I'm not a Christmas person. I'm not going to go into that --there have been plenty of anti-Christmas posts recently-- but I'm just not. Therefore, when asked the inevitable What do you want for Christmas question every year, I used to say "Nothing.". Inevitably, I would get gifts anyway, and also inevitably, 90% or more of them were --let's just be honest about it-- total crap.

In an effort to avoid someone spending their hard earned money on me for something that I'm going to throw away the same day as I receive it, I have started putting effort into a Christmas list. So I made a list this year. All very modest things, all very non-technical things, all very you-can-pick-this-up-at-Sears type of things. or I-would-like-a-giftcard-from-this-store things in order to make it very easy on those who would be gift giving. I disseminated the list to all appropriate parties (my mother and my mother-in-law) and let it go.

So... despite having made a list, I, once again, got 90% crap. I got exactly one item on my list, it was the dead bottom of my list, and it lacks certain functionality that I would have liked had I picked it out for myself. I can get over that though, and I am grateful to have received it.

Otherwise, I got gift cards from stores I don't shop at, and most interestingly of all I got a Barnes and Noble gift card. Now... I love me a bookstore. In fact, I get a Barnes and Noble gift card every single year. Sounds like a great gift then right? Nope, there's no Barnes and Noble here. We have a Borders. Every single year I tell my mother "We don't have a Barnes and Noble, we have a Borders here". Without fail: Barnes and Noble gift card.

Yes, I realize I can shop online with it, but that's not the point. The point is that I get nothing (or close to it) that I ask for, and a bunch of stuff that I have no use for. My wife, on the other hand, seems to get her list taken care of verbatim every year. It's on the list, she gets it. And all the gift certificates were to the correct stores too. Oooh... I almost forgot. I even got stuff that was on my wifes list. I opened it up and was just like "Hmmm... I think this is yours. Here you go."

I just don't get it.

This isn't me trying to be an ingrate. Seriously. I just don't understand why people would rather spend their money on giving me something I don't want or need than a) giving me nothing or b)following the instructions on the list. Next year I think I'm going to ask everyone to donate to charity in my name.