Does the buying of christmas and birthday presents cause you anxiety and stress? Me too. Isn’t it so much easier for everyone if you have a comprehensive wish list from everyone you still buy presents for. However, I used to be quite resistant to being handed a list of wants from a niece or nephew as it seemed to me to suggest that they were not thinking about the symbolism of giving and receiving of Christmas gifts. The lists began to resemble an exact ‘must have’ order and that sulking tantrums can be looked forward to if the criteria is not met!
These days now that the children have managed to reach adulthood without harm or having to go without anything critical, it is easier and more acceptable to receive the list of possible ways to reduces the anxiety raising task of getting the present in the final analysis. Knowing the recipient is going to enjoy opening and seeing that present, and then go on to use it and care for it, does make that effort well worth while. It then covers both ends of the spectrum, it satisfies the desire to buy the perfect pressie and the desire to receive a specific item!
