Sometimes the best gifts were the ones you had all along… because they’re still sitting in the box when you received them last Christmas.
My family experienced this phenomenon a while back. I walked in my parents’ front door and was greeted by the tempting aroma of chicken legs being fried without oil.
“Have you ever had air-fried chicken?,” my mom asked.
Both my parents then started talking to me about how the surprising flavor and health benefits of air fried food. Dad then regaled me of opening the box that was sitting in my old room.
I nodded appreciatively and tried not to look annoyed as I told them I had tried air-fried food before. That was the reason I had bought them the device years before, and they apparently had finally opened it up. I had already written it off as a bad gift but was glad it became a good one after all.
Wyndi and I really can’t say much because we finally opened a Christmas gift from them at the end of September: a robotic vacuum cleaner. The idea seemed tempting and we were interested in trying it out. However, we were dubious that it could help our house due to Cooper.
Cooper is our 80 poundSiberianHusky/ German Shepherd mix who has two coats to shed, pretty much all the time. Remember the scene in “Gremlins” where Gizmo gets wet and the balls of fur go flying off? Living with Cooper is kind of like living with Gizmo if a mister were constantly spraying him.
Often I will finish sweeping the floor as he anxiously walks around the house (he’s not a fan of cleaning), and Cooper will pass by sending a obnoxious tuft of fur soaring into the air and floating down on to the floor.
The small robotic disc didn’t seem up to the challenge. We joked about the vacuum immediately dying.
“Tzumi, reporting for duty!” “Okay, Tzumi! Clean the living room.”
“Affirmative! Beep. Beep... umm, there’s a lot of fur here… COUGH, COUGH! Oh no… I can’t… COUGH! … move…. I’m on fire!” We finally b r a v e d unboxing Tzumi (that is his brand name) at the end of September. Tzumi came to life and promptly ran into a wall, turned around and ran into the table. Then, he turned around and bumped into the couch a few times.
He may be a ‘smart’ vacuum but he has the situational awareness of a drunk walking around a dark porch at night.
Still, there was something magical whenever he passed over a clump of fur and it vanished into his dustbin.
We had to use a remote to turn him around every so often and he has to be cleaned out after every vacuuming but it helps a little bit with a very common chore.
The moral is: don’t take those initially unimpressive gifts for granted. They may be your favorite new toy a year later. Even if the dog doesn’t like it.