Surprise Ruiner!

I got back from my trip with a few days to spare before Paul's birthday. I had prepared his birthday presents before I left for my trip except for one thing that I hadn't been able to find yet. That thing was a bottle of a particular type of whiskey that he likes. My sister's boyfriend was able to score a bottle for me at a discount since he works for a distributor. I lugged that bottle all over during my trip, thinking about how much he would like it. I am notoriously impatient about gift giving and I was grateful that he was taking care of all of the dog walking, garden watering and other household chores while I was off gallivanting in the Midwest so I decided to give it to him right when I got home. Well, apparently the store that he used to buy it from restocked so he had already bought himself a bottle. Surprise ruiner!

The main gift that I had planned to give him for his birthday was a gift certificate for an MP3 player of his choice. I knew he wanted one but was holding out on buying it since it seemed like an unnecessary splurge. So, I thought it would be the perfect gift for his birthday. Except that I left him unsupervised for the week and he bought one! I noticed it the morning after I got home while he was getting ready to walk to work. He had a set of headphones hanging around his neck. I (nonchalantly, I am sure) asked him what they were for. And, he pulls out a brand new MP3 player. Dang surprise ruiner!!

The thing is, he has a history of doing this. I try so hard and he effortlessly thwarts my attempts to do nice things for him. He doesn't intend to ruin the surprises, he just has a natural tendency to do it. Luckily, I had a back-up plan so his birthday was still well stocked with gifts.