<p>Talking to a friend last night and he told me his two children (junior high age) put their Christmas lists into a Powerpoint presentation for the parents, complete with prices.</p>
<p>Pretty creative, but perhaps this computer education thing is going a bit too far…</p>
<p>My D has done that. With links for easy ordering. And e-mails reminding me of the Christmas package delivery cruch that we don’t want to get caught up in. Also got one when she was trying to convince us to get a puppy. It almost worked. Often my screen saver is mysteriously changed, along with my cell phone ring, etc.</p>
<p>When my D was younger, she would make a Christmas list and color code the items (I really want this, I kinda want this, I don’t really want this, etc.) Why put anything on the list that you don’t want?!!</p>
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<p>As a “please don’t buy me this” hint? To stop parents from thinking she’d want it and getting it for her as a surprise?</p>
<p>My youngest did this to lobby for a horse. Didn’t work but it was cute.</p>
<p>Ah, I remember when my D was about 15. She picked out a number of items online and put them in a shopping cart–seems like it was Old Navy. She didn’t bother with subtle hints but instead called me over to the computer and said, “See, everything is all here, so all you have to do is CLICK RIGHT HERE…oops!” (yep, she had clicked SUBMIT). She still wears that cute bright green pea coat four years later, so I guess the gift was appreciated.</p>
<p>Chedva–hadn’t thought of that…I am a master of thinking that some gift is really cute and would be much appreciated–only to be wrong on both accounts when it comes to teenage daughters.</p>
<p>COOL is not my middle name…</p>
<p>My daughter really wanted a Tivo one year for the playroom. She pestered me to no end about the Tivo to the point I told her if she mentioned it again it would never happen! I was upset as I had already bought the Tivo a month earlier as I thought it would be a great gift idea (we already had one in the den) as she never was able to watch TV during the week due to dance and school. I was so proud of myself for getting her what I thought would be the greatest gift ever. But, with the nagging, she was going to think I gave in to her as oppose to buying it on my own. It took some of the fun out of gift giving for me, but in the end she was happy, so I guess it worked out.</p>
<p>Now my kids email me their list along with online links just in case I didn’t know what they really wanted! I always try to pick out something special that I think they would like that they didn’t ask for. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail!</p>