DH's family has a tradition of coming to Thanksgiving dinner with their Christmas lists ready to exchange. They're put into blank envelopes and then randomly drawn after dinner. The only caveat is that you cannot choose your spouse, or the drawing is redone. No one is supposed to know who anyone else drew (unless the spouse things occurs). There is a price limit ($80), but you can always go over it if you're feeling generous. You are only responsible for giving a gift to that one person (of course, it is expected that you will give an additional gift to your spouse privately), so the gift exchange is very brief on Christmas.
In some ways, I really like this because it takes the guess-work out of the gift-giving process. However...I am dreading pulling my MIL again. She generally refuses to write anything down because she says she doesn't want anything. BUT...you had damn well better give her a gift. Last year I got her, and her list was:
full interior and exterior detailing of her car
a new couch
a new washer and dryer
dress shoes (no size, style, or color listed...wtf???)
...yeah...so that was fun. I ended up getting her a coffee table book of the story behind a ton of the paintings done by Thomas Kincade (she loves his work). I *think* she liked it because she ignored everyone and started reading it until FIL reminded her that the gift-giving wasn't over yet. I'm not sure. I'm screwed if I get her again though, because I'm out of ideas.
So...2 questions:
1. What do you give a woman who never wants anything?
2. I'm supposed to be making my Christmas list, and I'm pulling a complete blank. I don't know what I want and can't for the life of me think of things that would be cool to have. So my question to you guys is: what do YOU want for Christmas?
ETA: brain thinks faster than fingers can type