The challenge of trying to surprise your spouse

[Psymonds]

Glad DH and I aren't the only ones. For Christmas, he bought me two jigsaw puzzles that I pointed out to him. And after Christmas he'll buy himself something and say "Boy, thanks for what you bought me!" After 43 years, works for us!

I bought myself world cup tickets (Because I had put myself in the lottery)

 

[QueenIsabella]

I do the bills, so it's easy for me to keep things quiet. OTOH, we (still!) share an email account. I go through a few times a day and move/delete incriminating emails (we got your order! Your order is being shipped! Your order is in transit! etc.). DH has been getting multiple emails from a place called Starmap Jewelry. I've been trying to be mindfully ignorant. Here's hoping he's doing the same thing with those weird "home gun range" type e-mails.

I've also been helping the (grown) children with their gifts for him--DD22 has an apartment nearby, she can get deliveries there. Her big issue is, DD22 got DH tickets for them to see the Bruins play the Hurricanes in March. I had to stop DH from buying HER tickets to the same game!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And when you have been married 43 years, Christmas gifts tend to be practical things like ink cartridges for the printer. calendars, new frying pans.

It wasn't a Christmas gift but we just got a cordless stick vac after many years of me wanting it. I love that thing. In 2020 my b-day gift was a micro-cut shredder that I had been saying I had wanted for like 11 years also love it.

Practical gifts knows no age nor number of marriage years

 

[barkley]

It wasn't a Christmas gift but we just got a cordless stick vac after many years of me wanting it. I love that thing. In 2020 my b-day gift was a micro-cut shredder that I had been saying I had wanted for like 11 years also love it.

Practical gifts knows no age nor number of marriage years

true true-dh was surprised some years back when I asked for a Stihl blower and a few years later one of their portable vacuums (works PHENOMINALLY to get crumbs and burnt odds and ends off the bottom/out of crevices of the oven). this year my wish list had some nice bamboo utensil/spice drawer organizers. I still remember the look on my mother's face when I was in my early 20's and she asked what I wanted for Christmas and I told her 'a wet/dry vacuum for the garage'. she could'nt believe it but I explained how many quarters it cost for me to clean out my car every time I wanted to vacuum it. got my vacuum that year and saved quarters for decades

 

[bobbiwoz]

We gave ourselves season passes to Dollywood! This is the second year issues have kept us from Dollywood during Christmas time, and we thought we would skip the AP’s but Christmas in the Smokies has been part of our lives since 1998 … we decided to try once more next year.