What’s Already on My Holiday Shopping List

In this The Gift: The case for Soft Shopping, what’s on our holiday wish list already, and the perfect gift for an 80-year-old prankster.

Yes, they just put the candy corn out at the drugstore. But it’s sort of about time to start thinking about holiday gifts. Before you start panicking, I’m not here to tell you to fast-forward through fall. My son’s secondhand skunk Halloween costume just arrived, and we’re baking apple bars on repeat. We’re fully living in the now, and you should, too.

And yet, I have started Soft Shopping™—that is, adding to cart, bookmarking tabs, jotting down notes and checking them twice—to get a jump-start. If you’re really motivated, by all means, go ahead and start seriously shopping: Make a dedicated spreadsheet and start knocking out gifts, Whac-A-Mole style. (My colleague Samantha Schoech just wrote a perfect piece on this.)

Or be more like me: Calculate we’re 76 days away from Christmas and Hanukkah, and take pleasure in the gentle journey of celebrating the season. I find that soft shopping helps keep me wholly in the present moment. But because it gets me ahead, it also helps me stay more grounded when the holidays, and all of the associated stresses and frenzies and to-dos, truly descend on us.

Plus, when I give myself this time to actually ponder gifts, I make better decisions, have time to personalize, and avoid last-minute grumpiness. Take this as your sign to start at least thinking about it. And if you need a little inspiration, here’s where I’m at so far: