Shannon Stacey


Oh, the torture

The husband went out shopping for me yesterday, and there are now gifts for me under the tree. They’re the only gifts under the tree, actually, because we have two insane cats. And there lies one of the differences between the husband and I. I don’t know if it’s an age thing, or if it’s just his nature, but it shows up at Christmastime.

He’s so damn…serene. He knows Christmas is coming, and then he’ll open his gifts. Why get excited now?

On the other hand, it freakin’ kills me! I HAVE to know what’s in those boxes RIGHT NOW! I want to shake them and make him give me hints and OMG, I can’t wait another whole WEEK!

The Breakfast Bitches won’t let me peel tape or receipt hunt, so my greatest hope lies with the cats shredding the paper.

Where the hell is Ziggy when I need her?

19 comments to “Oh, the torture”

  1. Briana
    Comment
    1
      · December 18th, 2005 at 11:44 am · Link

    Hold cat up. Extend claw. Slide claw gently under paper. Tear off paper and ball up for kitty. There; you’re innocent and pure as the driven snow ;)
    :woot:



  2. Jaci Burton
    Comment
    2
      · December 18th, 2005 at 11:47 am · Link

    Bad Shan. Bad Bree. No no no. Must wait for Christmas!

    Ohhhh the anticipation is so much fun! :woot:



  3. Anna Lucia
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    3
      · December 18th, 2005 at 12:46 pm · Link

    You must waaaaiiiiiiiiittt!!!! :rofl:

    Actually, my DH is like you. He badgers me for hints until I let something slip, and then he invariably guesses it, because we know how each other thinks. It’s most tiresome.

    This year, and from now on, when he badgers, I reply, “I’m not telling you anything about it.”

    “Is it another trebuchet?”

    “I’m not telling you anything about it.”

    “Is it a Baker Rifle?”

    “I’m not telling you anything about it.”

    “Is it the Gladiator special edition DVD?”

    “But we’ve already got Gladiator on DVD!”

    “A-HA! I can rule that out, then…”

    “Curses.”

    You see how good I am at it? :roll:

    (He’s got the Gladiator special edition, too…. :cheesy:)



  4. Mel
    Comment
    4
      · December 18th, 2005 at 12:01 pm · Link

    Shaaaaaaan. Shame on you! You can’t look, you can’t peek, you must be completely surprised on Christmas. And you can wait another week. You can bury yourself in writing and forget about it. :nod:



  5. Jordan
    Comment
    5
      · December 18th, 2005 at 2:44 pm · Link

    LOL! My dh loves to shake the packages. I think you behave how you did as a kid on X-mas morning. My sister was a ‘sneak’ unwrapper, then tried to hide the deed, which of course never worked with our parents. I never cared, so it didn’t bother me to wait.



  6. Karen Templeton
    Comment
    6
      · December 18th, 2005 at 2:47 pm · Link

    See, after years of hubby batting about 500 in the gifts-that-work department, I finally broke down and started marking up catalogs and handing them to him. Except then I knew what I was getting, and where’s the fun in that? This year, so there’d be SOME element of surprise on Christmas morning, I highlighted three times more stuff beyond resonable expectations and said, “Pick from these.” That way, I still get something I’d actually use, but I don’t know exactly what that would be.

    Of course, since the boxes from Coldwater Creek and Travelsmith have been sitting in plain sight in his office for more than a week, I can narrow down the possibilities. But I still don’t KNOW. For sure.

    First time I’ve tingled about Christmas in years. :woot:



  7. Karen Templeton
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    7
      · December 18th, 2005 at 5:33 pm · Link

    Actually, I should add (this brought about by having just put all the presents under the tree) that *my* biggest problem is keeping my mouth shut about everybody ELSE’S gifts. I’m good at keeping secrets, but it’s killlllling me! :crazy:



  8. Heather Rae
    Comment
    8
      · December 19th, 2005 at 12:34 am · Link

    Shan, you have to wait. Period. I’m excited and I want to know, but then it spoils it and what fun is that?:eyebrow:

    You can do eeet.

