I have officially decided that I dislike Christmas shopping. It’s not that I don’t like buying gifts for others, or spending money on friends and family, I just don’t like shopping. I spent a couple hours this evening wandering around the mall, trying to figure out what to buy for people. But the problem is that I don’t see my family all that often, so I don’t know what they want, or what they need, or what they already have.
And then since it’s Christmas, there is the assumption that gifts are supposed to be thoughtful and meaningful, specific for the individual. This is what makes it difficult. If I was to go on vacation somewhere, and buy some random shirts or trinkets for people, they would be happy even if it wasn’t something they wanted or liked. It’s the thought that counts. But at christmas time, if someone gets you something you don’t want, you just return it. It takes away from the spirit and the thoughts behind the gift giving.
I’d much rather buy someone a present out of the blue (like a DVD or CD, or a funny/cute item) or treat them to a movie, or pay for a meal. That shows more of the spirit of giving than trying to buy something that they will like or want on a day when everyone is expected to.
That and the crowds and shoppers at the malls and the crowdedness of the stores just annoys me.
Anyways, enough about that. I stumbled upon a goldmine of funny cat pictures the other day (the link was sent to me by a friend). So I saved all the pictures I could, and put them together in a gallery at http://amishgeek.com/g2/. I’m slowly going through all the photos, and naming them, and adding keywords so all 1000+ photos are easily searchable. I’ll also be re-uploading my collection of random funny pictures of other stuff soon too.