These are a Few of Our Favorite (Amazon) Things
Tom and I are self-proclaimed "bad gifters." We're not very thoughtful when it comes to gifts, and mostly we hate feeling like we're just...
Tom and I are self-proclaimed "bad gifters." We're not very thoughtful when it comes to gifts, and mostly we hate feeling like we're just giving people more junk... which usually, we are, because we don't know what to get anyone.
So today, instead of coming up with a well thought-up "gift guide," I'm just going to show you a bunch of our favorite purchases on Amazon and maybe you'll find something listed here that might be nice for a family member, friend, or even yourself! Many of my favorite gifts, have been items that other people have given us that are tried and true in their own homes. We all have our "favorite things," but sometimes those have become your favorites, because they were someone else's. My favorite kitchen gadgets, for example, have often become my favorites because they were my mom's favorites first.
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Joy's Favorites
Robe: I actually recently ordered this to wear in the hospital after baby comes. It's super soft and cozy, so I know it was the right choice.
Watch: I like cheap watches because I only wear them as accessories occasionally, and can easily switch up the style when I get tired of one. This is my current favorite!
Movie: A great Shakespeare classic with an insanely amazing cast.
Slippers: I'm a sucker for fuzzy, bootie slippers and these are my pick for this year!
Heat resistant case: Perfect for traveling when you use hot styling tools and then need to pack them right away.
Laptop sleeve: Light and basic, but protective.
Popsocket: Don't make fun of me... I love this stupid thing! Makes holding your phone so much easier. Especially when you have small hands in comparison to your device!
Camera organizer: A great, padded, structured organizer that you can move from one bag to another so easily.
Camera strap: It seems expensive for a camera strap, but it truly is the BEST. It's high quality and it adjusts lengths so quickly. I seriously think every person with a nice camera NEEDS this strap. Such a great product!
Tom's Favorites
Sunglasses: Tom is picky about his shades, and these ended up being just perfect!
Pens: I know it seems random, but since he does a lot of sketching for his work and note-taking, these pens are awesome. People always want to steal them from him, and for a while, we legitimately used to hoard them from one another haha! They're fine-tipped, and well, just trust me, they're worth what I'm cracking them up to be.
Watch: He used to wear a smart watch, but he got tired of charging it and just wanted something extremely basic for Europe. Now, he wears it every.single.day. It's super cheap, but it's thin, and looks nice. He gets comments on it all the time (which I think is so funny since he works in tech, and it's just a basic Casio).
Laptop backpack: I vouch for this. He used to accidentally leave stuff at home and would spend so much time rummaging through his backpack for stuff. But this bag is super structured, comfortable, high quality, and sleek. It has organizational places for everything. He loves this thing, and it genuinely keeps him super organized.
Down jacket: He ordered this for layering on our Europe trip and now wears it all the time at home. Lightweight but warm!
Hondo's Favorites
Well, these are our favorite things FOR Hondo I guess, but you can also check out our other favorites for him here: Products We Love for Our Large Dog.
Car Hammock: It just comes in very handy for protecting our seats and keeping him contained in the car. Heavy duty, too!
Hair removers: Tom's parents sent us one of these and they are AMAZING. Does what a lint roller does, but MUCH better and minus having to go through a thousand sticky sheets. These things are seriously magical and I recommend them to everyone!
Stretchy toy: Basically indestructible. He loves this toy and it also doesn't yank your arm from its socket if he tries to play tug-of-war with you!
There you have it! A few of our favorite (Amazon) things. What're some of yours?! I love how Amazon is a world of endless possibilities and ideas and cool gadgets, and I just love hearing what kinds of every day items other people can't live without.
Would you like to see another post like this in the future? Let me know in the comments!
Why We Don't Do Gifts
Christmas gifts. Easter baskets. Valentines. Birthday presents. Anniversary gifts.
