I know these feels. My husband is TERRIBLE about picking out things for me. And. . . I think part of it was on purpose and passive aggressive. Because then he would say, "You hate everything I get you! But I have always been really good at getting gifts!" Basically implying that I'm too picky. But, friends and relatives have never had a hard time shopping for me, so I know that's bull.

Long story short, I think he has issues around gift giving due to his family and their. . .whole thing. His mom is the same damn way. One year she bought our son the PERFECT gift. And we told her it was the PERFECT gift, and that he would be over the moon! So, naturally, she took it back and got him a cheap microscope. Then she whined for a year, "Ooooh, I just didn't do a good job with gifts last year. Everyone was disappointed!"

So. After lots and lots of talking it out, and me being VERY blunt about what I thought the problem was, Amazon wish lists to the rescue! I bought off his, he bought off mine with one surprise based on something I've talked about for years, and for maybe the first time we were both very happy.