DH has gotten so much better since I stopped playing "guess what I want for Christmas!"
I give him a list right after Thanksgiving. The list contains all the things I want--some inexpensive, some more expansive, some extravagent, some just silly. I include sizes, colors, and the store. If I have a style or part number, I include that as well. He doesn't have to buy everything on the list (I'd want to know when he won the lottery if he did!), but I expect at least one thing from it. He gets to decide what he wants to purchase.
He gives me a list, too.
They also serve as lists that our grown children can use. There is always one who calls to say "What does Dad want?" I get out his list and read them the things I'm not getting.
I learned, after 20+ years, that he was not a shopper or natural gift giver and was never going to change. I realized it really was stressful for him to know exactly what I wanted. He hates shopping, and the idea of wandering around in a store looking for inspiration was just too much for him to deal with!
Our lists have worked really well for the past five years or so. I now get exactly what I wanted but am still surprised. I have a stuffed stocking every year--he buys the little gifts, I buy the candy and fruit for both of us. One unexpected bonus is that sometimes I'll get something not on my list at all! It's usually something that I mentioned after we exchanged lists. So, he is listening.
Try it next year (or even for your next gift-giving occasion). After years of disappointment, I now am truly thrilled with my Christmas gift--and he's feeling pretty good because I actually like and will use the gifts he buys me!
I give him a list right after Thanksgiving. The list contains all the things I want--some inexpensive, some more expansive, some extravagent, some just silly. I include sizes, colors, and the store. If I have a style or part number, I include that as well. He doesn't have to buy everything on the list (I'd want to know when he won the lottery if he did!), but I expect at least one thing from it. He gets to decide what he wants to purchase.
He gives me a list, too.
They also serve as lists that our grown children can use. There is always one who calls to say "What does Dad want?" I get out his list and read them the things I'm not getting.
I learned, after 20+ years, that he was not a shopper or natural gift giver and was never going to change. I realized it really was stressful for him to know exactly what I wanted. He hates shopping, and the idea of wandering around in a store looking for inspiration was just too much for him to deal with!
Our lists have worked really well for the past five years or so. I now get exactly what I wanted but am still surprised. I have a stuffed stocking every year--he buys the little gifts, I buy the candy and fruit for both of us. One unexpected bonus is that sometimes I'll get something not on my list at all! It's usually something that I mentioned after we exchanged lists. So, he is listening.
Try it next year (or even for your next gift-giving occasion). After years of disappointment, I now am truly thrilled with my Christmas gift--and he's feeling pretty good because I actually like and will use the gifts he buys me!
We'd much rather take some time together and relax, that means so much more to us than anything purchased from a store. 
My sister and my dad have had this tradition of shopping on Christmas Eve for little things for my mom. They go to the same little specialty store and get small gifty things that she will love but would never buy for herself. They never spend too much but they spend the morning together and then end with lunch. My mom is all smiles because she knows they are having fun together (more important than the actual gifts she will receive). My sister is now grown and married but the tradition remains and as I type this she is on her way to my parent's house to pick up dad 
