The Most Stressful Time Of The Year?

I’ve always loved Christmas.

Perhaps now even more so since Joshua came along and brought all the magic of Father Christmas back into our house after a gap of around 30 years since he stopped visiting me!

I love the decorations, the food, the films, the gift-giving and the tree – the whole festive period really. But the one part that does take the edge off of the magic sometimes is the process of having gifts bought for me! 

I enjoy buying gifts for everyone else, especially for Joshua, but the thought of my family stressing about what to buy me is definitely the worst part of the Christmas build up for me.

As a child it’s pretty easy. You flick through the Christmas gift catalogues and put a ring around things you like and some of those things magically appear in your stocking on Christmas Day. But as an adult who has had nearly 40 Christmas Days (and 39 Christmas Eve birthdays!) on which to receive every gift I could possibly want, what is there left for my family to get for me?

I’ve never been one to ask for money, as I’ve always liked the idea of having surprises and unwrapping stuff. And I hate getting things I don’t really need as that feels like a waste of money. So where does that leave my other half and my parents?! 

I’m not sure whether men’s gifts are more difficult to buy in general or whether it’s just me that’s particularly hard to buy for but I know that in a few weeks time I’ll be turning 40 and my family will want to buy me something special. I can also pretty much guarantee that I won’t have a clue what I want and my family won’t have a clue what to get me either!

Long nights of internet searching and long days of department store hunting for that perfect present awaits. Having gifts bought for you can be exhausting! I can almost feel the tension building already. 

So for those of you out there with the unenviable task of buying gifts for an equally difficult man, I wish you every luck in the world. And if all else fails, people will always need pants…