Gift suggestions in Stuff

I have already purchased most of what I want to give the kids for Christmas but I’m always buying other little random things when the idea occurs to me. I made a comment to all of them over the weekend that if there was anything else they were wanting they were running out of time to tell me.

Harry almost immediately pointed me to some earrings she had been talking about for a long time and that had completely slipped my mind when buying gifts. It’s the perfect sort of thing I would normally buy her and they weren’t too expensive, so I got them for her right away.

I hate to sound like I’m the type of mother that immediately buys anything my kids ask for. Far from it. I actually really hate that part of Christmas, the notion that my kids can just give me a list of stuff they want with an expectation they’ll get it on Christmas morning. I try to be very selective about what I actually get them.

But I was low on ideas this year for Mercer so I was happy when he said he’d picked out a few things on Amazon he liked and he would send me the links.

The first thing he sent was a big fluffy purple bathrobe. Fairly expensive for what it was. And very much designed for women, although admittedly it was not outrageously feminine. I thought about for about 30 minutes before buying it for him. He’s never had a bathrobe and has mentioned wanting one for years.

The second was a book about gender neutrality and androgyny, which I haven’t bought yet but I might. It seems like an odd book for a 16 year old, but at the same time I always encourage him to read and learn things.

The third was a gift card to Sephora. I know you can buy things for men at Sephora, but it is primarily a store for women’s cosmetics. I haven’t bought that yet either.

I’m mostly wondering how to interpret these three gift suggestions.