In my extended family, we now do a Pollyanna gift exchange. I have 7 cousins, and 8 aunts and uncles. (Sadly, only one grandmother left, but she’s not the gift-receiving type.) In order to save cash, we decided last year to assign one giftee to each gifter. Then my immediate family (brothers & sisters & parents) decided to have another, smaller Pollyanna. So we’re on the hook for 6 different gifts, for people from Arizona to New Hampshire, and the planning and foresight to ship them in a timely fashion. Recipe for disaster. Some folks – easy to buy for. Others? Complete mystery. I have 2 cousins I have seen a total of 6 times EVER! Buying for a stranger is a real joy. I can barely think of suitable things for my son, for heavens sake. (I’m not a bad mother, I just keep straying towards new pants and socks, and away from BB guns, which is what he wants!) And Miss Manners says that gift cards are the penultimate evil, exposing your complete lack of sensitivity to the world. That would nevah do, now would it, Miss Vanderbilt? But I will note with pride that we are sending our last gift for the Pollyanna out tomorrow. Yeah! (Now I have to worry about non-Pollyanna people who deserve gifts, or might get me one and I’ll be forced to respond. Never ending.)
And the flip side here is that you know the system will break down, and I won’t get anything from my designated gifter. Not that it’s about gifts, but it is, a little. Christmas gets a bit thin when you’re older, despite the # of give-her-diamonds-each-year ads on TV. Don’t know about you, but I’ve been getting socks, undies, shampoo, USEFUL things. It is, however, part of a long tradition- after all, Jesus got gold and frankincense. Not a Playstation 3.
