A Few of My Favorite Things {What’s on Your Christmas List?}

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If you haven’t read Gary Chapman’s The Five Love Languages yet, you’ve got to get yourself to the library and check it out. Pun intended. It provided incredible insight to the ways that I receive and give love to those close to me. I know it might sound cheesy if you haven’t read it yet, but seriously, it’s the relationship version of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover and well worth the read.

Chapman’s five love languages are:

  • Words of Affirmation
  • Quality Time
  • Physical Touch
  • Acts of Service
  • Receiving Gifts

I feel like most of my family, friends, and colleagues have heard of this book. But, I’ll go ahead and tell you upfront that nobody wants to admit their love language is receiving gifts. It’s like admitting you’re a Hufflepuff when you really want to be a Gryffindor. If the topic arises in any group setting, I’ll share that I’m “words of affirmation” or “acts of service” just to avoid the admission altogether.

But, the truth is not only am I a Hufflepuff but also one of my love languages is receiving gifts. 

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This doesn’t mean that I only feel loved when I’m gifted diamond tennis bracelets and Chanel N°5. Not at all actually.

Rather, it means that I love on a Friday when my husband walks into the house with a Snickers Ice Cream bar from the gas station because he knows it’s my favorite (especially if it’s “King Size”). It means that I feel really known when my colleagues would bring me crushed ice back from the cafeteria during my pregnancies because I craved it. Or that I love seasonal cocktail napkins and when Thanksgiving rolls around, my sisters send me turkey and pumpkin napkins because I live in South Korea. That my Mom shops the Target dollar bin for me and sends my family a box of Christmas kid crafts. I love little surprises that remind me how well people know me. As Chapman would say, “it fills my love tank.”

That being said, when it comes to the big holidays, it does put some stress on my spouse who knows I love receiving gifts. So, for the past few years, I have begun to put together a wish list. It consists of about 25 things from $10-$100 that I currently love. Basically, it’s the entire under $25 gift section on the Anthropologie website. But, it also includes cute athletic headbands, a Mama necklace I love from Etsy, a new pair of Keds, or that pricey shampoo I won’t buy myself.

Asking my husband to search on Etsy for something I might like would be the same as asking me to mine his Bitcoin.

I would have no idea where to start. Do I need a chisel? So, to save us both the headache, I stay away from the cryptocurrency and he steals clear of the endless search on Etsy. I send him one e-mail with the list and hyperlinks of my favorites. Then for Christmas, my birthday or our anniversary, if he doesn’t have any idea what to get me, he can use this list. It works great! He loves it because it takes all the stress out of shopping, and I receive something I genuinely wanted. An added bonus is that I have forgotten about many of the things on the list and I also don’t know what he’s going to pick.

So, if your secret love language is receiving gifts or if you just don’t want to pretend to adore that Bath and Body Works lotion set for one more Christmas morning, try putting together a “favorite things” list for this year.