#oneaday Day 2: Season of Giving

I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. I haven't even really thought about it, to be honest.

Christmas always seemed to be pretty straightforward as a kid. Write a letter to Santa that included a list of all the things you really wanted along with the assurance that you had "been good" (even if you were self-conscious of a particular instance of bad behaviour that had occurred relatively recently), get whatever your parents suggested as presents for other people and then sit back and wait for the bounty on Christmas morning.

As an adult, you actually have to think about such things. Not only do you have to contemplate what people might actually want, you also have additional considerations about the things you want. Is there anything you "need" that you can palm off on other people's generosity to save you having to pay anything? Is it "too much" to ask for purely selfish, enjoyable things?

Personally speaking, so far as presents go, I've always preferred fun things. I shan't say that I'm disappointed if I get a nice jumper or something — at least partly because my wife bought me a nice jumper a couple of Christmases ago and was worried I wouldn't like it because it was a "boring present" — but I still, at 37 years of age, prefer something that I can engage with actively… all right, play with.

Consequently, pretty much my entire Amazon wishlist this year consists of video games. In previous years, it would have included some board games too, but since two members of my regular board gaming group have had kids and become boring people who never go out in the process, it's proven impractical to keep adding to my board game collection, and I've even started getting rid of a few.

But video games… well, if you're reading this, of course you know it's my main passion. I'm always on the lookout for games I might like — and specifically games that I might want to write about for MoeGamer at some indefinite point in the future. Christmas is a great opportunity to acquire some stuff that is either still full price, or at the very least priced a bit higher than "impulse purchase" territory. 

Other people, though… that can be a bit challenging. There's a certain aspect of the British national character that kind of prevents people saying directly what they want at any point… and to a certain extent, asking other people what they want, too. I realise this might sound odd given that I've already talked about writing letters to Santa and provided a link to my Amazon wishlist (pretty much the modern-day equivalent), but I know certainly with regard to my immediate family, I never really have a good idea what they want.

My wife is typically indecisive about such things at the best of times, and it never feels quite… "right" to ask my parents and brother what they want. As such, I typically end up getting them something that I believe broadly aligns with their interests in some regard.

I guess that's as good a way as any of handling the whole present-giving thing, and despite me saying that I haven't done any Christmas shopping yet, I know I can almost certainly blast out all the presents I might need within the space of an hour with a simple Amazon session. I just need to actually find the motivation to do that!