There is no order in my life; there is only chaos, and boxes, and dust. When oh when will it end. You can be frank with me if the answer is never.
I’m not even going to try to be orderly with the gift ideas; I am just going to post them one after another and then go pack another box.
I was going to unintentionally lie to you and tell you I bought these small French Bull bowls last year for myself after not getting them for Christmas, but right on the product page it says I bought them December 2nd so apparently I was impatient.
I spent nearly $18 for them, and I thought that was a very silly price to pay for four little plastic bowls, but Paul and I each have our own little allowances for exactly this kind of purchase, and I am so glad I sprang for them because I use them ALL THE TIME. Furthermore, it’s been a year and I still get a little heart-leap every time I choose one from the stack. I have other perfectly good little plastic bowls but I always choose one of THESE. I meant to recommend them to you before but I’ve had them in my cart for months and months waiting for a good price and they’ve been in the Really Truly Unreasonable range, like $35 plus $6.99 shipping. Now they are hovering around $20, $21, $22, and that is in good Gift Territory. (I just ordered the four matching spreaders for myself. It’s ludicrous. When do I use little spreaders? But they have been making my heart leap for a YEAR in the Amazon cart, and it is TIME.)
My sister-in-law bought Paul a giant bar of Duke Cannon soap one Christmas and now he is spoiled and uses nothing else. I’m thinking of getting him this three-pack of new scents (these are the scents he’s been using):
They are expensive but they are huge, and he does not have many things in his life I would categorize as Indulgences, whereas I am surrounded by French Bull bowls and deep-conditioning hair masques and forty different coffee mugs.
We are trying to decide if $50 is too much to spend for this Galton Board for one of our older boys (19 and 17):
It’s really neat, and I saw a large one in a museum and found it hypnotizing for longer than I would have expected, and we are desperate for gift ideas for them, and they like stuff like this—but on the other hand, it’s kind of a one-trick pony.
I am planning to get lenticular playing cards for all three littler kids (13, 13, and 11):
The main problem is deciding who gets the cat ones, since those will be the favorite. I’m also considering dogs and motion and birds. (There are also dinosaurs, which makes me a little sad because it wasn’t so long ago that those would have been the obvious choice for Henry, and that was such a fun stage but it has passed.) Maybe I will wrap three different decks and then give them randomly. Or maybe I will instead buy three packs of cat cards. Or maybe I will freeze with indecision and not order any after all.
I can’t tell you why Edward (13) wants this Otamatone so much, but he does, and my parents are giving him one:
You can search “Otamatone” on YouTube to see how ridiculous these are. I am glad we are moving to a larger house, so that I can send Edward and this toy to the other end of it.
I’ve mentioned this shower radio before, but I continue to love mine and listen to it every morning, and it would be a nice gift for someone who doesn’t really need much or have room for much:
Getting ready in the morning is SO BORING, and this makes it somewhat less boring.
William (17) loves Taco Bell Fire Sauce, and I have searched all our local stores and can only find bottles of Mild and occasionally Hot, but the Fire is available online so I ordered him a couple of three-packs of it for Christmas.
I ordered Adam Ruins Everything for Rob (19):
Have you seen his videos around Facebook or Twitter? I love them. They’re like Snopes, but videos.
I ordered Manifold: The Origami Mindbender for William.
He likes origami, he likes puzzles, it seems like a good fit.
I’m not saying bowl covers are the hottest gift, but I’m getting a pack of them for Paul’s stocking now that they’re back under $5 (for awhile they were around $20, which, what?).
He uses them all the time, and I like this retro pattern. I should warn you that the smallest ones in the set are REALLY SMALL, like shower caps for dolls. Hey, gift idea if your kids have dolls!
William had The Little Book of Thunks on his wish list so we bought it.
Henry (11) had Island of Fire on his wish list (it’s book 3 of The Unwanteds series; he got book 1 and book 2 on previous occasions), so I bought it and also book 4 because it was on a good price (the hardcover was only a couple of dollars more than the paperback); if I end up with too much stuff for him for Christmas, I’ll give him book 4 for his birthday.
Edward and Henry both wanted the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, so I got it.
Basically if there is a book on a child’s list, I will buy it. Oh, speaking of books, I just got this from the library, and it’s a little too soon to call it but so far it seems like a GREAT gift book:
What We Keep: 150 People Share the One Object that Brings Them Joy, Magic, and Meaning, by Bill Shapiro and Naomi Wax. Nice hardcover, illustrated with photos, good general-interest topic.
We’re getting The Indispensable Composers for Rob, who likes classical music and has Opinions about composers. At worst, he can scoff at how wrong the book is; at best, he will love it.
We also got him The White Box: A Game Design Workshop in a Box, suggested by commenter Slim after the post about how impossible Rob is to buy for. This looks like exactly his kind of thing.
Okay, back to the packing that will never be finished.