Hot chocolate topped with cream and gooey marshmallows. Yum. It's delicious and it has the important job of warming your hands during the winter season. It is a drink loved by all, especially my mum. She drinks it every single night before bed without fail and she’s been keeping this routine for as long as I can remember.
It was with this in mind that I bought the perfect Christmas present for her. Three pots of fancy (and slightly overpriced) hot chocolate in all her favourite flavours.
She hadn’t asked for this. It was all my own idea. I knew she drank hot chocolate religiously so I thought I would surprise her so she could be drinking the good stuff for a couple of weeks.
I got all excited. I had put a lot of thought into this, got her something she could make use of, even wrapping it up was fun.
Lovely. Great. Christmas cheer accomplished.
Except it wasn't.
They say it's better to give than receive at Christmas. I don't know who says this exactly, but I've heard it and I've always liked the sentiment. Liked it, but didn't believe it. Because it's not true.
My mum, who always opens her gifts at a snail's pace, wanting to watch everyone else open theirs, finally got around to mine. 'Ooh lovely, thanks Chloe, wasn't this expensive?'. The usual thanks were given.
I even put the hot chocolate pots in the cupboard for her myself. Little did I know, that is where they would remain for the rest of the year.
I eventually made her a cup of the peanut butter flavour, just to try and entice her to start drinking them. She takes a sip. 'Oh, it's not that nice really.'
I was flabbergasted.
That just solidified the fact that she was never going to finish those pots of expensive, fancy hot chocolates. She would be sticking to her usual cheap stuff.
My thoughtfulness meant nothing. She didn't like it. She didn't need it. She didn't want it.
And as we were discussing what to buy for Christmas this year, my mum had the audacity to say, 'make sure you get me something I actually want this year.'
I was flabbergasted again!
This is why I hate buying Christmas presents. I tried to make an effort and provide the element of surprise, and this was how it went. Pots of hot chocolate left gathering dust and a requirement to buy something actually useful this year.
So now I buy people things without any thought involved. I ask them what they want, and they get what they want. No element of surprise, no joy, no Christmas cheer.
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