sweetabsence
Giving
12-25-06 || 9:22pm || Mood:
Its Christmas night and I am exhausted! I think I went shopping every weekend for the past month, as well as hitting Mall of America at least once every weekend - and I am sick of shopping! (I am hoping my love will come back when I get around to realizing how many gift certificates I have recieved this year.)
Our living room is stacked with the gifts my family torn open Christmas Eve. I think we are all so tired from the last few days that its like we have to walk away for a moment to actually enjoy all that we got. I got a photo printer and scanner, a matallic piggy bank from Urban Outfitters, some Urban Decay make up, Clinique Happy purfume, two pairs of earings, and... *drum roll* a Pink Kitchen Aid from Marc!
The kitchen aide was the only thing I asked for and the only thing that I wanted. (Not to say that Im not thankful for evertyhing else, but getting a kitchen aide was more of dream than something I would ever actually get.) The funny thing is, when I opened it I was so flustered I thanked everyone but Marc for it (although I knew it was from him)! I am such a dork.
I was able to be really generous this year with giving. I gave my mom a $180 gift certificate to go make her own wine at a brewery. I got my brother 2 books about graffti artists that he wanted badly. I bidded on Vikings Tickets on eBay for 3 days trying to win some for my Dad. I finally did last Saturday and they were $230 (my mom and brother went in on them). I also got him some pj bottoms and a vikings sweatshirt and teeshirt. I know the Vikings suck but hopefully it will be fun. They are pretty good seats too.
Maybe it was because I worked so hard on getting my Dad those tickets that I expected a different reaction when it opened his present. He seemed happy about it but I was thinking about it later and wondered if he completely understood that he was going to the game. I asked my Mom about it and she thought that my Dad was excited about them.
Then this morning my Dad kept saying things like, "Next Sunday the booze is on me." or "Its going to be cool to see how big those football players are in person." So I wondered if my Mom gave him a talking about acting more excited about having tickets... which was something that I didnt want her to do. I guess it turns out that she kind of said something to him about "You'll have a lot of fun at that Vikings game with Jenny." Then some how it got brought up how much my Dad thought those tickets were. My Dad thought they only cost $40, a piece. And when he found out how much I spent on him, he got a lot more excited about going to the game.
My Dad has had this atitude about money this whole Christmas season. "We got you guys (my brother and me) multiple gifts, you should get multiple gifts for us (him and my mom). It really pisses me off when my Dad always makes it come down to money. He is the kind of person who wants to sue every chance he can get and encourages me to "marry for money." The gifts he recieves arent important as much as how much you spent on him. It really puts a tamper on my atitude about going. Christmas isnt about how much you get, its the effort put into giving and that is whats important.
He was gone until 2pm Christmas Eve because he left to go to the casino the night before. He didnt seem like he was into it this year, although he never seems to be that interested in Christmas time.
So other than that, I had a good Christmas. I hope that Santa stopped by your house last night too! Merry Christmas!