Christmas Gifts

At Christmas, my father was the master of unique gifts that continue to surprise to this day. As a child, and like most kids I’d often peek through to the living room, with my sister, anxious on the night before, to see if any gifts were left in plain sight. My father would guard the hallway, until about 10 PM (the late time which we were especially allowed to stay up till, at age 6), but we knew little of what he was up to, thinking ourselves wise enough to expect that the best gifts had been put out already. When, in actuality, after dark my father shined, well into the night. At times, putting together Go-Carts and Trampolines, Drum kits and all sorts of other treasures that required much assembly and were sure to come unexpectedly.

In retrospect, I’m surprised we didn’t hear him by night, cranking with various wrenches, likely cursing instruction manuals in low light. Nevertheless, he would pride himself on the element of surprise in dramatic reveal, going more over the top, as time passed. To make matters more interesting, he was also known for shopping last minute, but not in the way one might think. My father was not one to mess around with Christmas. When “Santa’s lists” came in, and there was something we especially wanted, he might slip a letter under our bedroom door informing: I’m terribly sorry Peter and Julie, but there will be no X this year.” With no further explanation, we sighed confused and saddened.

Sure enough, however, my father had actually tricked us, having planned in advance to make sure he could get the gift, choosing instead to “go out” on Christmas eve or sometimes Christmas morning, to retrieve some supposed ingredient for the holiday meal. Sooner or later we all caught on, but my father has made subsequent efforts every year to keep at least one gift completely out of knowledge and out of sight, at least for a little while.

As I got older and was met with the challenge of having to buy Christmas gifts for my own family and friends, I must’ve inherited my father’s streak for spontaneity and grandeur. But there are a few problems: unlike my father, I’m not mechanically inclined and what’s worse, I have become increasingly busy in recent years, neglecting to leave most gifts to the last two weeks. Although my mind is remains open once the season begins, and some gifts are thought of well in advance, I have more than my share of people who deserve the best gifts out there, which happen to mean the most unique, personal, and at times sensational, of whatever it is I can think up.

So I bet you’re wondering if I worked it out. Well, I am certainly not going to settle for anything less than what I’m used to, and so this year I took a slightly different approach. I found the best gift website around, which wouldn’t force me to compromise my paternal gift-giving legacy, of course. Experience Days.com allows me to browse dozens of industries and metro locations for the perfect unique gift, on my own schedule and with considerable flare. With my dad getting older and feeling less up to running around and potentially straining himself (its unfortunately happened before), and to my surprise, he has begun following my lead.