That One Time I Screwed Up Christmas.

By Mandi 12/28/2012

This post has nothing to do with DIY. And as easily as I could have screwed Christmas up with my  “Just let me paint behind the tree…No, you dont need to move it…”  BAM! Buzzzzz! Darkness. I did not do that this year. What I did do was much worse.

You all have had a chance to “meet” Court right? He is the best husband in the world. We are quite the pair.

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I like to consider myself a thoughtful gift giver. I put a TON of effort into the planning and thinking, and thinking and planning. And sometimes (like last year) it pays off.

Sometimes it doesnt.

Let me plead my case.

Court REPETEDLY says and I quote “All I want in this world is a clean house.”

So being the loving and thoughtful wife I am this is what I gave Court for Christmas:

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For those unfamiliar with my girl Zoila she is the housekeeper on Flipping Out and is one of our favorite people in the entire world.

As he unwrapped it I exclaimed “We are getting a cleaning lady!!”

To say he was not happy is a slight understatement.

Apparently Court thought he was getting a gun. (Which I would never buy for him because he is so picky.)  Basically it was a lose/lose situation.

Whoops.

So have you ever had a great gift backfire? Tell me all about it!

Love Your Guts, Mandi

30 thoughts on “That One Time I Screwed Up Christmas.”

  1. Four years ago I bought my boyfriend (who is now my husband) some golf balls and a golfing glove. He gave up golf almost immediately after and has never played since..

    Same man a few years later was watching an episode of a comedy show and says “I would love to see the early episodes of this”. I make a mental note, buy dvd boxset. A week before Christmas he is watching another episode and says “I’d love to see the early episodes of this” I sit there smiling to myself and he says “Oh, but don’t buy me the boxset or anything, I’ve got too many of those”.

    Don’t feel bad. Has he only ever bought you perfect presents?

  2. Ha! Cleaning lady, gun, I can see the miscommunication. The only thing I told my husband I wanted was boots, and I sent him the link in October. He waited until December 19th or 20th to go to the mall. The didn’t have the exact pair of boots, so he didn’t pick out any at all. {Even though my pinterest board has like 18 pairs on it.}
    True story.
    But, luckily, he is awesome in like 65198165198451 other ways. 😀
    Here’s to clean houses?

  3. For our first married Christmas I had all my husbands hockey pins beautifully mounted and framed. I could tell he wasn’t enthused. The next day he told me he really didn’t care thatuch about his pins and that some of them weren’t even his. Bummer, I thought it was such a great gift..lol.

  4. Gift card for the gun store is a great plan. I got my husband a gun… but didn’t get any of the things that go with it. I didn’t want to pick out the wrong accessories.

  5. I blame men. They are just impossible to shop for. You are innocent. Don’t blame yourself – your goose was cooked before you even dreamed up that lovely gift. I have given up. I give mine sweaters or Best Buy gift certificates.

  6. All I every want is a clean house too. If my husband wants something gun related, I ask him to email me links of what he wants and I pick from those.

  7. Ugh, I’m married to someone who is rarely happy with his gifts. He is picky and a pain in the you know where when it comes to gifts. For years he wanted a Bose sound system so everyone gave him money toward the goal. It was perfect because it let everyone off the hook. This year I got him mostly clothes that he needed and since he hates shopping it is a good gift for him. But we have been married for 18 years and I can probably name on one hand the umber of terrific gifts he got that he loved and I was thrilled with giving. Two years ago he told me NOT to get him an iPad because his work was supposed to give them to all the pilots… so I didn’t. Then last November we were talking about why the still didn’t have one and he informed me I was supposed to have given him one for Christmas the year prior….I promptly bought him one but it felt too little too late. My point? You aren’t alone.

  8. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
    I’m sad for Court, but that is a fabulous gift! Thanks for making me laugh my head off just now! The reason being is because I can picture the whole scene as it went down.
    xo,
    Jilly

  9. I would have started screaming then would have passed out from excitement if I got a cleaning lady for Christmas. But then again, I’m not a guy. I think my husband would have had the same reaction that your husband did. This year I got him a gps for Christmas because he needs one for work & his literally burned out a couple weeks ago. Like, the thing was smoking. Yesterday he went to use it for work & the crazy thing doesn’t work! Good thing it was my husband or I would have died of embarrassment for giving a dud of a present.

