Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

Today I taught the hubby to use Amazon to buy things off of my wishlist. Ever since the last child left home, I’ve had to tag along with him to Walmart to buy my Christmas gifts, so I haven’t had many surprises recently. I had hoped to change that, at least a little bit, by steering him toward Amazon with his very own, shiny new credit card.

What was I thinking?

Keep in mind he’s 61 years old, uses his computer for web surfing and photography-related stuff only, and has never tried to buy anything on Amazon, much less the external sites I added stuff to my wish list from. First I had to try to remember his Amazon password. That took a few guesses. Then I had to enter his new credit card and billing info. No problem, except that I saw what was in his cart when trying to get to the place where he needed to enter his password.

That was surprise spoiler number one.

Next he wanted to get something off one of those external websites I mentioned, but once he got the item in the cart, he was clueless again. So back I went to help him get through the checkout process.

That was surprise spoiler number two.

I already knew about my third gift, because I arranged for my daughter to get it for him myself.

Then there were the gifts the California boys had shipped here from Amazon. Addressed to me. That wouldn’t be a problem except that I had a bunch of stuff coming from Amazon as well, so in order to get my orders wrapped, I had to open all the boxes. Surprise spoilers 4, 5, & 6.

Oddly enough, I’m okay with this. I resigned myself a long time ago to the fact that the hubby doesn’t do shopping. He loves me, he’s a beautiful human being, and that more than makes up for his lack of shopping skills. So Christmas morning I will open my gifts, pretend I didn’t know what they were, and will get my enjoyment from watching him open his gifts–which will be a surprise.

What about you? Are you surprised on Christmas morning, or has the advent of the Amazon wish list taken all the mystery out of your Christmas gifts?

In my latest release, The Christmas Wish, Merry Peterson is far from home and facing her first Christmas alone. Then she falls right into Santa’s lap and he asks her what she wants for Christmas. Jason Wells might not be the real Santa, but he plays one for charity and he makes it his goal to make Merry’s Christmas wish come true.

And unlike my own personal hero, Jason loves Christmas shopping.

The Christmas Wish is just $1.99.