I MEAN THIS IN A GOOD WAY.
Your family obviously loves you very much, or they wouldn’t keep trying. You are not being “loving” back.
Why don’t you pull the stick out of your ass and trust them to pool resources to get the things you really want? Why not let them be happy at finally pleasing you?
Yes I’m with the OP.
I haven’t received many gifts for years now. I told my family and friends that it is important to me that I am not acquisitive, that I am trying to limit the amount of stuff I own, and they have largely respected that. But it took a couple of years for them to stop “forgetting” and understand that I really meant it.
My SIL can’t help herself. If she happens to see something she knows I, or someone else, will love she gets it. She usually turns out to be right and I am naturally appreciative. I make fun of her about it and we are both OK with her failing.
I suspect the OP’s got the hang of that after 5 years. 
My usual solution to this issue is to give food. It’s appreciated, but doesn’t become a permanent thing taking up closet space.
If they won’t change, then turn this around. Be happy that you will have some cool stuff to donate and the thrift store or whoever will benefit from it. Feel no guilt about donating everything and feel good that you were the conduit for something that is helping someone else. That’s the spirit of Christmas.
Erm …
For my birthday this year it was a novelty cap (one of these silly things) and a t-shirt silkscreened with a painting of a herd of wild horses. The t-shirt, while nice, is just not the kind of thing I wear (the artwork, that is; t-shirts are otherwise my default “uniform”). It is, however, exactly the kind of thing my best friend wears, so it’s his now.
The silly cap is still taking up space. I’ve no idea who would want it.
As you get older and more curmugeonly, you will realise that one of the greatest joys of Christmas is seeing relatives trying to look delighted on unwrapping a present that you know full well they don’t want…
mascroogearoni
Or not! My condolences.
I’m hoping this year, my husband’s siblings who know he’s trying to lose weight will refrain from giving him candy/cookies/etc. as a present. Because they’re being “nice.”
Our thirft shop has a costume sale a couple of weeks before Halloween – someone will love it!
I don’t want any gifts either, for any reason. What is wrong with that?
I won’t accept them just so somebody else can discharge their false sense of obligation.
I used to say “I don’t want gifts” but would still get stuff from some family members. It’s only when I turned it around to “what I WANT is NO gifts” did they realize that buying something is wasting their time and pissing me off.
That’s too bad. Hopefully you’ll find just the right YouTube video to express your feelings.
Buncha buzzkills, you people are. Humbug!
I am a hard man to buy for. I am single, make good money, my house is paid off and I usually just buy stuff I want.
So I get a lot of bizarre things. A computer mouse with a spider encased in it, to mention the first thing that popped into my head.
But I like that people think enough of me to get me something. That is the real gift IMO. It is a way for them to show they care, and even if I would prefer that they didn’t buy me crap, I’m glad that they care. Sure, they could show it in other ways (and many/most do.) But this is one of the ways that they have chosen to show it, and I am not going to ruin it for them.
What’s wrong with that? Why would this make you grumpy? Do you hate donating too? It sounds like a win-win to me, plus another win for someone needy…
If you, any of you, don’t want anything and are all grumpy about it, what is the problem with taking the whole lot to salvation army or what have you?
Those are exactly the sort of gifts that make me want to get no gifts for Christmas. Because gifts like that say “I have no idea who you really are or what you would really like, and was not willing to make the effort to learn either of those”.
Opening up a gift like that is like getting the gift of Sad.
No they can’t.
It is possible to give people food gifts that are both healthy and delicious. Did you ever have one of those super expensive mail-order pears? They’re actually really yummy, and come in a fancy box, and feel very luxurious.
Here’s how I solved the same problem.
One year, I realized that gift-giving/receiving is not for me. I have many thoughts on the subject, but this isn’t the pit and I don’t feel like getting flamed, so…I’ll keep those thoughts to myself.
I told all my family that I was out. I told everyone not to buy me a gift. I told everyone I was not going to buy gifts.
The first Christmas, everyone bought me a gift. But I stuck to my word.
The second Christmas, about half the people in my family bought me a gift. And I stuck to my word.
The third and everafter…no more gifts.
I can not tell you how WONDERFUL it is to be out of this.
So my final word of advice is this: Don’t tell others what to do. Just tell them you are going to do.
My sister in law buys me ensembles which don’t match anything else I own, and which are so cheap that for example one time the trousers were trashed after wearing them twice. Not that I minded, since I thought I looked like shit in them… but seriously, that’s about as thoughtful as me buying her a gaming keyboard. It just Doesn’t Apply.
I know how you feel. I asked my mum togive a goat for me one year, and she complained she didn’t want to do something for someone else, she wanted to get something for me. Giving a goat in my name would have been far more rewarding than buying me one more thing to go with all my other things.