All I Want For Christmas . . .

Every year my parents ask me for a Christmas list. That’s right. I’m in my mid-thirties and I still make a Christmas list. Sometimes it feels like cheating. I mean, if they really knew me, would they even need a list?? But then I remember that I am very picky. And that lists are helpful. And that my parents are busy, and worried about disappointing me. And I relent.

Here are a few things from this year’s wish list:

1. Southwest Brass Earrings ($60) 2. Feathers of Fancy Earrings ($17.99) 3. Sky Earrings in Green Agate ($55)  4. Brass Tubes with Black Leather ($35) 5. Neon Dagger Studs ($16) 6. Point Me Toward the Shore Earrings ($17.99) 7. Gold Arrow Hoops ($28)

1. Floral and Insects ($60-$1200) 2. Cyanea Capillata ($20-$800) 3. Married to the Sea ($45) 4. The Other Field I ($50) 5. Six Whales Stacked ($40) 6. FOOD ($75)

1. Avocado Tea Towel ($12) 2. Evergeen Trivet ($20) 3. Party Green Diamond Dishtowel ($12.95) 4. Celestial Coaster Set ($32) 5. Three-piece Potluck Baker Set ($19.95) 6. Measuring Spoons ($12.95) 7. Jadeite Mixing Bowl ($29.95) 8. Slate Cheese Plate ($29) 9. Cherry Thumbprint Green Opal Pitcher ($79.95)Left:  Nikon Speedlight Flash ($327) Right: Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor Lens ($329)

The Livescribe pen records everything it hears and links the audio to your notes. So you just tap the notebook with your pen and it PLAYS BACK WHAT YOU HEARD AT THE EXACT MOMENT YOU SCRIBBLED THE NOTE!!! Dudes, I’m a journalist. This could change lives. (Well, maybe just my life — $178.99)

1. Chocolate-dipped Coconut Luna Bar (my VERY favorite kind – $1.50) 2. Running Tights ($59.99) 3. Compression Socks ($59.99)  4. Garmin Forerunner 10 GPS Watch (to easily track the distance of my runs! – $129.99)

After I’ve made my long, long list (let’s face it, I’m a girl of many frivolous wants), I feel guilty. And I get all riled up about how Christmas has become an excuse for rampant consumerism. “Why are we so focused on amassing more and more THINGS?” I fume!

So, Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this, feel free to ignore my list. Don’t get me anything at all! Just make a small donation to Doctors Without Borders  . . . or how about a small donation and maybe one thing off my list? Or maybe just a couple of very small items plus a pig for a needy family in Bolivia?

Sigh.