The Perfect Present?
Harmony Lau, Staff Reporter
![Picture](/uploads/2/3/6/9/23693713/5571721.jpg?306)
The urge to flick my friends on the forehead everytime they bound towards me, chirping, “What do you want for Christmas?” grows with every such encounter. It’s not even that they’re being pushy or annoying about the whole ordeal, it’s more of an irritation towards myself and the barren landscape that my mind becomes every time that question is brought up.
In that mere second when they’re staring expectantly at me, a million questions flash through my mind, and I end up tossing the thoughts of: “I don’t know what to say!” and “Is this my cue to be modest? Should I just ask for socks?” and “But I don’t want socks! I want that ridiculously expensive video game console!” around and around in my head until the sentences resemble less and less like English and more and more like some foreign language. Greek, maybe.
And so I usually brush off such inquiries with a shrug and a flippant, “Anything will do! It’s the thought that counts, right?” and they’re half-satisfied for the next three hours. Then the prodding begins again.
So how does the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” follow? Is it just that people are losing their creative streak and can no longer come up with decent presents? Or is it that people no longer want to be surprised?
Or maybe they do? When a friend tells you they want a black 3DS for Christmas, since they’ve stated such they’ll be expecting so much. This is your cue to give something completely different in order to shock them into blissful submission. Instead of getting them a black 3DS, you get them pink socks instead.
This must be how the world works now. It’s no longer a matter of taking things at face value; you must read between the lines and evaluate if your friend truly wants the 3DS or the socks! But this is where you must learn to read between the in between! Perhaps your friend already knows that you’ll do the opposite of what they tell you, and maybe they actually want the socks. So it might be better to get them the 3DS since they’re expecting you to get them the socks?
Is the point of presents to get the person what they want or to get them something that will render them speechless? Isn’t the best part of opening a present the feeling of surprise that leaps upon your heart at the completely random gift your loved one got you as it shows they pondered long and hard about what you want, rather than just hearing what you want and getting it? At the end of the day, it’s the shocked joy that crawls upon my friend’s face as they tear into their pink socks that I find to be the best part of this gift-giving shenanigan.
Their cries of, “But I really wanted a 3DS! And socks? Why socks? And why are they pink?!” may sound agonized at the first sweep, but listen long and hard and I guarantee that their wavering voice is due to happiness (probably).
In that mere second when they’re staring expectantly at me, a million questions flash through my mind, and I end up tossing the thoughts of: “I don’t know what to say!” and “Is this my cue to be modest? Should I just ask for socks?” and “But I don’t want socks! I want that ridiculously expensive video game console!” around and around in my head until the sentences resemble less and less like English and more and more like some foreign language. Greek, maybe.
And so I usually brush off such inquiries with a shrug and a flippant, “Anything will do! It’s the thought that counts, right?” and they’re half-satisfied for the next three hours. Then the prodding begins again.
So how does the question, “What do you want for Christmas?” follow? Is it just that people are losing their creative streak and can no longer come up with decent presents? Or is it that people no longer want to be surprised?
Or maybe they do? When a friend tells you they want a black 3DS for Christmas, since they’ve stated such they’ll be expecting so much. This is your cue to give something completely different in order to shock them into blissful submission. Instead of getting them a black 3DS, you get them pink socks instead.
This must be how the world works now. It’s no longer a matter of taking things at face value; you must read between the lines and evaluate if your friend truly wants the 3DS or the socks! But this is where you must learn to read between the in between! Perhaps your friend already knows that you’ll do the opposite of what they tell you, and maybe they actually want the socks. So it might be better to get them the 3DS since they’re expecting you to get them the socks?
Is the point of presents to get the person what they want or to get them something that will render them speechless? Isn’t the best part of opening a present the feeling of surprise that leaps upon your heart at the completely random gift your loved one got you as it shows they pondered long and hard about what you want, rather than just hearing what you want and getting it? At the end of the day, it’s the shocked joy that crawls upon my friend’s face as they tear into their pink socks that I find to be the best part of this gift-giving shenanigan.
Their cries of, “But I really wanted a 3DS! And socks? Why socks? And why are they pink?!” may sound agonized at the first sweep, but listen long and hard and I guarantee that their wavering voice is due to happiness (probably).