Do you ever just need a girl friend's point of view, but never have a moment to get them all together? This is the joy of blogging, I hope! Here's my dilemma ... HELP!
Brian and I are at a loss of how to do the holiday gift exchange between the two of us. I mean we've only been married 13 years, shouldn't we have this part figured out? It's only come up 13 times. Do you have this problem? All the things he would want are technical and I need him with me to pick the right ones. He's gone so far as to create an Amazon wish list (they have EVERYTHING) so I can just pick things, but still there is no surprise. I am just as picky about my wish list. The thing is, there's no surprise happy look on Christmas morning. I want that for Brian. So .......
What do you do in your family?
What's your spouse gift exchange tradition?
9 comments:
Here's what we do. Not that it's any better!
Birthday & anniversaries are non-surprise occassions. We get what we want / go out to dinner / whatever.
Christmas, though, we try the surprise. We put aside cash all year to split (so neither of us can see debit card receipts!) and we both make a list of WANTS only. None of this "oh I need socks" garbage. We both try to make it so that there is more on the list than we could ever get with the budget. That way, we are surprised by what the other has picked from the list. Isaac is rarely surprised and I've come to terms with that.
Unless you are Isaac this year. Then your darling wife had a hell of a time finding ANYTHING on the list you provided so she just threw a hail mary and guessed at stuff. Here's hoping it worked!
Neither of us are really into gifts. We usually celebrate bdays & our anniversary with dinner out or a weekend away.
At Christmas we don't usually worry about surprises and just tell each other what we want (or even buy it). Last year we tried to buy surprise gifts and we ended up giving each other the exact same thing--gift certificates to our favorite restaurant.
One year John really did surprise me. He knew I wanted a piano, but we couldn't afford it. He bought an electronic keyboard instead and left it on the porch on Christmas eve with a tag "From Santa". My kids were absolutely amazed. I loved the surprise and the kids reaction even more than I loved the gift.
We don't worry about knowing what the other gets. Greg has never surprised me once in eight years, try though he may. (This year I don't know what he is getting me though...)
So I guess we aren't helpful.
good timing on a post since robie just threw me a bunch of stuff he bought for himself today so I could wrap it up for him - big surprise! I do always try to surprise him with something small which I keep the receipt for so I can return it after Christmas. Robie, on the other hand, can usually surprise me with something nice (usually clothes) I wish we were more romantic/surprisey - alas, that ship has sailed.. I like the amazon list thing - i mea, he probably has a lot of things on there, so he would be surprised by which ones you selected, right? If you really want surprise you have to follow him around all year and write it down every time you are at the store and he says anything along the "ooh, that's nice" (maybe an itouch? or a kindle? or a WII with rockband?) something just totally fun and crazy that he would never buy himself!
Umm, We buy our own gifts. No surprise but I always get what I want.
We usually buy something for the house or family, a new TV, video camera, camera etc...Then I choose a few things for the kids to give him which he knows are really from me. I told you at the park what his favorite Christmas gift is (not appropriate to post on blog), that is a hit every time!
Kim, I feel your pain. I'm going through the same thing with Max this year. I'm asking everyone what they are getting there spouse. It is tricky because he would like something to "do" on Christmas with his gift... to keep him occupied. I have a few ideas for the home, but I'm not sure he would be thrilled with that, since it is for the home... I've had some fantastic gifts in the past. I got him a canoe, Video games, Fish tank, whatever, but I'm stuck. I'm sure Brian and Max are wanting about the same type of things though. I can't say too much on here because I know he reads your blog. Maybe I'll call you :)
Good Luck!
I like hearing others' ideas on this, too! I have no idea what to get for my hubby. Is there something fun he'd like to try or do? Speedway racing, rock climbing, skiing vouchers? I don't know!
Chad seems to always surprise me, but I think that is because I usually want quite a bit of things that I am too cheap to buy for myself. Where as if Chad wants something he usually just goes out and buys it. Luckily this year he refrained from something and so I think I might actually surprise him.
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