So every year, I pay attention. I listen all throughout the year. I keep notes in my phone. I pin to a gifts board. When Christmas comes, I give people things they have mentioned all year long. I LOVE doing this, because nine times out of ten, the people forgot they said they wanted it. Or forgot they said it to me. Either way, it's a good surprise.
However, this backfired with Bob's gifts. So very often, he says, "You can get me that." And I did. Get him that. Lots of thats. So now he's getting lots of small gifts and a couple of big ones. I've relegated a lot of them (the smaller boxed ones) to stocking stuffers. This means, though, that his stocking will NOT be held up by a measly little stocking holder. It's going to be damn heavy and damn full. And the things he isn't getting for Christmas, he's getting next month for his birthday.
I gave him my present list a few weeks ago. Just about every week, he's asked me to resend it to him because he "lost" it. So each time I've sent it, I added to it, mainly just to see if he was paying attention. He was. And so far, I've already gotten most of it (because I bought the damn stuff). I (using Bob's credit card) purchased my new Kate Spade (earlier this year during a sample sale) and bought (washed and put away) my new set of dishes last weekend (when World Market had a secret 50% off dining flash sale... woo hoo for being a "World Market Explorer"). There's a rather large vacuum cleaner shaped box beside our tree (chill, feminists... I asked for a new one). Overall, I'm reeeally excited about these gifts. No, they aren't surprises, but they're totes amazeballs!
I hope he's as excited about his gifts as I am about mine! I have a feeling he will be.
