My Husband, the Non-Secret Keeper

Every Christmas I get my shopping done early. I like to wrap everything and put the gifts under the tree to enjoy them for a couple weeks before the aftermath of Christmas sets in. But, every year, there is never anything under the tree for me until the day of or day before we open gifts. Maybe this sounds totally selfish, but I like to anticipate what is under all that wrapping paper. I like to think about the gifts I bought and how Russ will react when he opens them. It's all part of Christmas and I hate to miss that. The last few years have resulted in fights because Russ leaves his shopping until the last minute. One year he went to Little Rock with his Dad on CHRISTMAS EVE to shop IN A SNOWSTORM.

This has always been a point of contention so I started early with him this year. "Honey, don't you think you should go get a few gifts today since it's nice weather?" "Honey, there still isn't anything under the tree for me." "Baby, I gave you a list, didn't I?"

So, last night I started whining about my lack of gifts under the tree. I hate it that he leaves everything until the last minute. I'm a "get it done early" type of person and he is so not. So after I made him feel about 3 inches tall (which is pretty difficult since he is 6'2), he left to "go work out." I didn't think anything of it. This is his normal evening routine. After a while I started wondering where he went because the work out room closes at 9:00 p.m. and by this time, it was 9:30 p.m. Oh well, I climbed in bed to do a little reading before going to sleep.

The gift situation really is a catch 22. Russ can not keep a secret for anything. My list consisted of the new George Strait cd, a jump drive to store my pictures on, a Willow Tree figurine and a few other odds and ends. A couple of weeks ago, he did actually get me the jump drive and George Strait cd. I know this because he came home from Wal-Mart (of course these two gifts were in Electronics so he remembered them) and said to me "You did say you wanted the new George Strait cd and a jump drive, right?" Surprise ruined. Last night, he came home and said "Now which Willow Tree figure did you want?" When I told him which one (Cherish), he said "oh, I got the wrong ones." Yes, ones plural. "You bought me two?" "Aww, man!" He is a horrible secret keeper.

Though, this little bit of information worked to my advantage because then he brought out one of them a gave it to me last night and is going to go get the one I really want instead. He also bought me a really cute book and gave that to me last night, too. By the way, he NEVER pays attention to the budget...but, how can I really complain about that? That part always works to my advantage.

Here is the Willow Tree figure he gave to me last night.

It's called "Our Gift" and I cried when he gave it to me.

This is the book he bought for me.

And just because I love this, I bought this little onsie for Chloe last weekend.

I sure do love that man even though he can't keep a secret to save his life.