Christmas Wrapped

I’ve never understood why, for so many, holiday gift-giving is the stressful, bank-account-emptying task it is. It’s a pleasure to give gifts. Why then is Christmas shopping so fraught with tension?

If I sound like an insufferable Pollyanna, I apologize. Perhaps it’s not fair for me ponder as I’m a celebrator of Hanukkah. While my family gets plenty gifty during this time of year (and we even hang stockings and invite Santa to visit), we only give presents to immediate family. We don’t engage in the popular Christmas practice (among a few of my friends at least) of giving gifts to everyone.

To me, the first line of holiday anxiety defense is to drastically pare down the gift list. It works in everyone’s favor: you save money, time, and sanity, and your friends and family suffer fewer awkward but-I-didn’t-get-you-a-gift moments. And you know what? They secretly want to get off the runaway gift-giving train, too.

Next, I try to pick up gifts as I see them, then “shop” my closet when the holidays arrive. I mentally record my kids’ pleas of “I love that!” and “Can I pleeeeease have it?” (My reply of “Add it to your wish list” mysteriously satisfies them. I think it’s more about being heard than actually getting the toy.) Later, when I have some time to myself, I pick up a couple of their “wish list” items and stash them in my office closet. This, more than anything else I do, simplifies gift-giving because I can sit back, smugly admiring my cache of presents, while I watch the crowds of holiday shoppers from afar.

Of course, this makes me looks a lot more together than I actually am. I’ve forgotten about presents hidden in the recesses of my closet, and I inevitably neglect someone and have to rush out into the dark of night for a gift. This year, I’ve scheduled BUY LAST-MINUTE PRESENTS in my calendar on December 1. That way, I can still avoid the worst of the holiday crowds or score Amazon’s free shipping with plenty of time to spare for wrapping.