Presenting a problem
"Get me anything" CJ said to me as I drove us through the town towards Tesco
"But I’d rather get you something you want, or at least like" I replied
"I think you’ve known me long enough to know what I like" she countered.
I had to be careful, CJ was good at slipping questions like this in when I wasn’t expecting it. My mind had alerted me to this one though. The firewall was working.
"I know, but I’d rather get you something that you want rather than get you something that’s pink and sparkly that you might like…what’s the point in getting you 5 or 10 things, when half of them you don’t want or wouldn’t have bought yourself?…..." I said
"...with that theory I might as well get you 10 vegetable boxes from the Co-op and stick them straight in the loft, then the girls at work can ask you what you got for Christmas and you can tell them that you got the space in the loft filled, like they all did" I finished.
"But it’s not about that is it? It’s about Christmas, sharing gifts, the spirit of Christmas"
"Isn’t Christmas just about getting other people to buy you the things you were going to buy yourself anyway, I’d rather get something that I wanted or was going to buy myself. PP - Practical Presents, it's the way forward"
"You are a cynical sod. Were you a child or were you just born middle aged?"
Silence.
Middle aged? She’d said that word again. Is it a word, or is it two? Whatever. She knew that saying it to me was akin to using a taser gun. She always threw it in when I was being overtly cantankerous. It was her way of letting me know that I was being overtly cantankerous, rather than just telling me outright. I think that she thinks that it hurts more.
She’s right.
So I sulked. For a minute.
"Wouldn’t it be better to just save the money we would have spent on each other and go away on holiday?" I carried on.
"Yes it would, but that’s not Christmas is it?"
"We could go to Lapland"
"But I’d rather get you something you want, or at least like" I replied
"I think you’ve known me long enough to know what I like" she countered.
I had to be careful, CJ was good at slipping questions like this in when I wasn’t expecting it. My mind had alerted me to this one though. The firewall was working.
"I know, but I’d rather get you something that you want rather than get you something that’s pink and sparkly that you might like…what’s the point in getting you 5 or 10 things, when half of them you don’t want or wouldn’t have bought yourself?…..." I said
"...with that theory I might as well get you 10 vegetable boxes from the Co-op and stick them straight in the loft, then the girls at work can ask you what you got for Christmas and you can tell them that you got the space in the loft filled, like they all did" I finished.
"But it’s not about that is it? It’s about Christmas, sharing gifts, the spirit of Christmas"
"Isn’t Christmas just about getting other people to buy you the things you were going to buy yourself anyway, I’d rather get something that I wanted or was going to buy myself. PP - Practical Presents, it's the way forward"
"You are a cynical sod. Were you a child or were you just born middle aged?"
Silence.
Middle aged? She’d said that word again. Is it a word, or is it two? Whatever. She knew that saying it to me was akin to using a taser gun. She always threw it in when I was being overtly cantankerous. It was her way of letting me know that I was being overtly cantankerous, rather than just telling me outright. I think that she thinks that it hurts more.
She’s right.
So I sulked. For a minute.
"Wouldn’t it be better to just save the money we would have spent on each other and go away on holiday?" I carried on.
"Yes it would, but that’s not Christmas is it?"
"We could go to Lapland"
