"How about all of you chip in" (said I) "and get me one present ~ a digital camera ~ instead of everyone buying individual gifts?" Again, said I silently, "most of which I can't use or wouldn't be caught dead wearing."
"NAH!" was her delicate and sensitive response.
NAH?? WTF? This, from a cousin (and family) upon whom I lavished gifts over the years/decades ~ and not just gifts, but presents in which I invested a lot of thought and care so the recipients would not only be happy to receive them but also be able to use...from color to fabric to practicality to personalized artwork, not a stone went unturned before a final decision was made. I cared not that I was racking up credit card bills that would eventually render me bankrupt. This was Christmas and a family that I loved, who cared if I couldn't afford the million gifts I brought to them every year?
And after all of that, I receive NAH! in response to a simple request?? Anyone else shaking their head in disbelief or am I just a bit hypersensitive?
It took me a (long) while but I finally smartened up and began buying for myself what I needed and wanted, and stopped the insanity of giving so much more than I ever received. Besides, Christmas is supposed to be about giving, not receiving, and no one embraced that belief more than I did. Obviously.
The end result was a general boycott of all things Christmas, to the point that I preferred staying home alone rather than sharing a most special holiday with a bunch of insensitive, self-centered and selfish people, family or not.
The first Christmas I did that, I received a call from the matriarch of the bunch: "Paula, no one should be alone on Christmas Day...please come over."
To which I replied: "NAH!"
