Vestigial lists

In recent years, I've found it curious what my family won't buy me for xmas. Don't get me wrong: I'm very grateful for the loot they've given me. However, there are items no matter how many times they've appeared on my lists, what level of high priority I've given them on Amazon, or how much I've talked them up, that they just don't buy. If I were asking for pygmy goats*, ponies, or Porsches: items expensive, difficult to acquire or maintain, I'd get it, but that's not the case.

I thought I had it figured out this year, gamed the system if you will, but I was wrong.

The first time, several years back, it was just a DVD. I'd mentioned two on my list: Legally Blonde and But I'm a Cheerleader. My parents and my brother and his wife both got me copies of Legally Blonde**. (I exchanged 1 copy for the other DVD and now routinely remind them all to cross-reference their shopping lists.) That case I chalk up to familiarity: they picked the movie they'd heard of.

The Amazon catch as I think of it is that their wishlists display the date you added items. My parent's logic is that if an item's been there for years, you would have bought it yourself if you really wanted it. Which makes sense except for borderline items. You don't need them or crave them enough to buy yourself, but they'd be really cool to have. That's why I picked up a couple now out-of-print DVDs for my sister-in-law from the early days of her list this year despite having to deal with third party sellers.

To get past the Amazon catch, I added another version of DDR to my list this fall, rating both DDR games high with everything else the default medium or even low. The third party sellers were likely the deal-breaker this year, however. Shipping & handling pillage, anyone?

Or it may have been as simple as them thinking that I already have one DDR game, so why not get something new? I get that.

What really makes me laugh this year is that my Mom often comments on how particular the items on my lists are (often true), so this year I included generic requests, i.e., brands and styles weren't important, and got none of them.

Getting a list from my Mom, on the other hand, was excruciating and what was most clear about her pitifully short list was that she'd rather get something that wasn't on it. Mission accomplished.

As for DDR, I've hit the tipping point. I'm going to buy myself a new version to play before they go out of print. And in the meantime, I'll play with the rest of my cool loot.

Is there anything on your list that your family continues to bypass? Or is that just me?


*OK, technically I have but only in jest.
** Rather good commentary tracks actually.


A year ago on TTaT: And then the week seemed short