Holiday shopping used to be enjoyable, and not the chore it became after years of monogamy. I want to do something thoughtful for my partner, but both of us have slipped into that phase of the relationship where it becomes increasingly difficult to purchase gifts for each other. Either we purchase things we want as we see them, or we want things that are uber expensive and completely unnecessary to maintain any quality of life. I’ve surprised him a few times, but those instances are rare.
Most years I keep things simple. This year, I tried for even simpler and suggested we get gutter guards for the house. I thought win win. No more getting on the roof with the leaf blower, no combing the catalogs, or searching electronic stores for the “it” gift, and no disappointing him with a pragmatic gift he needs rather than the extravagant gift he probably wants. He wasn’t having any part of it. Gutter guards were not sexy enough for Christmas. He said we’d get them anyway, in spite of Christmas not for because of it. Shit. Shopping.
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The year we bought our first house, we agreed to scale back Christmas spending for each other. Occasionally pragmatism wins….but this time it won in the form of a foosball table. Not my idea of a sexy Christmas Gift, but I was so elated about not having to shop for something Better Half would like, I eagerly agreed.
Instead of writing a check or swiping plastic, we paid with found money. Found money being a margarita bucket full of loose change and over seventy bucks in one dollar bills. We did have the decency to roll the change…..at least most of it. The poor dude at the checkout, though, took longer to cash us out. Considering he spent his days swiping plastic and verifying checks, he was very patient with our rolled quarters and one dollar bills.
We have already exchanged gifts this year. We have the same problem you do – what to give, is it too expensive, etc – so this year I got a concert I wanted to see (Bela Fleck & the Flecktones) and Laura got Rosetta Stone language discs for our trip to Greece next year.
Now we just have to shop for everyone else. damn.
We usually talk about it and then decide not to get each other anything. Too lazy.
The only part that puzzled me about this post was the first sentence. It did?
Bob, how was the concert (if it’s happened yet)? I enjoy Bela. I’ll try to remember the concert angle next year..
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meno, the kids in the extended family were younger then and excitable. Now they’re miniature versions of irresponsible adults.
The concert was a few weeks ago and it was TERRIFIC! He came through here last year touring with Chick Corea and that was a great concert too. He is an amazing musician. He’s touring with a group from Tuva (somewhere in Siberia) called Alash who are known for throat singing. Really amazing.