I love giving gifts. LOVE IT. I am always on the hunt for the most perfect gift every time. I'm not someone who normally goes to a random store to buy a gift off the shelf (unless the person is hard to buy for or I'm in a time crunch). Not that there's anything wrong with shopping like that... it's just not my usual method. My hubby laughs at me, but I start Christmas shopping months and months ahead of time, because I want the gifts I give to be the most thoughtful, meaningful, personal thing each time. I want the person receiving the gift to know I thought of them when I picked it out.
Pride begets the fall. Unfortunately this year, exchanging Christmas gifts just made me a little sad. Not because of my gifts... I was totally spoiled and got everything I wanted and more. 🎁
My Christmas joy is a little dim because I was too excited about my own creativity and maybe even a little arrogant about my gifting prowess.
It wasn't one, or two, but quite a few gifts I gave this Christmas where the level of excitement of the receiver did not come close to matching mine as the giver of what I thought to be the perfect gift. The "oh my gosh this is so great! I love it so much!" that I was expecting didn't come. And I know...I know... giving gifts is about celebrating the people in your life and showing that they matter. I'm not sad that I didn't get enough praise. I'm sad because my gifts maybe weren't as special as I wanted them to be. And it wasn't just one.
One gift that I thought was so beautiful and sentimental was... let's just say I felt like I had given a 7 year old a pair of socks for Christmas. It did not inspire the touching reaction I expected.
Another was a gift where the recipient knew what the gift was, so I tried to come up with a fun, creative way to deliver it. It didn't seem like the gift or the presentation were as great as I thought. What I'd hoped was a clever and resourceful way of giving a basic (but great) gift seemed less like fun and almost kind of annoying in real time.
Another gift I thought I was so crafty in making was kind of a bust. While the gift was well received, the personalization I had carefully chosen didn’t stand out.
Finally, the one gift I was SO over the top excited about giving was...meh. I thought of a unique way to present a gift that took time and effort to bring to fruition. I made a whole "theme" for the gift, with little additional items that went along with the main gift. And it flopped. It flopped so bad that the recipient didn't even really get the gist of the gift until I spelled it out.
SIGH.
Maybe I'm losing my knack for getting just the right gift. Maybe I'm trying too hard to find the perfect gift. Probably my expectations were just way too high...after all, what feels extraordinary to me may land quietly with someone else.
I know I'll never stop trying to find fun, meaningful gifts. It's just who I am. But after today, I know I'll try to temper my excitement and expectations over the gifts I give, just in case my loved ones are less than impressed with gifts that I'm SO pleased to give.
Bah humbug.
Until next Christmas.
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