All I want for Christmas.......

Because OH is from a large family, he is one of eight children, Christmas could become extremely expensive. Six of the siblings are either married or have long term partners so that adds up to 14 presents. Then there are the nieces and nephews, of which there are currently 8, bringing the total to 22. And, of course, we mustn't forget the family matriarch, so that adds up to 23 presents. EEK!



So some years ago the family devised a scheme whereby everyone over 18 makes a Christmas List of all the things they want, up to a total value of £25, then the lists are put into a pot and everyone picks out one of them, so you only haveto buy a present for one person, plus the grandchildren under 18. That makes things a bit more manageable.



In order that there is plenty of time for present buying, the lists have to be distributed by whoever has been coerced to do said task (and that's me this year) about now. I don't do Christmas until Christmas Eve, so trying to think what I would like for Christmas in November is causing me a few problems.



One of the problems, I find, is that by the time you get to my age, you pretty much have everything you need and what you might "want" certainly doesn't fall within the £25 limit. I don't really go much for knick-knacky things, I hate clutter (although you'd be hard-pushed to believe that if you could see the junk around my flat!) and I like things that are useful rather than pretty. But the other side of me thinks that Christmas presents shouldn't really be practical, they should be more of the things that you quite like but wouldn't spend your own money on, "treat" type things. So you see the dilemma I have.....I only like practical things, but I don't want to put practical things on my list because I don't think Christmas is about practical presents.



So if anyone has any ideas as to what I might like for Christmas, do let me know.