donald is a very good gift giver. like, really good. i like to think i'm pretty decent myself, but honestly, he's a lot better. it is very rare for him to strike out. but even when he does, he does it well. which brings us to the tale of two christmases.
one summer, before we were married, i went on a mission trip to mexico. on this trip i learned how to solve a rubix cube. what can i say? i'm gifted. when i returned home i wanted to keep up with my new skill, but alas, i did not own a rubix cube. i went to the store to see about getting one but decided not to spend the money. which is exactly how 99% of my trips to the store end. donald, keenly observing my new found interest in the cube and aware of my penny pinching, started scheming. he thought to himself, if shelly would love one rubix cube, how much more will she love ALL THE RUBIX CUBES?!? so when christmas rolled around he excitedly presented me with my gift and i opened not one, not two, but three rubix cubes. the first was the original 3x3 cube. the second was the more challenging 4x4 cube. and the third was a rubix cube tissue box cover he had commissioned a coworker to make just for me.
it's at this point in the story when most female listeners swoon at his thoughtfulness. and i did. i swooned. but at the same time i was wondering what in the world i was going to do with all these cubes! since i can't hide my thoughts very well and donald can read me like a book, he knew something was up. we now know that while gifts is one of his top love languages, that one falls to the bottom of my list.
i'm more of a quality time girl, so this christmas donald concocted a little adventure and combined two of my favorite things: scavenger hunts and the library. one afternoon he told me he needed to run a few errands and a little while later he called to tell me i should come find him at the library. so i hopped in the car and found him on a library couch with a basket and a book. he handed them over and said 'merry christmas'. inside that first book [snowball fight by jimmy fallon] was a clue, which led me to search the stacks for a book about another of my favorite things [corn]. there was a clue tucked in that one too and i zipped back and forth across the library as fast as i discreetly could collecting a big stack of books about all my favorite things. it was awesome and i was smiling so big that my cheeks started hurting.
ultimately we did part ways with the mega cube at a garage sale, but we still have the original rubix cube...and i think that kleenex box cover will now live with us forever as a priceless dyer family treasure.
