Merry Christmas, everyone!

Something else that I have inherited from my Dad is his impulsive generosity. Having heard so many stories about how Dad strictly controled his finance and how he rationed the money that my mum had, it came as a surprise when my relatives told my second sister of how generous my Dad was in their times of need. Dad apparently lent them money, unbeknownst to us all, when they were so desperate for a helping hand and didn’t know anybody else to turn to. Admittedly, I am quite a calculated person when it comes to gift-giving – however there are moments when my conservative cautiousness is thrown into the air. My Christmas gift for Yani is one of those moments.

Being a trusting person, Yani often clicks on or opens anything that her friends send her. Because of this, her computer is rife with unrecognisable junks – she tried to clean it up with the help of some friends, after I repeatedly warned her about it. It is quite old to the current standard – and so when she couldn’t install iTunes to sync her new iPhone 4, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are some funny business going on in her computer that prevented her from completely installing iTunes.

A fortnight ago, when we talked about Christmas and gifts with our friends from church – Yani blurted out and joked that she would want a laptop. That comment was seized by my friends at the time and amplified, with a dose of peer pressure (oh how I hate social blackmailing! *grin*). I retorted at that time that I would give Yani a laptop if she would buy me a car. That certainly stopped the discussion – to which my friends probably thought that I was some kind of grinch. Haha.

Well, that little comment stayed with me – they say that in every joke there is always an element of truth. So, although I am saving money to get a car, I shouldn’t really be so selfish now that I’m married. So I did a quick research on a netbook or a laptop that is within my budget, with good specification and is well-built and well-reviewed. On Monday last week, I quickly made a detour to a computer store here and bought an MSI U135DX white netbook with ample storage space: 250GB and large enough memory: 1GB and because it doesn’t have an inbuilt DVD drive, I bought a second present – a portable slim DVD drive as well to go along with the netbook. It is already pre-installed with Windows 7 and because I have a legit copy of Office 2007, I can have it installed in her computer. She mainly uses her netbook for Facebooking, chatting and working with Microsoft Office – she also uses it to watch movies and to listen to her music, so to give her a computer without a DVD drive seems so mean. I’m really not a grinch after all! 😛

So I quickly wrapped the boxes and put them underneath our ‘Christmas tree’ – I was so impatient for her to open it but wanted to wait until Christmas day. There are a couple of gifts that we received from our friends from church as well, so the gift pile underneath the tree didn’t look so sad. Haha.

Well, Christmas day came after we got up late because we only went to bed at about 2.00am after the Christmas service last night. We ended up doing this and that online as well before we went to sleep. After she did her quiet time, it was time to open our gifts. I understand that it is quite a difficult task to choose a gift for me – Yani has done really well this time. I love massages, so she has given me a portable hand massager with different settings. 🙂 So what was Yani’s reaction when she opened her gifts?

I asked her to open the first box – which was the portable DVD drive. She was so happy then, but I suppose she must have thought that it was quite an odd gift, considering that she has a laptop with a DVD drive already. Then, when she opened the main gift – she cried. Heck, it made me a bit teary too. I’m such a wuss! 🙂 Getting such a reaction from her is already a priceless gift. 🙂

So I’ve been spending the early part of the afternoon installing various programs in her new computer – to ensure that everything is kosher without her selecting every option offered. 🙂 I’ve also been playing various Christmas carols in the background to spread the Christmas atmosphere around the house. The good news is, iTunes can be installed in her new computer as well. 🙂 It’s nearly done now, so I can have a quick shower and then have a barbeque – perhaps it will be a new tradition in the Tanusondjaja household for many Christmases to come.

Merry Christmas all!