These are the gifting occasions that come to mind for most people - give or take a few. I myself have incredibly fond memories of family birthdays and Christmas time. We had sweet traditions and the shrieks and squeals of delight caused by gift excitement was priceless. Gifts have a way of bringing such joy. Givers often feel an overwhelming sense of relief and happiness from the reactions of those they're giving to. It's a unique, thoughtful, and loving act. The novel surprise of the receiver and the opportunity for the giver to give, go hand-in-hand as one of life's most innocent joys.
However.
I am, by nature, not a "things" oriented person. Give me just about every other love language, but "gifts" doesn't even remotely make it into the running for me. Thankfully, my husband is not a "things" person either. Therefore the conclusion as to why we don't get each other gifts is simple:
My husband and I don't give each other gifts because they don't make us feel loved.
Below are a few observations we’ve noticed about gift-giving. At least when it comes to giving from spouse-to-spouse. Perhaps these are personal to us, but I wouldn't find it unusual if the general population of people noticed them too.
Kids + presents = joy in its purest form. This cannot be denied. The older you get, the less novel gifts become. Your reaction to opening them becomes rather routine and dulled. It's a natural progression.
When we need or want something we generally just.... buy it. Sure, we save for bigger items, and giftcards help us afford something we've been eyeing, but we take care of most needs and wants throughout the year.
It's easy to forget what someone gave you, but hard to forget a great memory that you’ve had because of them. When I think back to childhood (or even adult) Christmases I can only remember a small handful of gifts I received; but I easily remember who was home and the emotions of the day. You can't throw a memory away. Gifts, however, will eventually end up at Goodwill. I’m looking at you, Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer.
We're hard to buy gifts for. Is it just us? Maybe we’re too picky, but we’ve given each other some failed gifts, and the waste of money caused us to involve each other more when choosing things. Which brings me to my next point...
We discuss all our financial decisions and share a bank account. It's kind of hard to surprise your spouse when you can easily check credit card/bank account activity. And when you're dealing with higher priced items, it's part of the health of a marriage to discuss it, right?
We generally want/need less as time goes on. We have a roof over our heads, our bills are paid, we have regular dates, we travel occasionally, we each use some "mad-money," and we're clothed and fed. What tangible gifts could we really want? Maybe it's the minimalist side of me speaking, but God provides our daily wants and needs and anything beyond that, we view as excess (meaning: unnecessary).
Getting something new on our birthdays doesn't make us happier versus if we had received it any other day. One day, Tom surprised me with a new Mac. Just on some random day of the year. I really needed one, he saw that it had gone way down in price, came up with a good excuse to go to Best Buy, and bought me one while I was distracted in another department. Honestly, I think that was more exciting than had I received it on my birthday. We spend our birthdays enjoying an experience instead!
Over the last three years we have mostly forgone gifts between the two of us. Our birthdays have been spent doing something. Maybe we'll have a small gift to open on the day (though I don't think I could recall them), but what I can recall for certain is what we did, ate, or saw in celebration.
So, my husband and I don't do gifts because we don't show and feel love with them. We don't do gifts because we value each other's company and a shared memory more than an item. We don't do gifts because sometimes the need to buy a gift can lead to having something lying around that we don’t actually need. We don't do gifts because it's not "us."
We do life together, and that is such a gift every.single.day.
As a little disclaimer, for fear that this may sound pretentious or ungrateful, gifts are wonderful. Coming from other people, they are always appreciated, we are always grateful to receive them, and we try to enjoy shopping for other family/friends when the occasion permits. Again, this does not come naturally to us and causes more stress than joy sometimes, I must admit, but when we find the perfect thing for the right person or someone finds the perfect thing for us, it's such a joy. Helping someone get a big item they've been wanting for a long time is so rewarding, isn't it? There are always exceptions to a rule, and we have come across many. We've received plenty of items we wouldn't buy ourselves, but have improved our lives immensely - mostly coffee or kitchen related :) so please don't read this and think we're gift haters. "Things" are just something we think very little about - we're usually daydreaming about vacations or food. This post is about the relationship between gifts and our marriage personally, that maybe others can relate to as well!