Christmas Dilemma…

This is going to be a different Christmas gift article than you’re used to seeing. I’m not going to suggest a whole lot of products that are hot sellers, or slow sellers I want to get moving. I’m going to tell our women readers a “guy-secret.” We, as in the men in your life, really do want to get you what you want, especially if you like to hunt and shoot! We don’t intentionally buy you the wrong thing or dumb thing. We are simple creatures and hints are lost on us. I’ll give you a for instance…I once sat on a bench in a department store, for well over 30 minutes, agonizing and trying to sort out what my wife (now ex-wife) meant by, “Imagine you’re having an affair with me, what would you buy me?” I chose wrong, of course, and got the silent treatment for two weeks.

If a woman says, “Oh, anything will be fine, it’s the thought that counts ” well, you might just get something from the counter at the local Stop N Rob. Or if she says “Something for my shotgun,” trust me that still isn’t enough. I encourage women to grab a catalog from Brownells, or Prois, or whoever, and mark it up. Attaching sticky notes is a good idea as well. Make sure you leave it in a pile with other mail we normally go through. Don’t leave it lying around for us to find; we’ll just wonder who scribbled all over the pages. Tell us you’ve marked it up and those are ideas for Christmas.

We’re not total idiots and sometimes we do get inspired and thoughtful all at the same time and come up with a perfect gift even without a ton of hints. But, the same guy that can grab your heart with an inspired gift one year will forget your anniversary/birthday/whatever next year. That same guy will buy you the proverbial clothes iron or frying pan; unfortunately I know this from firsthand experience. We do remember what you say (yes, it’s true) so if you make a comment like, “Oh I like those,” about a pair of hunting boots, be prepared to get a pair. If you liked them, but didn’t want to actually wear them, you’ll be disappointed and we’ll be crushed and/or angry thinking you set us up.

If you want hunting clothes be SPECIFIC, otherwise you might end up with desert camo when you wanted Realtree. Left to our own devices, we men will buy you what we want to see you in. And that may not be what you want to wear in the field; a camo teddy comes to mind. Please mark your favorite catalogs, complete with sizes, which I realize is a sore subject. Here’s another hint from a guy’s perspective; we don’t remember the sizes, we don’t judge them if they say size Small or size 4XL. We just want to get the right thing and be able to give you something special for a special holiday. Even though we don’t say it as often as we should, we really do love you and want you to be happy. It means a lot to us that you share our love of the outdoors. We just need a little help to make sure we get you the right thing at the right time.