passers-by and complete strangers...

 ... as well as friends and co-workers have asked me about Christmas shopping. Have you finished yet? Have I finished yet? Have I started yet? Am I going to get started? Do I hear the clock ticking, a la crocodile in the Peter Pan movie - you remember the one who was constantly after the rest of Capt. Hook after having the tasty morsel of his hand?

I don't do much. I can't say I don't do any because there are already a few miscellaneous items up on the shelf in the closet that have been accumulating over the months since last December. But there is not much in the way of holiday cheer going on here. I am certainly not of the 'bah, humbug' persuasion. Though I will readily admit to no enthusiasm for the hustle and bustle, crowds, mall shopping, chaos of driving in crowded parking lots and bedlam of whining tired children and aggressive mothers in the check out line.

For the past several years my gift giving has been limited to: a few items I see and immediately think of a person who would like/enjoy that particular thing as a gift, as well as being unwilling to pay out of pocket to own. So it would likely be jewelry or something small. Small being the operative word, as most of the gifts I do purchase would be diminutive enough to be considered 'stocking stuffers'. Those things that would fit in the apparel traditionally 'hung by the mantle with care'.

Or small enough to go into the little jewelry size boxes I have been using and reusing for years. Wrapped in out of stock, no longer in print, often out of style Christmas gift paper, and recycled from year to year. Some are (amusingly) nested inside boxes of different sizes, so that the smallest one, the one holding the actual gift, is tucked into a series of other boxes of increasing size - you have to open three or more to actually get to the surprise. Sort of like those little Chinese surprise balls made of paper you have to unwind and find little trinkets on the way to the center of the ball, wherein lies   actual gift, which is also likely to be a cheap, gum-ball machine type item. But lots of fun to unearth.

I suspect most of the recipients have figured me out by now, and know to expect gift cards. Which is to my way of thinking, pretty close to the perfect gift. The Perfect Gift being cash! This would horrify my mom, who thought cash, or a check the epitome of poor taste. But my thinking is: how can you go wrong, as it invariably allows the recipient to purchase something they really desire, or an opportunity to fritter it away on beer and peanuts.