Hey Santa

I’m told I’m hard to shop for, but who isn’t? This year instead of doing my traditional “I don’t really need anything, doesn’t matter what you buy me” thing, I started pulling together a rough wish list for myself to help guide you (Pete, Santa). Take some liberties along these theme lines and you’ll be on the right track.

Hey Santa.

Just like every other year, beeline for the practical gifts. And please, no cable-knit sweaters and sherpa-lined slippers that the retailers have on uber-promotion and insist that I need/want/crave. I’d actually rather scrimp on gifts and save some coins so the family can indulge in _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _ _ when we take that surprise vaca in a few months, but if you want to put anything under the tree to keep up appearances, here are some ideas.

Anything Poppin. Santa, there are two Staples stores within a 10-mile radius. Did you know they both carry Poppin office products? Me neither. In the same way that I’m obsessed with a giant pack of multi-color fine Sharpie markers, having a blue stapler, new folders, and a set of magical markers or great gel pens would really make my workday. And you know how much I love to work, so go ahead and make my desk happier.

I could really use a new small wallet; something that holds more than four cards and my license. Good news – fossil.com has free shipping. This one will do. Black/Bone, Black Multi or Mustard Gold, preferably.

I’m pretty sure that anyone giving me gifts already knows that anything Charley Harper will be a hit. See if you can find some artist who makes stained glass CH ladybugs for me to hang in our windows (I’ve been looking, no luck), or something inexpensive and fun (i.e. it doesn’t need to be a $200 print, or a $16,000 original). The products for kids are great too, hint-hint. Fishs Eddy finally has the red bird glasses back in stock, so you could always pick up those since you know if you don’t buy them, I’ll probably get them anyways, and I might even get them this weekend depending on sales. Collections.

5×7 photo prints are damn expensive compared to 4×6, but such a luxury. Let’s vow to print more 5x7s of our awesome family in 2015. You can probably figure out a way to preorder the prints on Snapfish so they’re in my account and ready to go. Let me know if you need my login info.

Brit McDaniel of Paper & Clay makes the coolest danish-inspired mugs. I’ve wanted one ever since I came across her work on what is the deep, dark hole of Instagram. Any of them would look great in our kitchen, but a mug like this one would be most practical for me.

Kid art. Can you team up with Julia to make me a new oil pastel on nice paper that I can frame? Pull some inspiration from images on my Pinterest Art board. Better yet, have her dupe a Charley Harper print in her own way. Gift ideas colliding, ka-pow.

Would it be totally wrong to ask for a 9×12 rug for our bedroom or all of the cleaning supplies sold by Method? Yeah, probably. Those seems more like Mother’s Day.

It’s unlike me to ask for anything holiday-themed since I normally try and gobble up items immediately after the holiday, but maybe you’ll spy a good deal on this astronaut nutcracker. I think I love him. I think he’s gonna sell out.

I’m 99.99% sure that the influx of tech products around the holidays speaks to gimmicky sales tactics, but I still think a cordless keyboard that I can use with the iPad mini would be killer.  Something that I can use to write with on the plane, because yeah, I still really hate trying to draft posts on the iPad screen keyboard. I wish I could borrow one to try before spending so much money on this West Elm bamboo model, just to see if it’s really worth it. In the same vein, buying me a fun iPhone 6 case wouldn’t be a bad gift either (J.Crew has consistently manufactured my favorites, and this one is nice, but it looks like a hardshell…bummer). Whatever you find, just please test it to make sure it passes my needs of it fitting well and feeling very slim. And no chevron. I know, you tried. Maybe just skip the iPhone case idea.

More cool home decor. If you need inspiration, just look up “Scandinavian home decor” on Pinterest and click through to the cool stores and people who sell these products. Similarly, think Pendleton Wool (we’ve gotta check out that store in Pittsford next time we have to buy dog food). This Glacier Park flannel sheet set would be cozy.

None of these links are affiliates, so go click-happy. All product images belong to the retailers.