Going ga ga over Xmas gifts..

Time flies real fast, no? Only a few days away and its Christmas and that mean another problem for me. Should I put everybody I know in my Christmas shopping list? Even those I just kinda forget about? I mean I don’t really ignore them, but not putting them in my list just make me a bit negligent right? And how about the people I don’t generally talk to outside of the months that end in -ber? I mean, not minding them during Xmas as I do the rest of the year. See where I am going?

I can not sew beautiful crafts or create special items that I can give for Xmas like Tracey, but fortunately there are hundreds of billions of mall and bazaar stalls in Metro Manila and hundreds of billions of stalls mean a gazillion billion items, many of which prominently display what has come to be known as the “humbug gift”.

The top two items that come to mind are:

Bookmarks with Zodiac signs. Ok, help me on this one. If I get two of each signs, then I got 24 people down. I should be safe with that right? Unless the people I have been avoiding are all Taurus in which case there is clearly some karmic force at work in my life and Christmas shopping is probably the least of my worries.

Mugs! I just love this as everbody’s gotta drink, right? If I can get a good discount for bulk purchases, you think I should go for it? Yeah, so what if they have names like Johnny or Mario? I am sure I am bound to know somebody named Johnny or Mario who drinks coffee – if I don’t yet, then I will. I still have 44 days to go to find one.

Of course there are some people who despite the relative anonymity in my life still deserve a personal touch. Cases like this I think requires a teddy bear. With those deep little soulful eyes, I think a teddy bear will always make somebody go “awww” even if they already have loads of teddy bears that made them go “awww”. Whad ‘ya think?

And thank goodness for bars of soap and candles – and the fact that they populate almost every single commercial enterprise in all mankind. Small, simple and when it comes right down to it, practical. Hey, everybody needs soap. Yes, even if the bar of soap got snack food like oatmeal and granola in it. It is still soap and is good for cleaning things!

The candles though I’m not so sure. I try to think what their purpose could be outside of the odd blackout, or romantic evening now and then, but I do still think they make nice gifts. Despite the fact that they’re next to useless, they are very pretty.

Hmmm... that should be enough to cover most anybody. But there is still a single safest Xmas gift that I can think of, whether I am in speaking term with the person or not – “Our Daily Bread”. This little booklet contains “food for thought” something many people suddenly start hankering for around this time of the year. And even if they’re not, I am sure nobody will ever bash me for sharing biblical wisdom on Christmas…even agnostics and atheist won’t take it too badly. Only a devout non-Christians are going to think me a tad insensitive.

Now, aren't you glad you are not in my Xmas shopping list?