Saturday, December 15, 2012

A Christmas Gift for me from me?


Be honest now. Have you ever while hunting for gifts for others, bought one for yourself? I have been tempted to do this many times, especially with books I see while shopping online and crave. Right now I am debating ordering the Patrick Melrose collection. So far I have resisted but my library doesn't own it and no one knows I want it so its not likely to turn up under the tree.

Or a CD sometimes. I may do it this year. Or I can pretend to order it for someone and just keep it.

I did it. I ordered a Charlotte Armstrong omnibus. Her name came up one time too many for my self-control.  How about you?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were looking for something for a friend and ending up buying 2 CD's and a DVD for ourselves.

Hey, we're worth it.


Jeff M.

pattinase (abbott) said...

You certainly are.

Ed Gorman said...

I can't ever remember doing that, Patti, but I'm glad to see you bought that Charlotte Armstrong omnibus. She was a unique and gifted storyteller.

pattinase (abbott) said...

And I will probably get coal in my stocking.

Deb said...

It's usually an impulse buy--something I wasn't expecting to encounter--because I'll put specific books, CDs, and DVDs on my Christmas list. So when I come across a little trinket I hadn't even realized I wanted, I buy it, wrap it, and put it under the tree labelled "To Deb from Santa."

YA Sleuth said...

I buy my own Christmas present, usually a book. It's a little sad, but it's mostly for show anyway :-)

Rick Robinson said...

Yes, I have and still do. I tend to buy books, sometimes a CD, throughout the year and then give them to Barbara when they come and tell her "this is for me for Christmas."

It's an old habit, when I lived alone for many, many years and usually no one gave me anything except the office gift exchange. So I bought things I liked and wanted , wrapped them when they came and put them away in a box. Come Christmas I'd put the wrapped gifts under the tree, no idea any more what's in them, and had nice surprises on Christmas morning.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I am very glad you have Barbara to pretend give them to you, Rick.

Naomi Johnson said...

This may be the first year I haven't bought myself a gift. But then, I still have time.

Anonymous said...

Patti - My mother-in-law used to say that the best gifts were gifts you could share, too. Maybe she had a point ;-)

Kent Morgan said...

I ordered the first season of Treme from amazon.ca as a gift and bought the first season of Magic City for someone to give me as a gift. Then I gifted myself with the collection Books To Die For. However, for three days this past week and again tomorrow I'm giving myself what has become my favourite Christmas gift to myself, which is delivering hampers to needy families for our Christmas Cheer Board. So far we have delivered to 40 homes.

pattinase (abbott) said...

And that tops everything, Kent.

Cap'n Bob said...

All the time. The things I want are hard for my family to find so I get them myself. Thanks to incipient dementia, I'm always surprised on Xmas morning.

J F Norris said...

Absolutely! I've been doing it for years. Very similar situation to Rick's -- living alone, being pretty much a solitary person with no social circle, and having a family that was spread out across the US that I could never afford to travel to get to see. Also for the past twenty years or so my family has stopped giving me books as gifts because I have too many. I was horrified! So I always buy a scarce (often expensive) book every year for myself. I kind of like Rick's idea. I'd forget what they were too and be pleasantly surprised on Christmas.