TL;DR : My dad opened the 2nd gift I got him first, not realizing I got him what he specifically asked for as well. He embarrassed himself and good times were had.
'Tis the season of giving, and I've recently been reminded of a tale from younger years.. First please excuse formatting, I'm on mobile!
I was about 15/16 and had some money left from working over the summer and I wanted to get everyone I celebrated with a gift. I asked everyone what they would like and had ideas for 2/3 smallish items a person. The only thing my dad asked for was an old western movie set.
I go shopping with my mom and brother and we find his movie set, lucky me it's on sale for 2 movies for 30$! So we look for a second movie set to buy him, and we find an action movie set that we've seen him watch a few times on TV. Great! Now he can open 2 gifts from me like everyone else, instead of just 1.
So fast forward to Christmas morning, everyone is gathered around the tree in my parents living room. There's about 8 of us total. For our tradition of opening gifts, my grandfather sits next to the tree and hands out the gifts one at a time so everyone gets a chance to see what everyone got and so we can thank eachother.
Eventually we get to one of my dad's gifts from me, and before even opening it he's talking about the cowboy movies he asked for. He's telling everyone how great the movies are and how we should all watch one together later. He said he hopes it's the ones with all the bonus content he asked for and says how great they are.. After a few minutes of raving about the cowboy movies he finally opens it, and it's the action movies!
"What the fuck is this?!" He exclaimed, "these aren't the movies I asked for! This is 'Action Movies'! I asked for 'Cowboy Movies'! I HATE 'ACTION MOVIES' why would you get me this?? Are you stupid? I should take away your gifts, I got you exactly what you wanted but you couldn't even get me what I wanted!"
He went on like that for a few minutes, my uncle egging him on and the rest were laughing at what the idiot I seemed to be.. I made eye contact with my mom and brother and smirked and winked at them, I didn't want them saying anything in my defense.
Eventually we moved on from my awful gift choices, my uncle ended up inheriting the movies because my dad couldn't bear to have them in his gift pile. I opened another gift from my dad and it's the pair of headphones I asked for! What do you know he pipes up again, "don't open it I'm going to return it later.." That gets a good chuckle from the family and someone makes a remark, "that's what you get!"
We're coming up on the last of the gifts and my grandfather pulls out, the second gift from me to dad. Just like the last one it's a very obviously wrapped movie set.
The room was dead silent.
He doesn't make eye contact with anyone while slowly opening the gift.. once open, head still hanging, he lifts up the gift for everyone to see. What do you know, it's the cowboy movies with all the bonus content just like he asked for!
"Does this mean you want your movies back??" My uncle asks, as everyone erupts into laughter once more.
Thanks for reading! We still tease my dad sometimes when we catch him watching those action movies on his own. Let this be a good reminder that Christmas shouldn't be about the gifts you get, but the thought that's put into them.
Happy holidays everyone!
Edit: formatting
Edit 2: Thank you so much to everyone who's commented! I definitely didn't expect this to blow up! I thought I was just sharing a funny story.. but I know now that it's not really. I'm really sorry for upsetting some of you, it's the season of joy and grace, not hatred.
I recognize the fact that no, he's never apologized to me for this. We don't have much of a relationship, and I don't think that we ever will. I'm LC with him, mostly for my mother, who I still have a decent relationship with.
I've spoken with different therapists before and have had some really good sessions talking about my life and growing up. They've always been impressed with me, that I can keep such a positive outlook. As long as I keep my boundaries and don't take shit from him again, they've agreed that this is a good story to remember.
I love my family, despite all the hardships. They've all grown in their own ways. Nobody should be left out during the holiday season. Not even people with shitty pasts. People grow, even if they don't want to acknowledge it. And as long as the mistakes of the past aren't repeated I will live in peace, knowing that he has changed a little. Knowing that I did that, I got to embarrass him. I made him grow up. That's something to be proud of, no?
Anyways, thanks for reading again! I might have to delete this if it gets too much more popular. As I accidentally posted on my main and my family will definitely know this story. Haha
Happy holidays everyone!