    Rae



  9. Shannon
    Comment
    9
      · December 19th, 2005 at 10:30 am · Link

    I’m still being good. :angel: I haven’t even tried to read the box through the paper.

    And I was a master when I was kid. I even had a “kit”. :nod:

    But I’m not looking, even though it’s KILLING me. Usually I get what’s on the list. Nice, but like Karen said, no surprises. But this year I asked for a certain Hallmark ornament, the “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” DVD and maybe a cheap mp3 player. Well, I think those are accounted for in the smaller boxes, and nothing on my list came in a box the size of the big box.

    AAARRRRGGGGGGHHHH, the agony!



  10. Trace
    Comment
    10
      · December 20th, 2005 at 12:21 pm · Link

    We tell each other exactly what we want, so it’s no surprise.



  11. Gabriele
    Comment
    11
      · December 20th, 2005 at 3:21 pm · Link

    Hehe, shall mommy bring out the LEGO to distract you? :baby: :rofl:

    Story behind that: my mother always had some of our toys locked away and changed them when we grew bored with the ones we had. Kids can have too much toys as my niece demonstrates. She keeps skipping between things and seldom really plays with anything.

    Well, LEGO was the one that got locked away all summer and usually came out in the beginning of December. Since we get some small presents on St.Claus day (Dec. 6) that added some special LEGO for my brother and a paperback book for me – a nice way to keep us somewhat distracted until Christmas. And boy did we have a LEGO collection – the railway stuff, specials and tons of the classic stones and pieces. We could buy entire towns and castles and space stations …. :cheer:



  12. Gabriele
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    12
      · December 20th, 2005 at 3:23 pm · Link

    ‘too many toys. Dang typo demon. :whip:

    Though in her case ‘much’ isn’t that wrong.



  13. Shannon
    Comment
    13
      · December 21st, 2005 at 12:07 am · Link

    Oooh, I love LEGOs! I’m so glad my boys are into them, even if I don’t have nearly enough time to play with him.

    But it’s hard to find reasonably priced boxes of just plain LEGOs. We have hundreds of dollars worth of “sets”—Harry Potter, Star Wars, and so on—which just become a jumble. Plus we have no pink ones. (*grabs sledgehammer lest that “It could be a girl” biological clock start ticking again*)

    Update: I have not so much as touched the box, nor have I gone to peek at the receipt. And yes, I know where it is.

    *deep breath* I can do it. Especially if Angie sends me cherry Kisses.



  14. Mandy M. Roth
    Comment
    14
      · December 21st, 2005 at 10:18 am · Link

    Why do I have images of you rubbing catnip on the packages coming to mind? Step away from the tree, Shan!

    :whip:



  15. Shannon
    Comment
    15
      · December 21st, 2005 at 10:31 am · Link

    “Would I do thaaaaat?” she asks in her best Urkel voice.

    :angel:



  16. Anna Lucia
    Comment
    16
      · December 21st, 2005 at 12:04 pm · Link

    *soothe soothe* Not long now…. of course, it could be a small thing wrapped up in several bigger boxes, like I’ve done to DH… :devil:



  17. Shannon
    Comment
    17
      · December 21st, 2005 at 12:08 pm · Link

    :cry:

    That would be mean, because the box is the exact perfect size to be a laptop.

    (Added incentive NOT to shake it, of course.)

    But I’m not getting my hopes up.

    I’m not. Dammit.



  18. Gabriele
    Comment
    18
      · December 21st, 2005 at 7:31 pm · Link

    Back in my youth, the sets only started, so we’ve got tons of plain LEGO. My nephew now plays with it.



  19. Shannon
    Comment
    19
      · December 22nd, 2005 at 12:39 am · Link

    I’ve found a few bags of plain LEGOs at yard sales and such, so the short kid and I play with them. But the tall kid likes the Harry Potter details and the light sabers and the cool…stuff that comes with all the sets, so we still shell out for the ‘sets.’

    I’ll never outgrow LEGOs. :dance:







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