Early Christmas presents are better than surprise gifts

My wife is wonderful. She gave me an early Christmas present and put me in widescreen, high-definition heaven.
Thanks to a Black Friday sale, she was able to purchase a 32-inch LCD high-definition television (HDTV), an item I’ve desired for more than a year. She presented the gift to me early because there’s just no hiding a television, along with the new entertainment center to house it.
I’m not opposed to early Christmas presents. That’s because I would rather receive something I want early than be surprised with something I don’t really care for on the day of the holiday.
As a kid I remember really wanting a Transformers toy for my already massive Transformers collection. Santa didn’t really understand what I wanted, though, and brought me a voice-controlled robot that didn’t work. I was supposed to be able to program it to do a variety of commands that responded to my voice, but it did whatever it pleased and was pretty useless.
I got over the disappointing Christmas present because later that year I ditched my toys and became interested in cooler things, like heavy metal and girls; unfortunately, girls didn’t become interested in me until much later, probably because I thought heavy metal was cool (it still is – I just kept this passion a secret until after I was married). The Transformers I ditched would probably be worth a lot now, seeing as the toy has made a huge comeback this year and they would now be collectibles.
I’ve received other surprise gifts that were only a surprise in the fact that I would never have picked them out myself, including a briefcase, a collector’s plate that hasn’t gone up in value since I received it more than 10 years ago and an album by the band Extreme. In fairness, I have received a few surprise gifts that I really liked, such as an electric razor that I used for 16 years before it finally died.
But the gifts I’ve loved best have always been the ones I pre-selected: Bruce Springsteen tickets, a digital camera, Seinfeld DVDs, the Led Zeppelin box set and the HDTV. They may not be a surprise when you receive them, but the love you give them sure beats the indifference you would give to most surprise gifts.
Now that I have a son who is old enough to appreciate presents, making sure he gets something he wants is a top priority.
This year my wife and I are making sure Santa brings him Thomas the Train items. This includes a train track, lots of different engines and cars, and a variety of accessories to go along with the track.
My son sat on Santa’s lap last weekend and asked for a train for Christmas. He probably won’t be surprised Christmas morning, but he sure will be happy.
Just like his daddy, who will watch Seinfeld DVDs on his HDTV while listening to Led Zeppelin and reminiscing about the Springsteen show he saw back in 1999.