Looking forward to Christmas?
This has been my go to small talk starter recently. Which I reckon, isn’t a bad one. It usually reveals my conversing partner’s views on Christmas. Which the majority respond with describing some form of anxiety about buying gifts. I have to admit I can relate.
I experience different levels of anxiety with gift giving. With my immediate family, I feel none, as we have a tradition of being upfront about it and asking each other directly ‘what do you want?’.
There isn’t much excitement with this method but you get guaranteed satisfaction. You have peace of mind knowing the other person will like it.
The next level up is buying for relatives you haven’t seen since last Christmas. You’re not that close to them and you have no idea what they want. You try to think what they would like but really you’re just shooting in the dark.
A middle man is effective in this situation, often used by grandparents buying for their grandchildren. This isn’t the worst method also leaves some wiggle room for the buyer to miss the mark which creates some excitement.
The one that’s new to me and hands down the most anxiety inducing is buying for someone who’s fairly new in your life that you really care about. They haven’t told you what they want, leaving you with a vast amount of options to choose from.
You really want them to like the present and you want the exchange to be fairly even, maybe even tilt slightly in your favour.
So you start doing all this guesswork of how much are they going to spend? How many gifts will they get? You could melt into a nervous wreck if you let it get to you.
Then you start to consider the other hand. They’re in the same boat and I actually can’t wait to see what they got me. It’s very exciting. So excitement/anxiety, potato/potato. It’s all part of the holiday season.
Thomas Duggan 