Ok, I'll say it:  Giving gift cards for Christmas or birthdays is like saying, "I gave up, so here's some money for my inability to think of anything."  I feel bad saying that, because a lot of people give gift cards as a viable gift, instead of buying something that the person won't like.  It's a great idea.  And a lot of people ask for gift cards.  So instead of returning stuff to the store, they can just get something they want.  And I personally love gift cards.  Sometimes it's hard to say exactly what I want, so I just ask for a gift card to an electronics store or Amazon.  I'm such a frequent shopper at Amazon that I'd definitely have no problem using a gift card. 

But I also think it kind of gets away from the idea of giving gifts.  Giving things to kids is one thing:  They don't have jobs; they don't have money with which to buy things.  So they depend on other people to buy things for them.  But buying gifts for adults always feels pointless to me.  These people have money to buy things and cars to drive themselves to the stores at which said buying takes place.  This is assuming that we're buying them something they want.  What if we surprise them with something they don't want?  Well, then it's still something they don't want.  So they can add it to the collection of things they don't want and continue to wish they had the things they wanted.  [This is all really hypothetical.  I'm not writing from personal feelings or experience.  It's something I heard some leftist liberal say.  How's that for defamation?]  Instead of going through the trouble of asking people what they want, shopping for them, and then going through the awkward gift exchange process, why don't we just give each other money?  But then we'd probably end up getting the same amount of money we gave, so the whole thing would be an exercise in futility. 

In conclusion, we should end the tradition of giving gifts for Christmas and birthdays, unless the gift is something the person couldn't otherwise afford.  That's always nice to see.  It's like all those Extreme Makeover:  Home Edition things. #business