A woman has ignited a fiery discussion after she compiled an anti-Christmas wishlist, detailing presents she’d rather not receive from her family.
While some relatives embraced the concept, others branded it “rude” and a spoiler to the ‘best part of Christmas Day’. The 33-year-old took to Reddit, confessing: “I admit I am difficult to buy gifts for.”
She elaborated on her predicament, saying: “I really don’t want more things than I have, I have so much stuff and nowhere to put it as it is (a recent move really opened my eyes to this). Plus, I’m financially stable enough and have cheap enough hobbies that I can usually just buy myself something when I want it.”
As her mum is already asking for her Christmas list, she decided to take action. She confessed: “I decided to include a list of things not to buy me, figuring that might be as helpful as a list of things I do want.
“On the list I put things like ‘fun’ socks, Funko Pops, anything I have to assemble AKA ‘Merry Christmas, I got you a chore you have to do now’, throw blankets, throw pillows, decorations, etc.”
However, her approach didn’t go down well with everyone, especially her mum, who quickly voiced her concerns. She continued:”My mum called asking why I did that and complaining that I never like the gifts she gives me.
“I have told her in the past I don’t want these things and she’ll remember for a year and then buy me a pair of slipper socks the next, which then join the four other pairs I already don’t wear.”
Highlighting the tension such a list could cause, she added her mum’s concern. She wrote: “I pointed this out and she complained about how hard it is to buy me gifts and that just getting me gift cards is boring. She said I’m just going to end up with a bunch of candles and then complain about that next year. I told her that was just all I could think of at the moment and I’d add more stuff if I thought of it.”
Some supported the idea, with one commenter writing: “My brother also joked about a secret anti-list for their kids to avoid getting terribly messy or noisy toys.” But others thought the situation wasn’t handled very well.
A responder remarked: “You could have just said you have enough of these things and don’t need any more – that way you didn’t make your mother feel bad for buying them previously and look a little more grateful. You literally wrote the list you wanted but framed It in an ‘I’m so misunderstood, I’m not like other teens’ and then write a post here? I mean it’s all a bit much.”
And another user chimed in: “I think indicating things you don’t want will be seen as helpful to some and ungrateful to others. You may have been better off using that energy to come up with more practical gift ideas to add to your list. Whether that’s toiletries you use on a regular basis, your favourite snacks, a fire extinguisher, etc. Stuff that you would find useful. Heck, my sister’s list last year had batteries and light bulbs on it.”