It’s Better to Give than Receive

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You know what I love about this time of year? The presents.

I’m sure you must be thinking that I must, of course, be referring to my presents. The diamonds, the fabulous trips, the spa retreat, the video games (are you listening, honey?)

But believe it or not, it really isn’t about getting presents. It’s about giving them.

Oh yeah, sure, sure. We all are just so generous in spirit and we don’t care anything about ourselves.

Only I really mean it. I’m not rich by any means but I’ve lived long enough to appreciate the level of comfort I have in life. I love my house and car. I like my clothes and furniture. I have nice things. But when you acquire a certain amount of things, you really start to realize they are just, well, things. And the true joy I get is giving gifts to others.

What I love about the holidays is picking out something special for each person on my list. I like to think about who they are, what I know about them, what they like, what they don’t like, what their personality is. And then I pick out something that maybe they would never buy for themselves but something that gets them excited and makes them happy.

Oh, I’ve definitely picked out some duds before. I often look back at gifts I bought years ago and truly think, “what was I thinking?”

But this year, Christmas came a little early and I got to give a gift that was sure to please. I just had no idea how much.

As some of you know, I am thrilled to be working as a Nintendo Ambassador. Especially because I love my Nintendo Wii. And I know you’ve never heard me say that before so I just had to say it again.

Note: I don’t get paid every time I say “Nintendo Wii” although I wish I did because I’d be rolling in some dough.

When Nintendo came knocking recently and asked if I might like to be part of a surprise giveaway, I jumped at the chance. The idea was to take a brand new Wii to a holiday get-together at some point. Have fun, play games, and then when the time came to leave… SURPRISE! Leave the Wii behind as a gift.

Oooh. I just knew I had to be part of a scheme like that. Not only because it requires great theatrical skills but because I love surprise giving more than I do giving!

Then came the hard part. Who do I know that doesn’t have a Wii? Seriously. All of my friends have one. I couldn’t think of anyone. And then came Thanksgiving. We “invited” ourselves up to Baltimore to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I really, really wanted to see my family and it had nothing to do with the fact that I did not want to cook at all this year.

My sister and the rest of my family often spend holidays with my sister’s husband’s family since they all live so close. So our invitation to Thanksgiving meant that we were also inviting ourselves to my sister’s husband’s sister’s house who was hosting Thanksgiving. In other words, we were going to my brother-in-law’s sister’s house. Or, well, let’s just call her Terri.

I knew that Terri had two teenage boys that were into video games but did not have a Nintendo Wii. I smelled my victims immediately. Nintendo totally worked with me and overnighted the new Wii system to my sister’s house so I could take it with me for Thanksgiving.

I casually walked in with the Wii mentioning that I brought it for play. The boys all went downstairs (including my little 3 year old Wii expert) to set the system up while the adults enjoyed some adult time.

A short while later, my husband called me downstairs and told me that I needed to do “the reveal” for reasons I would find out later. Trying to be the proper parent, I first cornered Terri in the kitchen. I told her about being Nintendo Ambassador and how I had this gaming system and with her permission, I’d like to give it to the family.

“Are you serious?,” she asked. She was thrilled and gave me a huge hug. She told me that her 13 year old son had been saving his money for the longest time to buy a Wii but that he was woefully far away from his goal. Then her husband came in and Terri told him about the Wii. Another huge hug. They were so thrilled so I was excited already.

I went back downstairs and make idle chit-chat about the Wii to her younger son.

So what do you think? Do you like the Wii? Do you like this game? Isn’t it fun?

And then the reveal… Good, because I’m giving it to you.

After the fact, I realize that this reads very much like the ending of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Did you like the factory, Charlie? Good. Because I’m giving it to you.

I didn’t get any big hugs but I did get a look of disbelief and then what I think was happiness. In case you didn’t know, teenage boys aren’t always the easiest to read.

I later found out that he was trying to buy the Wii from my 3 year old son for $50. I’m glad my son wasn’t smart enough to accept the deal. He was convinced it was our Wii that we were giving away.

So my Thanksgiving recap? Fun with family, no cooking, good food, plenty to drink, and a warm heart at the end of the evening. I had plenty to be thankful for this year.

How was your Thanksgiving?

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Disclosure: Nintendo provided me with this complimentary Nintendo Wii system to be given away at my discretion. I was under no obligation to write about this experience, but aren’t you glad I did? All opinions are my own. But you knew that already.