Good Guesser

Andy's always been able to guess his gifts. I don't know if he's just incredibly observant or if he just spent too much time hunting down Christmas presents as a kid.

Me, I like the surprise of things. I like surprising people with things. Like two years ago when I got a cutwork tablecloth for my grandmother. I even roped my sister in to steer her away from any sort of tablecloth browsing between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The moment when she opened that present and it was exactly what she wanted was incredibly gratifying. I love surprise parties, though I've never had one (big HINT here sweetie), I love that thrill and shock of opening something and finding out what it is.

Andy on the other hand likes guessing. Granted, I'm a bad liar and give away more than I should. But the thrill for him is noodling something out. I've yet to suprise him with anything I've bought him.

Take two years ago, I bought him a telescope. I paid for it on a separate card so he wouldn't look at the bill, wrapped it as soon as I got it, and slipped it under the tree. Now with just two us, it's hard not to notice a big box appearing under our Christmas tree. He asked if could shake it. I answered yes, but not vigorously. He tilted the box and declared It's a telescope! And that smaller box is it's stand! After I'd finished cursing him, I asked how he knew. He said he heard the styrafoam sliding againt the cardboard of the box. Yes, the styrafoam!

This year, he guessed in a slightly different way. He wanted a particular DVD player, so I ordered it. Christmas day, he opened it and got a big grin. Then brought down the indentical player from his office. It apparently had gone super sale and just in case he read me wrong he wanted to make sure he got it.

A few days after Christmas I found the perfect gift for him. A boxed DVD set of all the episodes of Black Adder. Being the impatient goose that I am I mentioned that I found him a great present, but it would have to wait for his birthday. He tried to tease the information out of me for about a day, then didn't mention it again. The very next day he started pulling episodes of Black Adder off the internet. Called me into his office and said look isn't this great? After watching various episodes over the past week I finally caved in last night and told him.

You've already ruined your birthday present.