mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Aftermath Christmas Eve was pleasant. We had some friends over for seafood paella. We consumed large quantities of sangria. We told stories and played records and laughed and at midnight, when it was just the two of us, we opened our gifts. It's been so hard keeping this from you (and I did let it slip to a few of you) but I really went overboard this year. I saw some amazing airfares to Europe and well, I couldn't resist. So Pete's gift consisted of two tickets to Italy where we will celebrate our third wedding anniversary. I also enrolled the two of us in some basic Italian lessons. And of course there was a guidebook under the tree as well but as I watched him open his gifts something struck me. I had to stop and think, I am a totally selfish person or what? You see, I know Pete would be genuinely interested in traveling anywhere but if you'll notice, all of his gifts include me. In fact, all of the gifts I purchased for Pete, I purchased for myself as well. This made me think back some other times I've given gifts and well, they have really been presents for myself rather than the other person. Once, when I was six years old, my father gave me $20.00 and told me to go buy a present for my mom. I was very excited and headed right over to the Gund store where I had been eyeing the cutest teddy bear for months. My mother does not collect teddy bears (she does collect spoons though in case you were wondering) but at the time I was in the grips of a serious stuffed animal addiction. I had been asking my parents to buy this bear for my collection every day and every day they told me to save my allowance and buy him myself but that would take forever and I couldn't wait. I had to have that bear right away or I'd simply die. So when my dad gave me the money, I devised a plan. I'd buy the bear, wrap it up, and give it to my mom as her birthday gift. I figured when mom opened her gift and saw what I had gotten her, she just hand it over to me. After all, she'd have no use for a stuffed bear. Unfortunately, my mom is not a stupid person so when she opened her gift she exclaimed "Wow, just what I've always wanted! I'm going to take him to work with me and keep him on my desk so I have some company." I tried to protest. I think I told mom that the bear would be lonely or something but it didn't matter. She took that gift to work the next morning and I never saw him again. I think she was trying to teach me a lesson but I'm rather thick headed. A few years later, I tried a similar trick with my dad. You see, it was the mid eighties and I really wanted a skinny tie (shut up - I know I am a dork but I swear girls were wearing skinny ties too - just shut up). I had a limited budget for my personal clothing and my mother oversaw all of my purchases. She was already pissed off about the $40.00 pin stripe Golddigger jeans I just bought (stop laughing already - it was the 1980's okay) and I knew there was just no way I was going to get her to purchase a skinny tie for me but luckily, my dad's birthday was coming up. I told my mother that I needed money to buy him a gift and when she inquired what it was that I planned to get him, I told her simply a tie. Ties are a very popular gift as my dad is a three piece suit, corporate executive type. Many a time I have gotten him a tie but his standards were paisley prints or striped numbers that were fairly innocuous so when he opened this year's gift and saw a skinny tie with the keys of a piano embroidered down the length of it, he just froze. My dad isn't always as quick to pick up on my devious nature either. He smiled at me, and said thank you, and pretended to like the tie but I knew soon enough, it would be relegated to his closet and I could sneak it off into my possession. A week later I sported my new jeans, a button up shirt (top button left open for increased coolness), and a loosely knotted piano tie to sixth grade dress down day. Oh yeah, I was the coolest kid at Immaculate Heart. So it seems I am still a self-serving bitch of sorts. The years haven't really changed me, it's just that my budget has increased. Merry Christmas to Pete and Italy, here I come! If anyone has any good tips for our trip please email me or leave me a message in the guestbook. The trip is in mid-March and we land in Milan but plan to travel away from there. Where has yet to be determined. I appreciate any advice. Oh, in case you were wondering, my gifts were much less crappy this year. I received several books and a digital camera, a silver and amber necklace with matching earrings, and a variety of Allen Sherman recordings on vinyl. I mention these albums because I don't think I could come off any less cool after the skinny tie admission. Yes, I am the queen of the nerds, thank you very much. As a trade off for good gifts, I came down with a terrible head cold/virus combo on Christmas day and was unable to move from the couch for the entire day. Much Trading Spaces was watched. 2:55 p.m. - 2002-12-26 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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