Christmas Do's and Dont's

its that time of year again, and lo, were expected to give people things. yeah i don't look forward to it either. in fact around october i realize that i have to remember to leave money for christmas gifts, and every october i end up PLANNING MY FINANCES. (insert scary ghost noise). anyway, here are some helpful tips when it comes to buying these bundles of joy for OTHER PEOPLE:

1. when giving gift cards, buy in increments of one dollar and please, nothing under $11. if it's ten people will know you're cheap and if it has 26.43 on it, guess what- youre busted. mister secret santa is now a pack rat, not an elf czar.

2. there is nothing wrong with cold hard cash. at least for a college student. IMPORTANT: this does not apply to mothers, grandparents, or dying relatives.

3. iTunes gift cards, not gift cards to Sam Goody (if thats still even in existence) or FYE. who wants to 1) pay more for an album and 2) pay for the songs they dont want? please.

4. if youre buying something perishable like bad chocolate or fresh pears from harry and david, don't store them in your home refrigerator. rather, use nature's refrigerator: winter. if some animals get into it, just say that you went through hell to get the gift. it reflects well on you.

5. if one christmas morning you seem to have gotten the same thing as your parents for someone, take the low road and say that they only need one. take it back.

6. everyone loves chocolate covered strawberries. everyone. even if they say they don't or they're allergic. they love them. get them chocolate covered strawberries.

7. if on christmas, you wake up from a month long acid trip, fret not. capture a squirrel, put a bow around its head, and present it as a puppy. if they ask questions, say it was prematurely born and needs a home. if it starts making squirrel noises and jumping on people's faces, well, maybe you shouldn't have done ten hits in one night in the first place.

8. mothers. this is the hard part. ninety percent of gifts received by mothers are returned. whether you know of it or not. you have to find the perfect one. fortunately, im here to help you:
mothers like services, not goods. unless those goods are made of chocolate, but that kind ofgift is reserved for the spouse. if you are one of those, stop reading, youre good. if not, like I said. massages, manicures, even maid service. but dan, you say, these things are expensive. this is why you get everyone else to pitch in while secretly running a christmas ponzi scheme. except noone ever finds out that you not only used their money to buy a nice massage for mom, you went to coldstone and got a "gotta have it". on THEMz!

9. everyone loves a toto album. every song too so you dont run into the usual problem.

10. inappropriate posters, albeit funny, create awkward situations christmas morning in front of the camera recording a video being sent to said grandparents and dying relatives. they don't know this side of you. keep it that way. else you are subject to a long speech during family reunion dinners about how the young generation is losing its values. and guess who's giving you the eye every couple of seconds during the speech? grandpa. your parents too cuz they know u screwed up. except theyre laughing internally while pretending to be disappointed.

11. girlfriends: lingerie or chocolate. its very, very easy. don't tell me shes not like other girlfriends. she is.

12. brothers: gamestop gift cards. i know I would love one. or those awesome remote control helicopters.

13. on christmas morning, get up first. i know this is hard and not as exciting as it was when you were 7 because you don't regularly get up at 4 in the morning, but do it cuz i say. go into your parents room and jump on their bed asking to go open presents. do this every 10 minutes or until one of them punches you in the face. while lying bleeding on the floor, contemplate the magic of christmas.

14. be honest in your gift giving. but not too honest. if you were too honest, you would give your fat uncle slim fast bars instead of D&D. btw, dunkin donuts is probably the only corporation that doesn't jack it's prices for the holiday season. therefore, the first place you should start is there. everyone could use another coffee thermos. or donut even (depends on when you're buying- that would be the week of or so). after that, hair salons. everyone runs out of shampoo at some point.

15. write everyone poems. this was what i did last year. it was awesome. because people are drawn (temporarily) away from the fact that you got them a frying pan or a box of bolts, and they appreciate the crayon and construction paper juvenility of the whole scene. for these few seconds, you can really honestly feel loved. this is what christmas is all about.

so to recap: 11 dollar gift cards, cash, itunes, store pears outside, confiscate repeat gifts, chocolate covered strawberries, puppy squirrel, christmas ponzi scheme, toto, no funny/crude posters, lingerie/chocolate, gamestop, get punched in the face by ur mom, dunkin donuts, poems.

happy holidays!