If there is something that you want, put aside money and buy it. Adults don’t make wish lists, or at least they shouldn’t. I came upon a top 10 manly Christmas gift list and wanted to faint except for the fact that such a reaction would have been unmanly. While I confess to not having studied Brokeback Mountain, I’m pretty sure those cowboys didn’t take a moment on the pasture to come up with a wish list. In fact the common term for men that obsess over status symbols and style is metrosexual.
Perhaps it is time to go over gift giving at Christmas. The common offering of frivolous gifts like toys traces itself to catalog sales in the early 1900s. The one-month, fly by night toy store is less than a decade old. The first toy store traces itself to just 1760. The Erector Set was the first toy to have a national advertising campaign around 1910. As for jewelry, wedding rings also became common in the 1900s, so you can have faith that rings, necklaces, and earrings weren’t common fare for Christmas presents prior to 1900. Apparently kisses got by without Kay back then. I’m afraid those looking to indulge their avarice will have to look outside tradition to find warrant. They might even find real manliness in the process.
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