Why I Sometimes Hate This Time of Year

This morning I was coming into work and on the radio there were two DJs discussing Christmas gifts.  The one DJ was complaining that her husband was buying her a $1000 dining room table stating that 'it was a gift for the household, not for her,' especially since he was getting $500 University of Tennessee boots.  So many things bothered me about this whole conversation that I needed to rant.

If you are going to discuss buying each other $1500 worth of gifts in public at least have the decency to at least acknowledge that you are really dealing with some serious first world problems.  The ladies on the radio really did come off as being superficial.

Heather and I stopped score keeping on gifts along time ago.  I believe it to be a sign of immaturity and a lack of respect for your partner.  We have also for the most part given up giving each other gifts on major occasions.  It is much nicer to receive a gift on January 14th just because you were thinking about the person than having to be artificially pressured into buying stuff on February 14th because Hallmark says it is the way to show your love.  I prefer the spontaneous and heart felt gift rather than the custom/convention one anytime.

The moral of the story for me.  If someone gives me a gift, any gift, I am thankful to have someone in my life that is willing to use their time and resources to purchase/make me something. There are many people in the world that do not have that.