Calin Van Paris|
Neubauer Coporation Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
At the risk of making myself unpopular: It’s just the time of the year (the time I write this column), and I already have all the gifts for any person. Most of it is already collected in a huge bag in the storage room, isolated pieces are still stored in the shopping cart and are just waiting for a price battle of the specials. For many years, my best friend and I have had the tradition of meeting on a chaotic Saturday before a party, at a quiet oasis in the inner city event hustle and bustle. Time for loved ones is the most precious gift in the Advent season. But it requires a lot of work that I can afford it (in time).
Stress-free: Put the annual gift shopping outside
I owe my empty calendar to my habit of buying gifts on almost every occasion. Not only do I keep a list in which I write down all the “I would like that” statements from friends and family, I also do not hesitate to buy a potential gift as early as January if the opportunity arises. This also equalizes the financial burden of squeezing all errands into a single monthly salary. The last challenge is only the question of the right present. Because fashion, now please be careful, it’s not always. In retrospect, for me, it was mainly textile gift ideas that mercilessly missed their goal of making someone happy. From “I already have”, “I don’t like” to “Doesn’t fit” everything has already happened to me – both as a gift giver and as a giver.
An example: Many years ago, I was given the probably most scratchy cap in world history, which I had also put on directly to my bad luck. I did not dare to take them off again under one pretext and fought the whole evening against the worst itching. Despite good intention, I have to say: My head has never received a more unpleasant gift. He had suffered more at most from a day-long earworm of “Wadde hadde dudde da?”, which a friend once gave me. In case of doubt, there is only one option with which you are guaranteed to always be right: Was this part explicitly desired in exactly this size, color and label? Only then nothing will stand in your way. In times of slow fashion and quiet luxury as George, only the brand name or the material specification can decide the chances of success of a single product. A black sweater is not necessarily the black sweater that someone wanted. In the worst case, you can even upset a loved one. An inappropriate book will be in case of doubt on do not recognize the first glance as such. But imagine that you get something so tasteless that you doubt the sanity of your friends. “We know us for 20 years, and you think I would wear THAT?”
Little says as much as “I see you” as a suitable piece of clothing.
People like to get lost in supposedly good intentions when choosing gifts. The idea of “spicing up” someone’s wardrobe a little can be just as hurtful as a fitness voucher or a whitening set for the teeth. So why risk a fashion gift? Little says as much as “I see you” as a suitable piece of clothing. One that perhaps awakens or preserves common memories, allies without big words, symbolizes belonging. Affection can be tarable. By the way, the friend who gave me the unspeakable earworm also gave me a wonderful coat a few years ago. I can’t wait to wear it again this winter. At the market tally with my best friend, there is a to-do lists or scratchy caps. While everyone around us will still be shopping for gifts in panic. You too?
Los Angeles Times
Madeline Fass
Amandine Lhoste
