I am married to the BEST gift giver of all time. He would not be happy with how I started this article because he often tells me
“when you start a story in such an expressive and exciting way, you get people’s hopes up. You should start it like ‘he’s a decent gift giver’, only to then shock them later.”
He’s pretty dang funny too.
Seriously, he is such an incredible gift giver and gifts aren’t even my love language!
A part of me has always wanted to be a writer. I used to write my family letters all the time growing up and it just seemed to make us grow closer. When I started exploring writing in college and shared that with Eric he was more than supportive. He has always been supportive of anything that makes me really happy, so he showed me his enthusiasm and surprised me with a book, that he had written and illustrated.
The entire book rhymed, it was full of hilarious inside jokes (many references to Napoleon Dynamite), kid like drawings, and he even tried to be super funny and do this at the end of the book.
Yeah that, as you can imagine, did not land well folks.
He has always been creative and incredibly romantic with gifts, and the presentation of them, and the most recent one was when Knox was born. I had purchased a necklace at a friends jewelry party, and had Nova’s name engraved on it before I became pregnant with Knox. I loved it and wore it almost every day.
I wore it to the hospital when I was in labor with Knox and after he was delivered I was snuggling him and my nurse noticed my necklace. She said “is that your daughter’s name?” I nodded and she commented
I love it! Now you’re going to have to get one with both of their names.
I said I couldn’t wait to have both of their names on one because I wear it almost every day. As we were talking Eric was fumbling around in his bag next to my bed and as I finished my sentence he pulled out a jewelry box and opened it…it was a necklace with “Nova & Knox” written on it.
Cue ugly cry.
My nurse gasped and put her hand over her mouth and said
No way, are you kidding me? That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.
Cue nurse ugly cry.
The room was full of blubbering. I accused the nurse and Eric of collaborating and setting up the perfect conversation to segway into the gift. Nope, just plain old luck, so not only does he give the best gifts, his delivery is off the charts. I was still in shock from this new precious baby, then that, talk about emotion overload!
Like I said, he’s the freaking bomb at giving gifts.
Funny thing is, HIS love language is gifts…and I am not the best at it, but I try pretty dang hard! I’ve surprised him with tinted windows, rims, silly surprises like a night out or plane tickets to go see his parents in California…but man I’ve been trying for years to surprise him with an awesome unique gift.
Cue…
Valentine’s Day 2018
Man, I was excited. I had been thinking for a long time about what would fit into his weekly routine and be something he would use or see often. Well, I landed on Tie Tuesday. When Eric became a full time teacher he dubbed Tuesday as Tie Tuesday and would wear slacks, a button up, and you guessed it a tie every Tuesday of the year. Well…what better gift than a tie clip he could wear every week?
A tie clip.
I know what you’re thinking
Oh yeah Angel, way to be creative and unique.
Back off, I haven’t told you the best part yet.
I engraved it with the coordinates of where we first met!
An engraved tie clip!
This was it. This was the year that I was going to watch him open a gift, truly be surprised and love it. #nailedit
I decided to involve the kids in presenting it to him, because, hello I worked hard on this. I wanted them to be as excited to see his reaction as I was and see how fun it is to give something so special to someone you love.
We sat down to supper that night and he presented me with my gift. Now, it was my turn to give him his. I asked Nova:
Can you go get Daddy’s gift, honey?
She scampered off and was so excited to be involved. She came running with it and gave it to him. He opened it as he continued his conversation with her about how excited she was and that mommy got him something so special.
He smiled his sly grin and said
Ahh thanks babe, I can wear this every Tie Tuesday! Isn’t mommy so sweet, Nova?
I interrupted and pointed out the coordinates on it. He asked what the coordinates meant. Ha! Now was my time to shine.
They are the coordinates of where we first met at the house on Dyke Avenue, in Grand Forks
Mic drop.
He was silent. He was silent for much too long. I started getting nervous. I start getting irritated, like, are you kidding me, you don’t remember where we first met? You, the best gift giver and most romantic man I’ve ever met? What in the world!?
He finally broke the silence…“the house on Dyke Avenue?”
I nod…like, duh, you idiot.
He smirked and said “oh…ok…thanks babe”
I’m infuriated.
I’m silent.
His eyes finally met mine and it hit me…oh…my…gosh.
That isn’t where we first met!
That was just…the house we partied at all the time.
He noticed that it hit me as I admitted, holy crap I suck at gift giving.
He tried all night to make me feel better and said what a great story it would be to tell and that he was still going to wear it all the time. He emphasized how sweet I was and that it was such a thoughtful gift. Blah, blah blah…
Have I mentioned I fail all the time? Hey…no one can say I didn’t try. I gave us a good laugh.
