Presents.
We almost managed it - nothing for each other - but the message didn't quite get through to the rest of my family so in fact we received the usual desultory selection. But I mustn't be a curmudgeon about it.
I bought myself a new pair of running shoes last week because my old running shoes are literally falling apart so it's something I actually need. I may have suggested out loud that they were my christmas present to myself but in truth the timing of the purchase is purely coincidental.
This is why we don't buy presents – it seems pointless to wait till Christmas, we'll just buy stuff we need when we need it. My inlaws bought me a jumper. I'm sure it's lovely, but if I need a new sweater, I'll just buy one. Fact is that I have an entire drawer full of jumpers anyway, it's not like I'm going to run out anytime soon.
My only real Christmas gripe is I usually make a calendar for my wife (and her for me) with our photos from the year. This year, Apple in their infinite wisdom discontinued the bloody calendar printing service. There's are third-party ones but even more expensive than the Apple one, which wasn't close to being cheap. Yeah, I know there's loads of alternative online services, but I'd have to export and upload photos, figure out how they work, and blah blah #firstworldproblems. Oh, put away your tiny violins.
I might buy an Apple watch in the New Year, but that's for me. This is mostly so I can buy beer with my wrist. I figure this might tide me over until the actual future of socially acceptable skin-tight lurex wearing and hovercars actually arrives. My wife did muse, after a few glasses of Pedro Ximinez, whether the work-out auto-detection features works for the sort of personal exercise activities that involve a lot of wrist motion. Then remembered her mother was on the sofa opposite and she hadn't been quite so euphemistic. I say we ask an in-store Genius if there's a wank detection feature. You've got to figure that there's an app for that.
I did spent two hours earlier showing the in-laws how their new Toyota works. Took a while, clunkiest in-car satnav ever, I'd just use my phone. I dunno who writes the software for cars, but they should stop.