Christmas Shopping

Yesterday was momentous. Aaron and I went Christmas shopping. Together. The last time we did that it was probably 1995. We decided then that considering Aaron's aversion to shopping and his ability to make any shopping trip quite miserable, that it would be easier for me to just take care of it myself. So for the past 12 years or so, Aaron found out what the kids got for Christmas when the wrapping paper was ripped off on Christmas morning. This has worked quite well for us all these years but in the last couple of years Aaron has begun to change. He's started to get more involved in the holidays and has the desire to take part in the memory making. A couple of days ago he told me that he wanted to help do the Christmas shopping this year. One more effort to be involved. I stared at him for a moment or two and said, "Umm.. I don't know about that." Visions flashed through my head of us arguing over what to buy and him throwing just anything in the cart to get it over with. I imagined that he would be growling about the cost of everything and complaining about the commercialization of Christmas the whole time. I had serious reservations about our ability to shop together and have a happy outcome but I eventually agreed. Today I am hanging my head in shame because yesterday we began the shopping and it went GREAT. There was no growling and complaining and Aaron really put thought into what we should buy. I found that I really liked having a second opinion on the gifts I was considering and Aaron had a really good feel for what our kids would like. What I thought would be an unpleasant experience actually turned out to be fun! I know that Christmas morning will be even more exciting for Aaron since he had a part in choosing the kids gifts. Heck, we may even try this again next year!