Pity me. I’ve been performing that most abhorrent of female
duties: Man Shopping. No, not shopping in order to acquire men, as I’ve
chronicled here, but shopping for
the men in my life. And worse than that, even…today I shopped for stocking
gifts.
Urk.
The women in my family have always adored giving and
receiving stocking gifts, as long as they are for or from other women. The
problem is that once we’ve filled each other’s stockings to the brim, we’ve
felt obligated to do likewise for the men in our lives. And I don’t think I’ve
ever known a single man who really likes small, inexpensive gifts. They don’t even seem to
understand the whole small-gift-concept.
Still, my dad always dutifully made an effort to be
appreciative each year:
“Wow! A mini-moose-horned
back scratcher! Now that sure is something.”
“All righty…just what I needed. Socks! Those will come in
mighty handy.”
“Ha ha, yes siree…a polishing kit for bald heads! That sure
is pretty funny.”
I’m not sure what was more painful—buying the stocking
gifts, or watching him open them.
We must not be the only family who goes through this,
because stores make an effort to set up displays of suggestions for men each
year. There must be an enormous amount of pressure to get creative, because
today I passed more than the usual wallets, desk games, cartoon-themed boxer
shorts and creatively inscribed golf balls.
For the wife who is trying to combine good hygiene and a
love of tools, there was a large and varied display of electric toothbrushes.
Interesting to me were the racks and racks of pink flashlights and animal-themed
bag clips, which surely must be high on every man’s “want” list.
The one exception to the shopping rule is my son. When he
was a teenager, shopping was torture. Then a girlfriend entered the picture
and everything changed. I don’t know how she does it, but if she likes it, he
does, too. Once I took him shopping and brought his girlfriend along. While we
loaded him up for his trip into the dressing room, I winked at her and handed
him a short-sleeved button down shirt in aqua and white gingham that I’d had the wonderful luck to find brightening up the
clearance rack. My son solemnly took it.
“Your girlfriend really likes this one,” I prompted. He only
nodded, completely clueless as to why I was snorting and giggling.
I am so proud…not to mention relieved. He just might be
getting a set of monkey-themed bag clips. I’ll just blame it on his girlfriend.
Happy holidays to you and yours!
- I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop
any time.
- This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd
never met herbivore.
- I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
- I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
- They told me I had type A blood, but it was a type-O.
~Puns lovingly passed down from my friend Jim’s dad
