Today's post is from Ashlee of Finely Young. Ashlee and I work together at my day job; she's a graduate assistant. Ashlee recently jumped on the blogging train and I'm excited to see what kinds of classy things she decides to share with the world. She's here today to tell you about the evolution of holiday gift giving- couple style.
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I was flattered when Lauren asked me to post. I don’t necessarily have some crazy wisdom to share but instead thought I’d share some self-reflection in hopes that it will inspire others to be better. Here goes.
I am lucky enough to have been with my wonderful husband for close to five years. For those who are curious, a quick breakdown: dating 3 years, engaged 1, married 1 = 5. As the holiday season fast approaches, I find myself thinking of Christmases of yesteryear with fond nostalgia and an empty wallet. I have also sadly realized that while I started out strong with gifts for the love of my life, I quickly faded. I usually pride myself on my gift giving abilities so this revelation is particularly heartbreaking.
Our first Christmas, the first in which we declared our love we went a bit overboard.
Remember this now ancient piece of Apple hardware? You can’t even buy cases for these things anymore…I also remember reading way too much into what I was going to put on the personalized message. We hadn’t said the “L” word yet so I panicked and may have used some phrase like “Fondly Yours.” I hope I didn’t really say that.
Second Christmas was my first foray into buying JY new shoes. During this point in time, JY operated under the life rule that you buy one pair of shoes, you wear them out, and you quickly move on. Oh, how times have changed. I am proud to say that he now owns about 15 pairs of shoes…mostly bought by me, but I digress.
Third Christmas, I was pretty college poor so I framed a picture of where we were engaged. Admittedly, kind of lame.
Fourth Christmas, I felt like he needed some new duds and Macy’s was having a friends and family sale (got to love it!), therefore he was given a beautiful North Face jacket. Still looks pretty beautiful because the thing isn’t super warm for Missouri/Nebraska winters. FAIL.
This year I was determined to do it up right. Instead we made the mutual decision to buy new bedding. Never have I felt so married. To verify that other couples do this, I asked around. Apparently it is a married thing to share a gift so I didn’t feel too badly. Still, I couldn’t help but think that he needed something under the tree. I ultimately went with a briefcase since he is graduating from law school in May and with that…I think I have officially reached adulthood. GULP.
In sum, here is a handy diagram. Basically JY started out ballin,’ and ended up with beddin.’ Sorry Babe, I’ll get you next year.
Anyone else seen a similar trajectory within his or her own relationships? Thanks, Lauren for the guest post! I look forward to hearing more about your evolution of holiday gift giving with the fiancée- that lucky devil.
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Thanks, Ashlee! Anyone else notice such a trend in gift giving to your significant other? I sure have... we started out with camera accessories and shiny things, and now we've moved on to "well the trip is our present to each other" or "I'll pay for your new glasses for our anniversary if you promise to get them before our engagement shoot..." There's still plenty of time to make that red line travel in a vertical motion, though, right Ashlee? Stay tuned tomrrow for more YHMH goodness!
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