Jewelry under my tree

Have you experienced this phenomena involving lovey-dovey couples showing off their happy selves at holiday time? If it's after Christmas, it usually also involves the woman showing off a stunning piece of jewelry.

I thought hosting a Christmas dinner would exclude me from this disaster, so there I was on Saturday - cooking and cleaning like a happy little home-maker. I took a break around noon, and signed into facebook, and....

BAM!!

There it was. "Best husband, best Christmas ever!" was the first status, accompanied by a picture of a 5 kt diamond tennis bracelet. A little further down, "Well, this is unexpected..." with a picture of a black-diamond ring. Sigh. I guess even my laptop isn't safe.

Now, don't get me wrong - it's not the jewelry. I have all the jewelry I want, including a diamond tennis bracelet. It's that feeling you get when you open a gift like that on Christmas morning. A feeling of complete and total love and appreciation. To someone - you are the most important person. That feeling can't be beat.

I sighed, shook my head and closed my laptop. I finished cooking and cleaning just in time. My family arrived, we had a nice meal - and then we opened gifts. I noticed a couple of looks between my cousin and her husband. You know those glances - where he's saying, "No, not again" and she's saying "You be quiet - be happy and like it?" I remember those "conversations" - and the private conversations that followed later.

Suddenly, it was okay that there was no jewelry under my tree.