Once, a long time ago, I swore off buying clothing for boyfriends as presents. It was Christmas a couple years ago. My mother had visited me a few weeks earlier, so I sent a lot of my presents home with her for appearances’ sake when company came. Look, we are so bountiful!
I came home the day before Christmas Eve. I planned to spend that night at my boyfriend’s apartment near by, then we would go our separate ways until the day after Christmas and he’d come over to exchange gifts then (this odd arrangement was due to the fact that one gift I gave him was a preassembled 5 ft tall DVD shelf and I didn’t want to schlepp the damn thing around).
I was putting the rest of the gifts for my family under the tree before heading out for the evening when I noticed one of the gifts for my boyfriend was a little.. damp. And not with Christmas tree water.
One of my mother’s elderly cats had a wee bladder infection and a mighty bitchy mood. She had taken it upon herself to pee on every last gift under the tree. This was all very much a minor inconvenience for things like the power drill my father gave me or the bottle of Scotch I bought him. Even the tube socks for my brother were relatively unscathed thanks to plastics.
However, the lovely perfect-green-to-match-his-eyes sweater for my boyfriend was a tad unprotected in it’s flismy cardboard box and tissue paper.
After much deliberation on the part of my father and I, we decided the best course of action was to spritz it with Febreeze and make my boyfriend try the sweater on immediately. I honestly can’t recall why we didn’t just wash it. It was something about being able to return it, although I rather doubt J Crew would have happily accepted a peed-on sweater for return.
Furthermore, in the end my boyfriend announced that the turtleneck sweater made him look dorky and he didn’t like it.*
So, no clothing presents for boys. However, I am wavering in this. The Boy has some incredibly cheap habits when it comes to clothing himself. As a result, he owns some attrocious clothing.
When I was in DSW on Friday, I took a little gander at the men’s shoes and saw a nice pair in his size. Even though they came in at twice what he would ever consider paying for shoes (ahem, they were $40. He’ll spend it on wine in a heartbeat, but never shoes…), I bought them for him.
He just texted me to say they are some of the most comfortable shoes he’s ever had. I think we’re learning a lesson about quality today, kids!
*He never understood that I wanted dorky. Things between us ultimately ended and now I’m with someone who leans over to me in a bar and whispers, “Honey, let’s get out of here. We can go home and play Scrabble.”
…and now I’m with someone who leans over to me in a bar and whispers, “Honey, let’s get out of here. We can go home and play Scrabble.”
hahaha, that sounds EXACTLY like why my roommate loves her boyfriend so much. It’s awesome to be with someone who “gets” the things that you love.