Merry Christmas…In March?
Dear Mouthy Housewives,
My friend sent Christmas gifts to my kids in December. Now it’s March, and I don’t know what happened, but I just found the package. So now, not only did I not reciprocate with gifts to her kids, but my kids did not acknowledge her gifts. I’m so embarrassed, I just can’t deal with this. Help me!
Signed,
Presents from the Past
_______________________________
Dear Presents from the Past,
Just how messy is your house? Or maybe it’s not messy, it’s just one of those McMansions that has more rooms than a high-security federal prison and therefore random things like your children can go missing for days and days. (And if so, can I move in?)
But here’s the thing: in my house, there’s no freaking WAY a present could ever be lost for more than a minute because my kids have Supernatural Gift Radar. Seriously, if you’re ever stranded on a desert island, wrap up a rock in a banana leaf and put a pretty fishbone bow on it. Boom! My boys will have rescue ships to you before you can say, “Is that a crab in my pants or are the sailors just making me feel tingly?”
But let’s assume your children aren’t grubby gift hunters like mine, and that somehow this present honestly got lost in the shuffle. You could either throw your friend a line like, “Oh, my gosh. Did I tell you that someone robbed our house in December and I just had to buy it all back from some Russian mobster on eBay? Weird, huh? By the way, thanks for the Zhu Zhu pets!”
Or you could just be honest. Go over to her house with handwritten thank-you notes from both you and your kids, a gift for her children, and a very chagrined look on your face. If she’s a friend and a mom, she’ll understand that sometimes things can get overlooked in the hectic pace of life. It probably won’t be long before it becomes an old, running joke between the two of you.
Next year, make sure you have a special place in your house to put all the gifts you receive. And if that still doesn’t work, just give my boys a call. They could find Jimmy Hoffa if he were gift-wrapped.
Good luck,
Wendi, TMH
3 Responses to “Merry Christmas…In March?”
Comment by Sophie, Inzaburbs.
This has happened to me and all because I hide all the Christmas gifts in the linen cupboard behind the sheets and towels. Last year a bunch of gifts worked their way into a pillowcase and I didn’t notice them until well into February.
I just sent an “OMG! OMG! Guess what I gone done!” email gushing with thanks and apologies and also made sure to state how *delighted* my kids were to get Christmas all over again. So, no harm done. Of course, it helps if everybody thinks you are batty to begin with, and if you are comfortable with them thinking this, all the better 
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Comment by hokgardner.
Good advice Wendi! If this woman is a real friend, she’ll understand.
At least she didn’t do what my grandmother did to me once – call my parents and tell on me for not having written a thank you note in a timely fashion.
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Comment by the mama bird diaries.
I just wrote thank you notes for gifts my daughter got for her birthday in… December.
It’s never too late to say thank you.
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