I sat down to write thank you notes for Christmas presents I had received and began to feel like a fraud. Too many were the Ghosts of Christmas Past, and I was Ebenezer Scrooge minus the nostalgia and plus more than a sprinkling of irritation and frustration. I had received similar, if not identical versions of some items in prior years, on numerous occasions.

I had spent hours which had turned into days of my winter break purging my home of objects I had no use for. And now, here I was, feeling compelled to express my gratitude for yet more of the same. The fact that the gift-givers had said to give them someone else, donate them to charity or sell them if I didn’t like them brought me absolutely no satisfaction or comfort. No, they just gave me more projects to add to my TO DO list, thank you very much! In fact, it simply demonstrated that they really didn’t care if I liked them and gave me the feeling that they had given little or no thought to the gifts they had bestowed upon me, cementing the impression of indifference as to whether I had any use for them! The ill-fitting top, the book I’d never read, the twentieth iteration of the exact same thing they’d given me five years in a row.

Enough! Save the postage and, instead, buy yourself an expensive cup of fancy coffee at one of those places that are so very popular. I will be much happier knowing that you are enjoying a form of self-indulgence that doesn’t require me to try to figure out, “What in the world were they thinking? Don’t they know me at all?” And, most of all, “What the #! @* am I supposed to do with this thing?”

Instead of giving me a present that I haven’t asked for, and I won’t, when you are out shopping, take a moment and indulge yourself in some small or large way that makes you happy. Think of me and maybe take a selfie or have someone take a photo of you indulging yourself in not buying me anything! That would please me immensely. It would put a smile on my face, and I would probably call you and we would have a laugh over it. Better still, maybe we could plan to get together and spend some time visiting either in person or virtually, making memories instead of clutter. So, when I say, “Please don’t give me anything,” I mean it. Thanks, but no thanks.

Live Spry!