Ironically, I would love to find out what Simon Doonan would suggest for Christmas. He's fantastic, and I'd probably buy any number of horrible things if he recommended them.
Bust's gift guide this year was pretty good. I figured out what to get my dad from it. A record player that converts your vinyl into mp3s? That's perfect. And I had no idea we had the technology to do that.
@judgingamy: We got this for my dad a few years ago and he's never used it. The man has hundreds of records lying around and gigs of mp3s on his computer and yet...
@Devi: This is why I'm thinking that its a continuous gift... because you know who will be converting all those records? Me. So that's an extra part. But then I get a gift cuz then I get to listen to all his super awesome underground new york 70s glam records, including crazy B-sides from MC5. I am excited.
I find that gifts guides are generally based on stereotypes that have nothing to do with the people in my life. My dad hates golf and gadgets and my mom hates cooking and beauty products. What now generic gift guides?
That said, I do like the holiday book lists from NYT and WaPo.
@Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd): I've often wondered what it would be like to have a golfing dad – or to be one. 90 percent of crappy last-minute gifts are golf-related, it seems.
@f-words: That used to be true but these days people have so many allergies and food intolerances, that buying food for people you don't know that well is also a nightmare.
I lined my litter box with holiday gift guides once, and I'll never make that mistake again. Cats, cellphones and a Sharper Image catalog made for a very expensive January. On the bright side, we do enjoy lounging in our massage chair while shredding documents and sonically sanitizing our tooth brushes.
I got a marble-based pen and pencil set from an ex one Christmas. He was a workoholic and I know that he ran down to the stationery store in his building before closing time to pick it out. I almost cried, I was so mad, and he was pointing to the brass plate that came with it and said, "You can get it personalized!"
We broke up about three months later. Now I can laugh, but I couldn't for a long time.
One year when I was about 17, my Uncle asked my mom what he should get me for Christmas and my mom said to just get some pyjamas. So Christmas morning I open his present and pull out a tiny, hot pink, see thru baby doll nightie. I was understandably confused. Mom took a look at it and said " Tell me who got you that?". I said Uncle Dave. She started laughing and explained she told him to buy me pyjamas. My boyfriend was psyched about it. I never wore them.
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Also I love you, Simon Doonan. You can decorate my house anytime.
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Sigh.
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That said, I do like the holiday book lists from NYT and WaPo.
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We broke up about three months later. Now I can laugh, but I couldn't for a long time.
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