As I have mentioned in the past, my husband’s family are Gift Listers. Each year, we send around a list of gifts that we would be happy to receive. There is an understanding that we may deviate from the list, but it’s helpful to have ideas. Sometimes we’ll say something more general like “nail polish” or “fancy hand cream,” (two items which are often on my list) and in those cases, we might include a sample link, even if we don’t necessarily want/expect the exact item we linked to.
Here’s what was on my list this year.
Subscription to NYT online and/or NYT games: I play Wordle and the free version of Spelling Bee every morning before I drag my tired rear out of bed, and I also do the mini crossword. Just think how much longer I could delay getting up if I had access to the full Spelling Bee game and the big crossword!
Tea Infuser Cup Insert: On my recent post about loving tea, Nicole (HI NICOLE!) mentioned that she has something like this, and I want one too now. Then I can stop buying individually wrapped tea bags!
Uncle Gray Loose-Leaf Tea from Tea Squared: My favorite tea of all time.
Lightweight Bathrobe: I have had my current bathrobe since before I got married. It came with me into the delivery room when I had Carla. It has seen some things, is what I’m saying. It is pale pink and fuzzy and warm. Way too warm. I need a lightweight robe so that I don’t turn into a puddle of sweat immediately after I get clean. Also, I am not really a pale pink sort of gal, so I would prefer one in black.
Vegetable Chopper: This is such a boring gift, but it would be So Useful.
A Bookmark: I specifically requested one with photo/s of Carla or our family.
A Dishwasher-Safe Smoothie Cup with a Non-Plastic Straw: Yes, I know this is very specific. But the heart wants what it wants, and my heart cannot stand hand washing things or a plastic straw.
Fun Necklace: I don’t have my ears pierced, to my mother-in-law’s eternal consternation, but I do love a pretty necklace.
Pom-Pom Beanie: I just really want a hat like this.
Wild Aloof Rebel Shirt: I saw this on David in a rerun of Schitt’s Creek and covet it quite badly.
Anorak: I have been envisioning myself in an olive green anorak for awhile (not that I can wear it for several months in my region, but a girl can dream), and this one is cute and looks like it might even have some coverage in the buttular region.
Books: Books are always on my list. Get me nothing but books and I would be delighted. Here are a few I am specifically looking forward to owning:
The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz: I have the other books in this series and I cannot wait to read this one.
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman: Same as above.
The Couple at the Table by Sophie Hannah: Sophie Hannah is one of my auto-buy authors and I am really eager to read her latest novel. My husband and I passed it in a bookstore the other day and it took ALL my willpower not to grab it off the shelf.
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro: This is a new-to-me author and I can’t remember why this book is on my list or anything about it, but I must have heard great things!
What’s on your holiday wishlist this year?
All I have on my list right now is books, a Starbucks gift card, and unusual nut butters, but that might be enough.
This is my plea to your family to get you the crossword app. I’m wicked cheap when it comes to paying for apps so if I’m shelling out $40 a year for it without batting an eye, you know it’s good.
I’ve been tempted by vegetable choppers but always talk myself out of buying them for some reason. I’d be happy to get this as a gift.
I’d like most of these! Two points though – if you like to chop and change your choice of teas, I’d be a little wary of lots of varieties of loose leaf ones open at once, much better to either stick with bags for freshness or only have one or two open loose leaf ones at any one time as they lose freshness very quickly. Also think about using good quality paper straws – the washable ones are notorious for hanging on to significant amounts of bacteria (particularly the silicone ones) however diligent people think they are being! 🥴
HI SUZANNE!
I think you’ll love that tea thing. It’s so easy and almost zero cleanup.
I am surprised that you don’t have pierced ears! I don’t know why that surprises me but it does.
I love cute tea towels as well BUT I need them to be functional. I have gotten tea towels that get super wrinkly, and I hate that. I mean, I’m not about to iron a tea towel.
I have a couple of books on my list too, the new Celeste Ng and the new David Sedaris! I also really want Lucy By The Sea, but I might wait on that until it comes out in paperback.
Having the full-on version of an app game that you like sounds like a great gift.
Going to check out some off your list links, but I had a giggle at “buttular region.” That’s a new-to-me word!
I have nothing on my wish list, so Christmas morning is always a surprise.
It also surprises me you don’t have pierced ears. The veggie chopper, smoothie cup, and personalized bookmark all sound INCREDIBLE.
I fell off the Wordle bandwagon this summer; I can’t decide whether I miss it or not?
On my wish list: heated socks, a heated vest, and an e-reader (spoiler alert: my husband found a Kobo for me yesterday in like-new condition at a thrift store after we discovered the Kindle he bought new isn’t compatible with the Canadian library system).
My list includes some board games, a draft blocker for our front door, a foldable yoga mat, and some random personal care items. I am distinctly boring.
(Unlike Nicole, we find that tea thing to be really hard to clean. LOL. I’d be interested in knowing her secrets.)
