The Digital Xmas List

My parents just came through on vacation and in between all of the tourist hits, we lurched our technological relationship forward. I talked my dad into using google reader and twitter, we went to Best Buy to walk through getting a nice huge LCD for them, and we ventured into online shopping.

I showed them all about amazon shopping, including the bestseller lists, discounted shipping, recommendations, and all the various ratings. All of these options make Amazon the bang-up place to do your shopping. But, that is not all. The final, creme de la creme, was convincing them to use the Amazon lists feature.

For years I have been subjected to undersized tshirts, dorky sweaters, and unhealthy harry and david food deliveries. Often it is my fault for not having a running list of things I want. I can’t tell you how many times I am speechless when the question comes up: “What do you want for your birthday?”. Replace birthday with christmas, easter, new years, valentines day, etc.

So, to avoid getting the clearance items from the JC Penney catalog and to overcome my lack memory, we are now using an Amazon Wishlist. This feature of Amazon allows you to create a personalized list that can be shared. Items can be added to it as you browse through Amazon. So, from now on I will casually add things I want throughout the year. The public list will be sent to all parents, relative, friends, and all else.

Anytime throughout the year I have a list ready to go. Moms and girlfriends can send me great gifts anytime they want. They can even send it with one click on no shipping charges, if they are savvy enough. And…I will be able to call the list up anytime a non digital relative pops up.

This is one area where I feel that sharing on the web is going to make me a happier person. So, check out my wishlist and I hope someone out there wants to buy me an Xbox 360 🙂