By Christie Schmidt, Contributing Writer

See Dave.
See Dave give his wife a Thigh Master and Cellulite Massage Oil for Christmas.
See Dave sleeping on the couch.
Dumb Dave.

Ahhhh …the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
With the holiday-buying season in full swing, it ’s inevitable that someone (very possibly you) will unintentionally commit a gift-giving blunder. The fact is, in order to save themselves and/or the “giftee” any undo embarrassment, there are just some things that people should avoid giving all together.

"But hey,” you say, “It’s t he thought that counts. ”And, that is often the problem. Too many times, the thought behind a particular purchase is not the one that is conveyed to the person receiving the gift.
Susanne Alexander, marriage coach and author of “Pure Gold: Encouraging Character Qualities in Marriage", says that if the intent behind the gift is that the recipient change, “the chances of hurt feelings are greater. If a sensitive gift is given in front of people who will tease the recipient or tell others and cause embarrassment, the hurt feelings will be even deeper. ”

Take Ed and Julie Formica of Mason as an example.
Last Christmas, Julie was thinking along the lines of “practicality” and bought her husband a deluxe nose hair trimmer.

“He definitely needed it. We were practi cally bordering on being able to braid his nose hair it was getting so long. So …I bought it for him.” However, not only did her well-intentioned gift make him a bit self-conscious, the goodwill gadget turned out to be a nostril nightmare, bringing tears to her husband ’s eyes every time he used it.
Said Julie, “The fact that it took a 'C ’ battery and lit up should have tipped me off; I could have trimmed the hedges with that thing. ”
She tried it herself just to see if it really was that painful and unfortunately, it was.

“I half expected my adenoids to come out along with the nose hair, ” Julie said. “I felt really bad that I’d gotten it for him. ”
However, Alexander believes that it is possible to give someone what might be a sensitive gift, provided that “i t was not done on a special or public occasion, was given with genuine love and caring and was given with very pure motives of caring for the other person ’s well-being.”

Some potential “no-nos” for the upcoming noel:
• Self-help books for sensitive issues — dieting, depression, job-hunting, etc.
• Personal hygiene items — deodorant, hair loss/growth products, wrinkle/cellulite removing cream, etc.
• Gift certificate for a plastic surgery consultation — i.e. liposuction, breast augmentation, nose job, etc.
• Clothes that are the wrong size, in a “big” way (i.e. buying your wife a size 12 when she ’s a size 8).
Alexander advises that before you plunk down cash for that “special gift” for that special someone, ask yourself how you ’d feel if you were on the rece iving end of it. Perhaps that will help you make better choices this time around.

Said Formica, “I think I’ll stick to the real power tools this year. ”