Is it Wierd?

My sister and I have a special way to buy presents for one another. Our birthdays are eleven days apart; thus, starting a couple of years ago, we came to the agreement of "We will call it even," saving us the trouble of trying to figure out what to get the other.

Regarding Christmas, we usually do something very sneaky. This is how this Christmas purchases have gone thus far. She called me, and we talked for about forty minutes, catching up on job stuff, dog stories, her expanding belly, and life in general. After a little bit, she inquires, "You need to start thinking what you want for Christmas, have you any ideas?"

"Well, actually Bonnie and Kyle were laughing at me the other day because when Bonnie asked me what I wanted, I told her that the only thing I knew I wanted for sure was a food scale."

Side note: When I told Bonnie, she first of all commented that I must be such a fun person to buy things for, but hey I am all about practicality, and it really annoys me when a recipe calls for so many ounces of pasta and I don't know how to measure it. I mean 8 oz to a cup, but how do you cram spaghetti into a cup. I know it is sad, but I had already gone to Target and figured that at $5, it was a realistic gift idea for me. I purposely avoided buying it for myself so someone else could give it to me, and I wouldn't get yelled at by another family member for being so hard to buy for.

"I am going to IKEA tonight, do you want to me to get you one?"

"If it looks cool and is about $5."

"Okay."

The next day I found something that I thought Mike might like. I actually found it a couple of months ago and put it on the "things to consider buying for Christmas" list. Wanting to make sure he liked it, I sent a quick e-mail to my sister asking her to check it out. At the same time, I asked her what she wanted.

I received an e-mail back saying the gift looked good for Mike, and a list of a couple of things my sister wanted. A few minutes later, I had everything ordered. Plus, to save myself carting it out to Portland, I sent it to my sister's right away so if there is any baby related stuff we need to bring, I will have that much extra room. So, head's up Jen, your presents are on the way the label says to hold them for me.

I don't know when this exactly started. I remember the clearest example a couple of Christmases ago (how do you pluralize that?) where I told my sister a few requirements for what I wanted. 1. I wanted a pair of slip on shoes. 2. They had to be unique and funky looking. 3. I didn't want them to cost more than $20-25. A week later, I ended up giving her the exact pair of shoes that I had managed to find on a website. It wasn't much of a surprise, but it was exactly what I wanted. Besides everyone comments about how cool the shoes are.