What to Get for a Person Who Wants Nothing for Christmas

When I was a kid, I wanted things for Christmas: A Teddy Ruxpin bear, Super Mario Brothers 3 (which was released in Oct. 1988 for the Nintendo system), a Super Soaker, a game called Crossfire, and a board game called Domino Rally. I got half of the things I wanted.

As an adult, when people ask me what I want for Christmas, I say: “Nothing.” And I mean it! I’m pretty content with the things I already have. My family, of course, finds this pretty annoying. What do you mean you want nothing? You must want something! And because they are lovely people who don’t want to see me empty-handed on Christmas day while everyone else is opening gifts, they usually find something to give me. I recall: a nice jacket, that wasn’t quite my style, which hung in my closet unworn until I donated it to Goodwill; various giftcards that sit in a drawer, mostly unused and forgotten; DVDs. Sometimes I’ll get a donation made in my name somewhere, which is actually very nice. Or food — there has never been a cookie I have shunned.

But the best thing to get for a person who wants nothing for Christmas is: nothing. Just don’t wrap an empty box and give it as a gift — it’s a little sad to open something with nothing in it.

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