Our second Christmas together five years ago, shortly before we got engaged, I asked Aaron what he wanted for Christmas. He told me he wanted a hydraulic jack.
True story.
Being the good girlfriend I was, I marched into Northern Tool in my 3-inch wedge boots and asked an employee there where I could find a "hydraulic jack." After a number of phone calls to Aaron from the store to figure out what kind of horsepower and model he wanted, I bought it, wrapped it, and put it under the tree, where it sat with him knowing exactly what he was opening Christmas morning.
He wanted it to build some sort of block maker for a future winery building project. And let's face it, now that building a tasting room is actually upon us, using this block maker is, um, not in the plan. Aaron's got enough projects on his plate to think about building a building block by block.
After doing this song and dance every Christmas where his requested gift is such an absurd and specific request, which essentially never ends up being a surprise, I suggested we try something new,
"Why don't we just buy our own gift this year and not tell each other what we bought. We'll still wrap the gifts, put them under the tree and open them Christmas morning. The surprise will be to the other person what we bought for ourselves!"
This worked great last year. I had been eyeing up some awesome rubber boots. Instead of trying to tell Aaron which specific pair I liked and what size fit best, I just bought them myself, wrapped them and put them under the tree and didn't tell him what I bought. And he was SO excited to see me open them Christmas morning. You should have seen the look on his face!
Okay, really, he couldn't have cared less. But he was happy to see me so happy to have my new rubber boots! Fashionable, yet practical for this uptown turned vineyard girl.
They are the boots I wore when we had our pictures taken for this article:
This year we are sticking with stocking stuffers for each other. Since the focus is more on the kids and because Aaron bought himself an early Christmas gift this December, which could not be wrapped and put under the tree...
Somehow he convinced me that because of all the projects we have underway (building, landscaping, etc.), this Bobcat would pay for itself 10 times over. So, far, it's just been a really expensive snow plow, but I still have hope!
And in all honesty, everything on my Christmas list is intangible in nature anyway: to be able to enjoy an uninterrupted glass of wine, a day of Aaron's time where I get to dictate the projects he does, like fix the laundry tub and help me organize the office. Funny how priorities have changed. This year, all I'd like is the the gift of time. And sleep.
And wine. Don't forget the big ol' glass of red!