Foamy wrote:
Gifts should not be expected, they should not be from a list. It should be something that required a little thought on the part of the giver, rather than picking something from a list that the receiver says they want.
If my parents were still alive, they would have been married 65 years on November 7th. That's a really long time and after that long, they acquired a heck of a lot of "stuff."
Growing up I can tell you it became near impossible to buy them ANYTHING because they HAD everything they wanted. lol After several years of ripping my hair out, trying to think of something...heck ANYTHING...to get them for Christmas, it became a blessing when they'd say "get me this" and be darn specific about what they wanted. There are seven kids, and I can't tell you how many phone calls transpired between Sept 1 and December 24...all wondering what everyone got Mom and Dad for Christmas, hoping to either "go in" on someone else's gift so they didn't have to stress over what to get them, or comparing notes to try and see if anyone had a suggestion because their minds were drawing a blank.
You're right, in the spirit of giving it's always nice to give someone something thought out and meaningful, but I'd rather get them something useful, something specific they want that I know will be used and appreciated rather then think for months on something that *I* think they might like, only to find it in their closed still in the box two years later.