10 Things I’ll Never Live Down – Number One

Number One-

Our first Christmas as a married couple.  My husband lovingly wrapped my Christmas gift and put it under the tree.

I hate spoiling a surprise– like, really hate it, but my curiosity got the best of me and I picked up the gift to give it a shake.

It was flat and thin, and the only thing I could come up with was that my husband had gotten me a calendar for our first Christmas.  And I wasn’t sure what to think about that.  I mean, any time someone gives me a gift, I am very grateful, but I was hoping for something a little more personal than a calendar from my husband for our first Christmas.  And I really hoped it wasn’t a calendar.  I was beginning to go into a panicked “over-analyze” state of what it meant that he had gotten me a calendar.

Christmas Eve.  I was making lunch or something in the kitchen, and we were talking about the gifts we had gotten for each other- keeping everything a surprise until Christmas morning.

My husband says, “I tried to be really thoughtful.”

Hmmmm….I’m thinking.  Thin, flat…suddenly my brain flashes to commercials I had been hearing on the radio for weeks.

“I really hope you didn’t get me something goofy, like buy me a star.”

I was jesting.  All in good fun.  Because there was No.Possible.Way. that my hubby had registered a star in my name.  No.Way.

But I watched as his face fell.  And my heart broke.  Not only had I ruined the surprise, I felt like a two-cent piece with a hole in it (as my mom says).

So my hubs goes over to the tree, gets the package and hands it to me.  “Go ahead and open it,” he says, sadly.  So I did.  And it was a star registry.

Never in my life have I wanted so badly to laugh and cry in the same moment.  I felt like a jerk, but at the same time, I simply could not believe that he would spend money on something like that, although it very much did fit my idea of personal.  But for a hopeless romantic, I didn’t really buy into the whole star registry thing. We didn’t even own a telescope!

I thanked him and did my very, very best to make up for my gaff.  And I’m still trying.  And I still feel like a jerk when I think about it.  And we still don’t own a telescope.

Every single holiday or gift giving occasion since, my husband has handed me the gift with the following comment, “No, I did not get you something ‘goofy’ like a star.”  I can’t believe he still gets me gifts at all.  If I were him, I wouldn’t buy me anything.  From that first Christmas on, he’s given me some seriously amazing, thoughtful, helpful things.

I still have my star registry paperwork.  I still think he was being very thoughtful.  I still can’t believe he actually did that.  I’m so lucky to have him.

But I’ll never live it down.

Share with me: Have you ever ruined someone’s gift giving surprise?