Father’s Day

I love holidays….because of the time spent together with family and friends.  I dread them when we feel obligated to get a gift for someone just because it is a holiday.

When the gift is meaningful, or something that I have been planning for a long time, it is great. I remember one year for Father’s Day I gave Dave tickets to a Bruce Springsteen concert – they may have been his favorite gift ever. Once for Christmas, I gave Dave and DJ tickets to go to a soccer match in England to watch their favorite team, Manchester United, play a match.

Those gifts are fun. Those are the ones that I cannot wait to give him. Two Christmases ago, when I gave the boys and Dave the $$ from the 52 Week Challenge to pay for our Spring Break vacation, I was giddy with excitement, barely able to hold back the secret!

This year, I have been wracking my brain trying to come up with something fun or needed to give him. It is no secret that money is tight in our household, but when we need something, we usually get it. So when it comes time to buy a gift for a specific holiday, it isn’t so easy to come up with something clever and fun.  We will often buy each other something special now and then….just because when we saw it, we knew it was something the other would like.

I was hinting around to see if he’d like a fitbit and finally came right out and asked him. His answer was a solid, “No,” so I am glad I didn’t go out and just get it for him.

The “obligatory holiday gift”. It actually causes me stress. Dave mentioned to me that he told me something he wanted a few months ago. So then, I spent a day or two trying to remember what that could have possible been. Finally yesterday, I told him to just tell me. I had to laugh when he I found out. He wants a pressure cooker.

I have no recollection of that conversation he said we had back in April (??) but he does like to cook! I quickly went on line and started looking them up to find one with great reviews and found a few. Knowing it would never arrive by the next day, even with Amazon Prime, I decided I’d go out this morning and find one so that he’d have something to open on Father’s Day.

I was at Bed and Bath when the doors opened this morning – without my coupon -(I shudder at the thought) and couldn’t find one. So instead, I walked aimlessly around the store hoping that something else would catch my eye. That’s when I began thinking about the ‘obligatory gift’ again. Just spending money to but “something” wasn’t going to cut it.

He is getting his pressure cooker.  It just won’t arrive until Tuesday.  Happy Father’s Day Babe,  I love you! Now make me something yummy for dinner!

Tagged: 52 week challenge, amazon prime, Bruce Springsteen, Father's day, fitbit, obligatory gift