Now that my wife and I have been married for more than 10 years, picking out Christmas presents has become somewhat of a challenge for each other. She’ll ask me what I want for Christmas, and I’ll do the same. But neither of us can really think of many things in particular.

It’s not that we’re fussy or don’t know what to get each other. We’re both got a lot of things that we really want to do, but they’re not really your classic “under $50 and under the tree” variety. Part of the problem (if you can really call it that) is that we’re both pretty realistic about what we want. We don’t get too carried away. Plus we’re both working professionals, and so we’re accustomed to buying the things we need when we want them.

But then there’s the fact that now that I’m older, my priorities have changed. The things that keep me up at night just aren’t the same things that bothered me when I was younger. So unlike when I was eight years old, when someone asks me what I want for Christmas, my answers tend to carry a little more personal meaning than they used to. In no particular order, here they are:

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