Another Christmas is behind us, and we are still sorting through gift bags and pine needles as decorations start coming down and a new year gets underway. I love so much about the Christmas season, but I usually feel a sense of letdown when it’s over. December is full of so much energy and excitement, and then January arrives and there is so little happening. This year, though, I am looking forward to the slower, quieter pace January brings with it.
I enjoy buying gifts for people year-round. Generally, I like the challenge of finding something new for someone I know and love. But Christmas nearly does me in because it’s too many all at once and I don’t feel like there’s adequate time to think through each gift.
The Spouse has never shared my affinity for gift-giving. His love languages are time and touch, two areas where he is attentive and affirming. He is fluent in his own languages, but gifts stress him out. Since we each have our areas of strengths and weaknesses, I buy most all of the gifts for everyone in our family, teachers, friends, etc. And this frees him up to focus on other holiday things like our outdoor decorations and watering the tree.
Because he is thoughtful and tenderhearted, the Spouse still get stockings stuffers and a gift for me even though it causes him undue stress to shop. He prefers to start looking for things around December 20th, and sometimes this results in interesting purchasing decisions. This was definitely the case in 2016 when I opened this special gift on Christmas morning:
I’m not sure one can tell from the picture, but these are bright orange and white spandex checkerboard leggings. The Spouse says they don’t photograph well and holds that they look much better in person. I think that’s arguable.
Here’s what is important to know. I like football just fine. I like Tennessee football just fine. But in fourteen years of marriage we have gone to three, maybe four games. I don’t even watch all the games. I can’t tell you who plays for UT or what their record is at any point during the season. I don’t typically wear orange apparel beyond a few shirts I keep in the closet for football Saturdays in the fall. Or course, I’m a fan because this is my hometown team. But no one has ever called me a fanatic.
So the choice of these pants––and I think it might be a stretch to call them such––was and still is a great mystery.
The Spouse has always held that I walked by these leggings in a window display and somehow implied I wanted them. I have absolutely no recollection of doing this. There’s a chance I noticed them and said, “Those are cute” in the same way I might see a baby tiger at the zoo and say, “Oh, isn’t he cute?!” But I didn’t mean to communicate that I needed or desired them. To prove his point, though, he took a picture of the window display in question and adamantly insists I saw these, pointed to them, and excitedly communicated my affection for them.
You know what? December is always a stressful month. It’s possible I had a momentary lapse of judgment and did something of this sort. I just don’t remember that moment in time.
What I do remember is that we laughed until we cried about this whole miscommunication. At first, I thought I would take the leggings back at my earliest convenience. But after thinking about it for a few days, I decided to hang onto them. And I’m so glad I did because after several years of waiting in my drawer for their moment, the day has finally arrived.
The checkerboard leggings now fit my 7th Grader who will proudly wear them in support of the Volunteers playing in a long-awaited bowl game tonight. And they even look appropriate on her!
I love that this pair of ridiculous leggings continue to be symbolic––not of my undying love for the University of Tennessee––but of one of the cruxes of our marriage: laughter. As much as I love gift-giving, it’s not on my top ten list of things that matter about a person. But sense of humor? That’s huge. And I want to remember that truth going into this new year.
Happy New Year, friends! May your 2020 be full of peace, love, joy, and laughter. And whether you’re wearing old pants, new pants, or bright orange pants tonight… Go Vols!!
I used to start in July, looking for gifts, wrapped them on Thanskgiving after the crowd left, and enjoyed the month of December. But I just had two children, and not as much going on in the 50’s as there is now. I just did it the lazy way, but it worked for me. I don’t know if you wanted a ‘Chatty Kathy’ Doll…back when they were popular, …but all the stores were out of them. I think I even went to Oak Ridge, (after calling). They were in such demand! Sometimes the children would express a wish, way into December, and I had to start hustling to get it.
I was keeping a sled “hidden” in the trunk of the car, and when the man opened the trunk to put a live tree in–of course (not belted in), both children spotted the sled! What stories! One is much too long to relate, but it was the year Jody received his “go cart!” Thanks for sharing your experiences…You do a great job, and your children are blessed to have such parenting from you both! Happy 2020!