I love those first two books! I’m not a gift giver or receiver. So, I’m kind of a bah humbug at Xmas season although I do love cookie baking, time with family and perhaps some board games. And snuggling my grandsons.
I do not have my ears pierced either, but I do not think my MIL has ever noticed and if she has, she does not care.
That t-shirt is funny. A few years ago on vacation, Tank saw someone wearing a t-shirt with words: UNDERESTIMATE ME, THAT’LL BE FUN. He said I should own that shirt. I’m sure he’s forgotten, but I would enjoy owning it.
I would like an umbrella. Thanks to one of my offspring, I no longer own an umbrella. Perhaps I will tell the story on my blog soon.
I must admit, that veggie chopper looked VERY handy. Hmm.
Well now I want the tea insert and to know what Uncle Gray tea is. I’m not a bathrobe person (has seen some things, lol), but I really want a new apron – I often wear them almost all day if I’m home, because I cook and bake a lot and am clumsy, and because sometimes I just forget to take it off and it lessens the need to wear a bra. I’ve shared too much, I’ll see myself out. No, I want to show you the hilarious tea towels I bought in the little cottage town, but I don’t know how. One says “If my memory was any worse I could throw my own surprise party”. One says “My spirit animal is a fat raccoon trying to get into a dumpster”. One says “It’s not ‘slurring your words’, it’s called talking in cursive and it’s fucking elegant” (that’s for my sister).
For the past couple of years, I have asked for a subscription to the weekend NYT – I love the Sunday NYT crossword. This wish has repeatedly been ignored. I will ask once again and then might just gift my self if it doesn’t appear under the tree.
Speaking of robes, I currently have three (well technically four; but I never wear one so it doesn’t count). I have a long, long heavy one that I wear in the winter when I am perpetually frozen most of the time. I have a lighter weight one that gets used in the Spring and Fall. Then I have a really light weight one for Summer.
We currently have that vegetable chopper. The Husband LOVES it so much so, that every time he breaks one (he is hard on anything made of plastic, I don’t think you would have that issue) – but it’s loud. Or maybe the way he uses it is loud.
I am also surprised that your ears aren’t pierced. But I guess since the majority of us have at least one set of holes in our ears we all just kind of assume the rest of us do too.
Other than the Isotoner slippers and the above mentioned subscription, I usually ask for I haven’t really thought about my list. I’ve been too busy thinking of gifts for everyone else!
I think it is a sign of old age, but I don’t actually want anything this year. EXCEPT Ugg Ultra Minis so I can look like all the college girls, but I am pretty sure they’re sold out everywhere. Veggie chopper looks genius!!
I don’t need to make a list- I’ll just use yours. This reminds me that I REALLY want to try that Uncle Gray tea. AND, Anthony Horowitz has a new Hawthorne book?????? I must have that, as well as the Sophie Hannah. And, fun fact- you and I may be the only adult women who don’t have pierced ears!
Signal Fires was one of the 3 books I suggested when we voted for our 2023 bookclub books! It tied with Now is Not the Time to Panic and that is available sooner so that is my pick for the month I am the host! But I can’t wait to read Signal Fires. I have heard it is so good!!
I am obsessed with a spelling bee! I have to get to genius status every day. Good idea to ask for a subscription!
We have a subscription to the NYTimes, and it does NOT include games. That’s a different subscription. Important to know!
I have that tea insert, and I love it, but it takes a lot of water to clean, and I live in California, so that’s an issue. I don’t use it often.
I think that veggie chopper would have a similar issue, and it would take longer to clean out than it would to chop your own veggies.
Bah! I’m a naysayer! A new robe, YAY! Great books, YAY! Your favorite tea, YAY! Beanies and bookmarks and gorgeous anoraks, YAY!
My wishlist this year is for gift certificates for facials, and nighttime face cream. I had my first facial in September, and I had NO IDEA it could be so frikkin relaxing! It was DELICIOUS.
You have a lot of nice things on your list!
I have no idea what to get my husband and son. Well, I take that back. My son gave me “the only item on my list” — but I’d like to get him more than one item. My husband…well, he’s happy with anything but I still would like to get something that he’d like/find useful.
And I also don’t know what I want. I usually have a few ideas and buy myself several items when I shop because it’s hard to resist. This year, however, I saw a jacket that I thought might be nice, but I asked myself, “Do you really need another jacket? How many jackets do you have in your closet still have tags on?” The answer to that last question was “At least 5” so the answer to the first question was “No”. I’ve been over-buying things the last few years, and I think I’m done (at least for a few months — ha!). I do have a large extended family, so I bought many for my great nieces and great nieces/great nephews, and of course, my husband’s dad and brother and their significant others. I still have to pick up something for my dad.
Wow, you’re the only other person (woman) I know that doesn’t have her ears pierced! I don’t have mine pierced either!! Sometimes I have ear-ring envy, but most of the times, I am happy without ear rings! (I do have a piercing in my upper right auricle.)
I have that vegetable chopper and it has been such a lifesaver for me! I hate chopping vegetables with a PASSION, and it makes everything so much easier. I hope Santa brings it for you this year!