I have a different view on Christmas to most. I loathe deadweight costs, so I want to get people exactly what they want. I'll thus spend hours questioning family, weighing up the utility of nuts vs. dates, modelling others' gift-giving, negotiating no-present agreements and bemoaning gift cards. So, you can imagine how happy I was to come across an economic paper estimating the waste caused by gift-giving at Christmas.
Non-cash gifts from close family and friends destroy about 10 per cent of their value, whilst those from extended family and more distant contacts lose a third. This comes from the giver being in a worse position relative to the recipient when estimating the recipient's wants/needs, an assumption that holds in nearly all situations.
Of course you are right on all counts --- however there is something so sweet about celebrating Christmas in a cold, cruel world. In my callow youth, I used to turn my nose up at a bar of soap. Today it is one of the most welcome and useful of gifts - it's hard to get it wrong. Anyway hope you had a great holiday despite the shopping blues.
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