My Worst Gift Ever

Thank you so much for all the advice and the commiseration on my last post. It does make me feel so much better to know that I am not the only one to struggle with what seems like typical three year old behavior. (It is typical, right?) I am still looking for more words of wisdom if you've got any.

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I think I have finally managed to get most everything on my shopping list. I have a few things still on their way from Am.azon, which should be here tomorrow. I do have to pick up something for my mom tomorrow as well. Then I will be officially done.

Whew.

I am not usually someone to put this kind of thing off until the last minute like this. I think being sick at the start of this month messed with my head. Before I knew it, half the month was gone! I am still not sure where that time went. I guess I flushed it, along with the stupid stone. Sigh.

Anyway, all this last minute craziness and worry over whether people will actually like the gifts I did get for them has got me thinking about things I have received over the years. I was talking to Is.aac about it early this evening and we got to laughing about what we've dubbed my worst gift ever.

It came from Is.aac even.

My husband is hit and miss with gift giving. Some years, he'll go over the top and buy all kinds of wonderful things for me. (Like the best gift he ever gave me--my laptop. OMG I love this thing.) There are times, though, that he just doesn't do anything for a particular holiday...no card, no acknowledgement...nothing at all. I have taken to specifically telling him that I expect a gift this year. It takes a little something from the surprise, but oh well.

We had been dating for 8 years or so for this particular Christmas. I was getting older-I was 25--and was ready to finally get married. We talked about marriage a few times, but I knew that he was hesitant about it.

Imagine my delighted surprise when he showed up to my house Christmas morning with a beautifully wrapped jewelry box. I was so excited! My mind raced to all kinds of daydreams of summer ceremonies and twinkling diamonds. My mom even gave me a few knowing winks when she saw the box.

I thought for sure he was finally going to propose after the three hundred years we had been dating!

I had saved his gift for last, savoring the expectation. I carefully pulled back the bow, peeled the tape on the silver paper, and exposed the unmarked jewelry box.

My hands were shaking as I opened the tiny box only to find...

wait for it...

a pager.

Uh huh. A turquoise see-through pager a la the early 1990's.

I looked over at him. He sat there smiling at me. He was clearly proud of his gift buying efforts.

Meanwhile, I was fighting back tears of disappointment. I tried to play off that I was happy for the gift even though I was devastated I didn't actually get a ring.*

It was horrible! Every time that thing buzzed at me, I cringed. Ugh. I hated it so. I was so glad when cell phones finally started to take off and I could "trade" my pager in for a phone.

In all honesty, I can laugh about it now. It took a while for me to get to that point, but I can. Sigh. It just goes to show you how truly hopeless men (or my man) can be sometimes.

So what about you? What was your worst gift ever? Was it from your husband/significant other or someone else? I'd love to know. Is.aac does, too! :-)


*Sadly, the ring didn't come for another 5 years, but at least he had learned enough to not wrap anything in a jewelry box if it wasn't going to be actual JEWELRY! Jeez.