Sometimes a gift we thought was personal can hugely backfire.
Christmas is often referred to as a time for giving, and that involves carefully selecting presents to warm the hearts of friends, family and significant others. Many of us happily seek out perfect tokens of affection, like concert tickets for avid music fans or sports gear for those with an active lifestyle.
However, one woman’s experience turned sour when a present from her partner left her feeling “frustrated” and even “ruined” her holiday arrangements. Sharing her story on Reddit, she detailed their careful financial planning to indulge during the festivities, saving up $1,500 (£1,184) for gifts. They had both agreed on a list of desired gifts – clothes, household items, and dog accessories included.
Having invested her share in fulfilling his wish list, the woman looked forward to a “first real Christmas together”, picturing a relaxed holiday playing video games and savouring good food. All this was upended by an unexpected revelation from her boyfriend.
She explained: “I don’t know what came over him last night, but he decided to tell me my Christmas gift early. He spent a large portion of my gift budget on a plane ticket for my kid sister, orchestrated and planned with my parents to send her to our apartment to spend Christmas with us, and got my sister some gifts to open on Christmas morning so she wouldn’t feel left out.
“He has a whole week planned for him, me, and my sister. All of our date ideas, but he included her. We will go see Christmas movies and Christmas lights with my sister. He got me 1-3 items off of my list, but none of these items were the things I needed.”
The devastated woman “burst into tears” when she learned about her boyfriend’s Christmas plans involving her sister. Although she loves her younger sibling, she feels burdened like a “parent” and knows she won’t be able to enjoy her festive season without constant concern for her.
However, her boyfriend has hit back, branding her “ungrateful” and insisting that he was just trying to be “thoughtful”.
She added: “Something I was really looking forward to has turned into a babysitting experience where I’m in charge of giving my sister a child’s Christmas experience. I’m upset that my boyfriend doesn’t know me well enough to know that this was actually one of the worst things he could do for me. He knows I hate surprises and grand gestures. I told him this really ruined my Christmas, and it’s something that can’t be undone without upsetting my sister, who I feel responsible for.”
Online commenters expressed sympathy for the woman, with many suggesting she return some of his gifts and use the money to purchase necessities for herself.
One commenter advised: “If you decide to go ahead with your sister’s visit, you should insist that he truly makes it a gift to you. He needs to clean the apartment, prep where she’ll sleep, do the grocery shopping, do the cooking, etc. He is in charge of giving your sister a Christmas experience, not you.”
Another expressed their frustration, writing: “I would be SO annoyed. Especially considering you saved so much money as well, and already spoke about all your plans and wrote each other lists of what you actually wanted.”