Or for US$200,000 you can satisfy your intellectual pretensions by attending a dinner at the Algonquin Hotel (home of the late great RoundTablewithDorothyParkeretal) with such brainy heavyweights as, um, actor John Lithgow (the older gentleman from 3rd Rock from the Sun), writer/director Nora Ephron (her latest book was I Feel Bad About My Neck) and Ali Wentworth, that annoying blonde lady you see sometimes on Oprah's Live from Chicago segment. (BTW, not going to miss Oprah when she folds up her suitcase after 25 years. Not even a little bit.) Ali is only there, of course, because her husband is political pundit George Stephanopoulos, who I would pay money to dine with. Likewise Malcolm Gladwell and the New Yorker's Adam Gopnik.
In New Zealand we get the annual "wacky gift" lists in the newspapers. I compiled one for the Herald a few years ago. That day spent sweating in a crappy silver Hyundai Accent as I drove across Auckland looking for Christmas quirk, the remains of some photographer's meat pie funking up the back seat, was one of the worst of my professional life.
TV ONE's Breakfast got in on the seasonal act with "hot toy" suggestions. Weirdest was the set of Elmo Tickle Hands, red furry gloves that talk in Elmo's excitable voice. Paul Henry got maximum snigger value out of the line, "Let's tickle later". The other biggie was the Zhu Zhu Pet, a mechanical hamster that is apparently a massive hit in the US and Europe but won't be available in NZ till next year, making it the most elusive and disappointing Christmas gift suggestion of 2009.
Gird yourself, too, for the Christmas trend stories: for example, apparently, people aged 50-plus are more likely to re-gift items.
I have a friend who never gets into a state over Christmas because she has a present drawer which she continually restocks. Come December 1 she has bought everyone's present, sent the ones that need to travel overseas or down country, and all she has to worry about is how to stop her kids from finding and opening their gifts early. This is actually quite a problem because they are diabolically clever and have no qualms over ruining their mother's Christmas morning fun. Each year I think I will follow her lead and get my Christmas shopping out of the way early and each year I just can't be arsed.
I have found a way to beat the Christmas '09 crowds, though. I
am making pressies this year. So the problem will be less a matter
of me misjudging what the people on my gift list might want, and
more being a lesser craftswoman than I'd like to be. Holiday
Greetings, everyone!
Read more of Eleanor Black's blogs on pundit.co.nz
