I play many roles in life, but crazed holiday shopper is not one of them. Being Jewish and from a small family helps me step aside from the mass culture. The distance is probably healthy because I have a very mixed record as a Consumer. Buying gifts for others usually works out well, either based on what these others tell me they want or my own innate sense of what they want, typically based on off-hand comments about entertainment choices that I tuck away for future use around birthdays, Hanukkah and the beautiful Jewish tradition of Valentine's Day. Vacations are surprisingly easy once I work out the destination.

The hardest person to shop for? Hands down, that is -- myself.

Except for the most random impulse buys (Pandora music service, the fall issue of the great City Journal) and groceries, I always struggle to buy myself anything. I do massive research, collect opinions, canvass friends on their suggestions and worry about whether I'm getting ripped off. Call it neurotic; I call it a sure-fire strategy for almost never buying anything.