Asking for money instead of gifts.?

Gifts are at the gift-givers discretion, meaning that it's up to the gift-giver to decide what to give or whether or not to give anything at all. Asking for specific gifts (or money) is rude, and no clever way of phrasing it is going to make it any less rude. I hope someone gives you a book on etiquette, whether it's on your greed-list or not.