Sunday, December 7

Cheating

My husband's family must be terrified of buying each other something the other doesn't like. Either they're all terrible at pretending they love it or they don't know enough about each other to make educated guesses on gifts. I won't say which option I believe is to be true**, but the list-making was a new concept for me when I joined this family. Everyone makes lists of things they want and nothing is bought that's not on the list. I've even transferred the lists into my side of the family. I've got my mom buying me gifts off of both my and my husband's list.

On one hand, I love it - it's like having my own personal wedding registry every year. On the other hand, I'm doing exactly what I did with my wedding registry - cheating. I already know today (12/7) what I'm getting for my holiday gifts. I asked for a camera and I know I'm getting it, so I'm reading the manual online now. This way, when I open it on Christmas, I can work it right away :).

I am a bad person.


**sidenote - my father-in-law never makes a list. One year my sister-in-law bought him Arthur 2: On the Rocks (the Dudley Moore movie). Another year, my husband bought him a cake from the grocery store. This may help explain the need for lists in this family...

1 comment:

kaiwat said...

When I was a kid we did the lists, but they were so freaking long and kind of vague that we only got 1 or 2 things on it. After a while, the lists just turned into the following:

Money
Gift certificates for clothes
Cash
American Express gift cards

So, we stopped doing them. Now my family is focused on trying to get a present so thoughtful and touching that the recipient bursts into tears when they open it. It worked once for me, but now it has deteriorated into my crazy aunt just giving me old bowls from her basement that my dead grandmother once used to make egg nog in or something.