Monday, October 15, 2007

Presents

I have the hardest time keeping presents a secret. I want to know what other people got me, but mostly I want to tell other people what I got them. I get so excited thinking I've found the perfect gift and I just can't wait. My whole family has this problem, we've actually developed a sort of tradition associated with it. We give each other hints about the presents we've purchased, sometimes we give hard hints so the other person really can't guess (this is usually if the present isn't that good). In my Brother's case I remember getting some false hints just to throw me off the scent if I got too close. Sometimes the present is too good, we just can't stand the suspense and we end up just telling the other person what we bought them.

One year for Christmas Ben and I planned a surprise visit to my Mom. My Brother was in on the secret and we pulled if off famously. We still tell this story all the time (repeating good stories again and again is also a tradition) because it is the only time any of us can remember not ruining the surprise.

The point of this story is that on Saturday I was checking Ben's email for the Ward Bullitin. I saw an unopened email from Amazon comfirming a purchase. I thought "Wow, Ben's really on top of things this year. My Birthday is a month away and he's already bought me something". The suspense was almost unbareable, I might have clicked on the email, but since it was unread I thought Ben would know that I had sneaked (I might add that Ben isn't as into this tradition as the rest of my family). So I excercised great self restraint and closed the browser. Later I told Ben what happend, hoping to get some hints as to what he had bought me. He said "Oh, you have a Birthday coming up?" He had this look like he had no idea, so I thought maybe he was playing along. Well my fantacy didn't last long because then he said "Do you know what that was?", and instantly I knew, it was the Superman Cartoon he had downloaded to Tivo.

Well this is what happens when you play the game. I then had to write out a list of things I might want for my Birthday, to give Ben some ideas. Even though this didn't turn out to be the surprise of a lifetime, I'm looking forward to Holidays filled with present hints and ruined surprises.

1 comment:

Adrianna said...

I love this about you because I always get my presents early AND I can give mine to you early and you don't mind. Doug makes me wait and when I ask if he wants a hint he says no- he's no fun.