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Christmas is and always will be the time of the year that everyone waits for. It is the time of the year that everyone will give and receive gifts. Whether the person is happy with the gifts that he/she receives will show up later in the holiday season, however I believe that it is wrong to return a gift. To return a gift is like saying that you don't think that much of the person, however exchanging the gift (clothing) for the right size is okay. To do the exchanging process for any other reason is wrong, it shows that you are a little inconsiderate of the other person. The people that say that he/she likes your gift and then exchanges it for something else are people that are truly inconsiderate of other people.
When shopping for gifts for Christmas, a lot of people will start shopping around at September/October to be on the safe side. Most other people will start around the start of December, which is a lot of people if you actually went to any malls during the month of December. I start my Christmas shopping around the start of the year (January) and just hide the presents from then up. It gives me the ability to be flexible when getting things for other people. I do not need to worry about who is with me when I purchase the stuff. Most people would be worried about what stuff to buy especially when the person is shopping with you, however I know that the person you are with (if early enough in the year) will not remember what you bought. This gives you the ability to shop with them, and have them not know how you did your shopping. It is an advantage if you can work it out, however it can backfire at you if he/she realizes what you are doing.
I am one of the few people in the world today that will not return any gift I receive. No matter the gift, I have enough respect for the person to not return the gift. It may end up in a closet and never be seen again, however it is not returned. I haven't received a gift that I have "lost" in my closet in a long time. I have not had to worry about that because I am usually involved when the gift is being chosen. This year I received less gifts however the gifts I received are more meaningful to me this year than any of the others combined. Everyone that I received a gift from knows me really well. They know what I like and what I don't, and have learned how to read me for my facial expressions. This is the first year that I can remember that I actually like everything that I was given. Where I didn't expect any of these types of gifts from anyone, I believe that this has caused me to appreciate these gifts even more.
One gift I received this year was some after-shave, which everyone knows I would never buy for myself. The positive side is that I like the gift just for that fact. I have always heard the worse about after-shave and didn't feel like having pain go through me with one of my own purchases. With knowing that, I will enough the gift if someone else gets me it because it seems different. In a way if I purchased it I would be hurting myself, however if someone else would buy it he/she is actually hurting me. It makes since to me, which is all what really counts. The funny part is that I didn't feel any pain the first using after-shave, however that could be because I don't use shaving cream that much. I didn't use it this time and had no pain from the after-shave, however it could be because I probably had some razor-burn. I only shave once a month, however I may start making it more frequent because it is more proper for a person my age to do it more. God knows I may actually use both the shaving cream and the after-shave together to see if I can find the pain that everyone tells me exists when using the after-shave.
This is the first Christmas in a long time that I have felt like a child once again. It has shown me that it is possible to be surprised with the gifts and also that you can surprise others with the gifts to them. It is the first Christmas in a long time, even though there was little to no snow, which it felt like Christmas and not just another holiday. The reason that I feel like this could be because the presents I received were just that surprising, or it could be because I have changed the way I look on life. Either way doesn't matter to me, because I just hope for that feeling to return every year. The more that I have these types of feelings, the better type of person I can see becoming.
For Christmas time, it means to many people a time to relax and visit friends/family members that you normally wouldn't get to visit. For other people Christmas time means to go drinking with friends/family that you normally wouldn't go with. I can see drinking with the friends/family without leaving the house, however when you do this in public, you are just asking for something to go wrong. Most people are not use to drinking a lot of liquor all at once unless he/she is still a college/university student, or a drunk. Those three types of people are the only ones that are accustomed to drink a lot at one time. I say this because in my time in college, I could drink a substantial amount of liquor and not feel a "buzz" however now that I don't drink that often I get a "buzz" after the second or third one. When you go drinking in public with your friends/family and drink more than you are use to, you will tend to be the biggest idiot that anyone has ever seen; if not worse. Doing this type of drinking is just like saying that you don't give a damn about your life and you are looking for the biggest thrill you can find at the same time. It is unfortunate that there are people like this especially with these people already knowing that he/she has exceeding his/her limit of alcohol already. It is sad to see a person you know do this especially when the person doesn't want to stop. This is how the fights happen during the holiday season, whether it is family vs. family or if it enemy vs. enemy. Many people won't remember what happened during these fights except the pain that he/she will have the next morning.
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