While Christmas is all about giving, when it comes to friends and family it can often be a challenge to figure out just what it is they want. You can guess, you can ask them outright, you can just give up and give them a gift card. In an effort to clear up any confusion, I've decided that the prudent course of action is to tell you what I want. Why does that help? Because, if you know someone like me, it's going to be much easier to buy them gifts. Plus, if they don't like it, then they can just send the gift to me and everyone wins.
So, first on the Devin Wilger Gift Guide, expensive root beer. Expensive versions of things people like anyway are always the perfect gift, because you already know they like them, but the expensive version is something that they could rarely justify actually buying. In purely logical terms, spending $10 on five bottles of soda is absurd, but it's so delicious that I sometimes can't help myself. There's a kind called Virgil's that is particularly tasty, and the only reason it hasn't bankrupted me is because I'm not in the store that sells it very often.
Second item, A Life in Style by Roy Axe. If, like myself, the person you are buying for is intrigued by both cars and the process of designing them, this looks like a fascinating read, but one which I do not have. The late Axe designed all manner of vehicles in Britain, most of which weren't sold here, but the book promises to be an insight into both car design and a very chaotic time in the British car industry. It's the kind of thing that seems to be created specifically for me, but I'm sure someone else will enjoy it as well.
Speaking of books, people keep pestering me to read Steig Larsson's various "The Girl who Did Whatever" books. If you know someone who has not read this series, it's very likely that someone they know is pestering them to read them as well. In fact, if you are the person behind the needling, what better way to say "read these books" than just giving them to the person?
Another fine choice is a blender. I'm not just saying this because my blender started on fire. Everyone will need to blend something at some point in their lives, and during that time they'll be thinking of you. Staying in the kitchen, a bread maker would also be neat as well, provided it could be set to turn on overnight, so one could wake up to fresh bread.
Some tennis equipment would also be much appreciated. No, I don't play tennis, but I have been meaning to play tennis since 2003, and maybe getting a good tennis racquet would be what I finally need to take up the sport. Or it would sit there unused, as I convinced myself that I'm totally going to play tennis next year, and I mean it this time. Golf clubs would serve a similar purpose, since that's another sport I keep pretending I'm going to take up but never actually put the effort in to do. So, for that person who keeps pretending they'll take up a sport, give them some bulky equipment to convince them to actually try it.
This might not have helped with buying gifts for those people you actually are going to buy gifts for, but at the very least you can now buy a gift for me. When you're busy searching for the perfect gift, you will know what to buy someone, even if you aren't actually planning on getting them anything.
