I'm still laughing at the thought of receiving a tranquility fountain.. my son's fishtank has exactly the same effect on me! My mother and aunt send me the kind of shirts they would pick for themselves-- not particularly offensive on women in their 60s, but really not my scene-- and my mind goes on some kind of weird psycho trip about them trying to turn me into them, which is the whole reason I moved away in the first place, and...well...okay, it's probably best not to go there.

I agree with Seamus-- part of the joy of giving/receiving presents is the surprise element-- so placing a specific order seems to defeat the purpose. It's kind of like asking people just to give you money, which seems cold-hearted.

Thinking about it, it seems to me that the transatlantic thing is part of the problem. Maybe they think that with 4000 miles between us, love is too hard to express in more mundane day to day ways-- phone calls, chitchat, sharing time with each other (e-time, obviously, for the most part, although we do fly over most years). Anyone else ever had this problem?