Submitted by DVD Talk on December 23rd, 2008

When it comes to giving gifts, some people think I’m lazy and don’t put much thought into it, blindly grabbing whatever is at hand and wrapping it. Alas, just the opposite is true. I agonize over what to get everyone from my close friends to my sister who lives in Spain. (Spain?!? What could she possibly want? Do you know what they do for fun there? They let bulls chase people through the streets. Not criminals or anything either, the people volunteer!) Even after I’ve found something the agony doesn’t stop. I’ll frequently stay up nights wondering if the gift I had already purchased was really the best of all possible gifts.

Then I came up with The System. Like all leaps of genius, it is controversial and some say it is the creation of a mad man. To those rare few who can grasp its elegance and simplicity however, The System is a miracle that cuts down on the time, worry, and even the expense of holiday shopping.

Here’s how it works: In early November create a list of everyone you would like to give a gift to. Put this away and don’t think about.

On December 24^th, get up, go to the bank and take out the sum total of your budget in cash, then head to the largest mall in the area. Buy presents for everyone on the list.

It’s so straightforward! You don’t have to spend months worrying about what to get someone on your list… even if you come up with the prefect gift, a can of bull repellent for my sister maybe, they aren’t going to have it in stock anyway. So why worry about it? You know for a fact you’ll be done shopping in a few hours, because there is no more time. There’s absolutely no hoping to find something better at a later date. There is no later date.

The System also forces you to be creative in a way that shopping in early December when items are still in stock just doesn’t. With only things that no one else in the entire country wants on the shelves, it’s a bit easier to let yourself think outside of the box. I enjoy giving “why was this made” presents. One of the better gifts I’ve given a ceramic tea set that was made to look like it was crafted out of wicker. Now think about that for a moment. Why would anyone want a tea set made of wicker? No one would. But someone, somewhere, decided to take it one step further and make a FAKE wicker set. To what purpose? So you can fool your friends? Is whicker some kind of status symbol that I missed out on? This is a great gift because not only is it useful, but it’s a conversation piece like few others. So take my advice and relax in November and December and then blindly panic on Christmas Eve.

image by House Of Sims