  10. I have to know, like REALLY, REALLY have to know WHERE you find those magnificent frames!!!!! Pretty, pretty please tell me how/where I can get some. 🙂

  11. We bought an xbox for our little one and it was underwhelming. I was hoping she would like the dance games and the adventures but still too young. She even asked why Santa brought it. Womp, womb. However, the Melissa and Doug “piggy” suitcase and fisher price doctor kit and grandma’s was a HUGE hit. Oh well

  12. Ours was exactly the opposite. He wanted golf clubs I wanted an Iphone. He got golf clubs, I got nothing that looked like an Iphone. For the last five years this has been my little experiment. I have asked for an Iphone for every birthday, Mothers Day, Valentines, Christmas, Columbus Day, Kawanzaa, Hanukkah (you get the idea) since they first came out and I have never gotten one. Since we have been married i felt that he couldn’t take a hint if it fell on him like a house. So I have proved my point and will just give up and buy my own Iphone. He is a wonderful husband in every other way so I will put up with this little flaw even if it is a pain in the butt. I must say that after reading your blogs and then seeing the family Christmas photo are you sure we are not distantly related?? somehow?

  13. LOL! Had a reverse situation happen to me when we were first married. T gave ME a gun one year and was so excited about it. I. was. not. I like to shoot targets, but I didn’t want a gun for Christmas. He has never lived it down. 😉

  14. I love the picture you framed for it though! Thankfully (or not?) I always do pretty well with gifts for my husband, but looking at his gifts to me you’d think he has never even met me! I guess he likes what I give him, he’s not a very enthusiastic person so I can never tell if he hates it or loves it. Ah well, Valentine’s is coming up…

  15. And whose husband runs out and buys whatever they want right before Christmas!!! Yes, I thought so. And they are so hard to buy for anyway. This year the hubby bought his own Ipad right before. So I bought him a wirelss printer so he could print from it. He didn’t act too excited, so don’t really know if he liked it. Still bragging on his own Ipad purchase. Hmmmmmmm!

  16. This made me laugh!!!! One of the guys that I worked with always talked about how junky
    his wife’s purse was. You know, wadded up cleanex, envelopes, coupons, gum wrappers, tic tacs, pen caps all at the bottom of her purse. Well, he told her he was getting her a new purse for Christmas. Well, Christmas came and she opened all of her other gifts, but he saved her new ‘purse’ for last. She opened it up and it was a black garbage bag!!! Needless to say, she was NOT happy!!! He said he learned to only give gag gifts when it isn’t a special occaision and to give those first so there is still something to look forward to opening. LOL
    Now, I can relate to your hubbie wanting a clean house. I cleaned ours back in the summer and he came home and said he thought it was Christmas since that’s about the only time that ours isn’t cluttered (well, the clutter is hidden in the closets and the attic). Yeah, I can relate! LOL

  17. Court may not know this now…. but he will LOVE a cleaning lady. It is life changing- seriously LOVE.

    I just want to kiss her every time I come home to a clean house (ours comes every other week)

    No worries, any gift is gift enough 🙂

  18. I love Zoila! My sister meet Jeff and she said he is so funny in person. I never have gifts that backfire, so far. My husband on the other hand…..

  19. I loved reading everyone’s stories! I don’t buy my husband gifts anymore. I save up money and a few days before Christmas, give him a wad of cash and tell him to go pick out something he wants. It never fails–hundreds of dollars to spend on just himself and no wife whining at him about it or asking where it went? Please. He’s in heaven. Only catch is he HAS to let me wrap it so he can unwrap something Christmas morning with the family.

  20. Hilarious! This didn’t happend with my husband (but be patient & I’m sure I’ll have a good story…we’ve only been married for 1 1/2 yrs) but my dad. I pride myself in gift-giving so this experience was really devestating. I got my dad his favorite movie one year. Turned out he had never seen the movie. Have no idea where I got the idea it was his favorite. We also have a big family so there are multiple times where two people have gotten a family member the exact same gift. Yay for a clean house for 2013! ;p <3 Heidi Rew from PartiesforPennies.com

  21. I almost ruined Christmas in a different way. We traveled across our state to visit family and it wasn’t until after we got there that I realized I forgot every single gift Santa had dropped off early.

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