I used to hate the list thing more than a 'whippin' but my parents lived 1000's miles away and saw my kids only once a yr.. They had no idea what they needed, wanted, sizes or what Santa was going to bring them. After two yrs of them begging, they demanded a list of things for them to choose from. I would list ten things for each child, that way they could choose one thing for each child and it would still be a surprise for us...
Since then, we do the same thing for our Christmas presents to all the kids and grands..My kids love our lists, since we have almost everything someone could ever really want and/or need. I list things I want/need/would enjoy having--everything from magazine subs, to plants for my vineyard/orchard... I always try to list an array of prices so that they can choose things that suites them and ALWAY add pictures of each family!! And there is no way I could ever shop for my step grands without a list.. I see them so little that it's hard to even know what they need...Dixie