Help @Jingoist from Line Change Choose a Shoe for Christmas and YOU Could Win a Pair Too!

I have a dilemma and I am certainly not above asking for anyone's help. What's more, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is. See the challenge below and use the comments section to provide me advice/opinions. You can also retweet the title and that will score you an entry too! Just comment below and reTweet the following:

Help @Jingoist from Line Change Choose a Shoe for Christmas and YOU Could Win a Pair Too! www.linechange.blogspot.com.

In the spirit of Christmas a close family member of mine gave me a modest budget to pick my own gift to receive from him/her on Christmas (no need to worry about the details of why, just go with me here). I'm sure this has happened to everyone at some point, myself included. But I feel a little bit out of practice as it has been a while for me receiving such an overture. Sure, I've gotten gift cards to go spend aimlessly or even bought items for myself during the year, but the actual onus of "go buy yourself something and I'll wrap it" is almost Chinese finger cuff-like torture!

Now many of you might agree there's a lot of pressure, choices and room for error when picking a gift for yourself that someone else is gifting to you. Seriously, besides the keep-you-up-all-night excitement of thinking of all the possibilities, along comes anxiety and sheer panic of a gift you have to open on Christmas from someone else, knowing full well you chose it and need to still feel that "wow factor" in front of them. (Personally, I get more excited knowing it's something I want just waiting for me, but still, it's complicated, agreed?)

You don't want it to seem too impersonal- like that person would never give Gift X to you; Or whether it's an impulse buy that would just be useless soon enough. No, it sounds weird and to me almost counter intuitive given it is so very subjective, but I try to put thought into my own gift. Crazy I know. But take it from me, I love giving gifts. I love picking gifts and spending inordinate amounts of time thinking of just the right thing for someone else. Something unexpected. Something that marks a trivial piece of that person that I find endearing or has an impact on me. Something I know would be good regardless of what others thought except the receiver.  But to do that for me? Not only for me, but for someone else for me? That's like solving a Rubik's Cube.

So, with all these self-imposed strings attached, I took to finding what I wanted for my gift. In the end I chose to look for a new pair of boots. I recently moved, and in said move my box containing my pairs of boots was lost. Alas, I have been dealing without heavy duty kicks since September, continually delaying a new purchase for a multitude of reasons- decent weather, schedule, etc.- but not the least of which is I am not one to complain about wearing just my dress and casual shoes/sneakers. Note, I only lost boots, not all my footwear- I'm fortunate I have the means to vary my closet just enough and this is not lost on me during this merry and selfless time of year.

Here's the thing. This Fall/Winter I have been oohing and aahing a bazillion different varieties of footwear. For some reason I never seem to be able to pull the trigger outside of the Fall and Winter months on new shoes. Maybe it's because footwear in chillier weather, like clothing, becomes so much more varied and dynamic in the months you can layer and mix up looks. But I digress. This was also a convenient set of circumstances (read: great excuse) as I needed a pair given my loss in the move (how often can you say that?) and the weather has turned foul enough to warrant it (hello 15 inches of snow).

So, with my modest gift I decided to make it fun. You see, the gift had to come from Macy's. This is partly what made my last posts, here- about the savings you could get at Macy's via Bing and here- about GQ Shops breaking down Macy's items intriguing to me and to take a crack at this exercise on myself. On top of the "Macy's Rule" I also found virtually nothing at the local Macy's. So, I ventured online and took a big gamble. I ordered things I hadn't even tried on in the hope that at least 1 would fit and be ready for unwrapping on Christmas (there's no way I could get anything exchanged and sent again in time).

I decided, too, that if needed I could "augment" the value of the boots should the price be just slightly above the gift value I was given. A minor amendment really- I did not want to take away from the fine gesture I was granted. Hence, I chose only to make up a small difference should the balance exceed the gift. In my search, this was the case in 2 of the 5 pairs to which I narrowed my choices. The other 3 were below my gift allowance. You can see by my choices, I had a certain aesthetic in mind, but you can also see, there was a lot of variety in the options I chose. Miraculously, they all fit! The problem now is, I can't decide which to keep. I like them all.

So please help! Here's THE LINE CHANGE SHOE CHALLENGE:

Take a look at the pics below and help sway my choice for my "Christmas Shoes". You could win the pair I choose! I won't say if I am leaning toward 1 versus another, but rest assured I have my favorites. But that is not to say I have decided, so comment away about your favorite and reTweet the following:

Help @Jingoist from Line Change Choose a Shoe for Christmas and YOU Could Win a Pair Too!  www.linechange.blogspot.com

Before Christmas, I will pick one of the pairs of shoes for my family member to gift to me, based on my thoughts in combination with your input. In the end, I will randomly select a winner from the commenters and reTweeters to take home a pair of the same shoe I choose in the size of their choosing. (Be sure to add your choice and shoe size to your comments/tweets.) Each person will get 1 and only 1 entry. The winner, chosen at random, will be from commenters and reTweeters that end up choosing the SAME shoe as me in their comments and tweets.  The contest will run through Christmas Eve at 11:59PM and I'll choose a winner on Christmas Day. Never hurts to have another gift under the tree right?!

Several reasons I will pick a winner from those who pick the same shoe as me:

• You get what you want just like me- Happy Holidays!
• I don't want everyone picking the most expensive of the shoes just because they're the most expensive- there's no telling which I will choose, so it's genuine input/feedback I get from you.
• Similarly, no one can say I just picked someone with the cheapest shoe choice to save myself some dough on the prize should I not choose the cheapest for myself.
  
• I'm a market researcher at heart and data and sampling randomness is good for me.
  

*Caveat* *Caveat* *Cavet* *Fine Print* *Fine Print* Fine Print*.  Don't blow the legalities out of proportion please- I'm trying to be nice at Christmas and have some fun with of our little corner of the online universe. I don't need Scrooges with all sorts of contest rules mumbo jumbo raining on every good intentioned soul's parade that participates. It's a small contest with a whole lot of holiday cheer as its intention. Deal.

I will post a more detailed look at each shoe later and why I chose what I chose and throw some insights from comments in as well for good measure to show you I'm paying attention to everyone.

Here are the contenders:

Timberland Brown Baluster Chukka:

Frye Dark Brown Rodney Chukka:

Timberland Original Earthkeepers Brown Chukka:

 

Frye Brown Oliver Chukka:

Johnston&Murphy Camel Suede Runnell Chukka:

*Wild Card (Note: these haven't arrived, hence, I have yet to try on.)

So, get spreading some cheer with your comments and tweets and let me know which you like and why. Good luck, thanks and have a Happy Holiday!