An often pointless endeavor because people often ignore the list and go rogue.

So after years of receiving useless, thoughtless junk or things I already have, I decided about three years ago that if someone MUST get me something for Christmas, just get me a gift card from a book seller so I can buy what I want for myself.

What I want - what makes me happy - can not only be purchased online but also in at least 5 department and grocery stores within 10 miles of where I live - making me ridiculously EASY to shop for.

Now, suddenly my wife wants to redefine the point of gift giving. Now, it should be to make the giver feel they've done something special, not necessarily making the receiver satisfied with what they've gotten. In other words, because my wife thinks getting gift cards is impersonal, I should also think they're impersonal.

If you're thinking all this sounds incredibly petty and materialistic, you're right. My initial request to donate gift money to one of my favorite charities was shot down.