Each year I have tried to follow either the traditional or modern anniversary gift. Some years have been trickier than others. This year the traditional gift was Bronze (!) and the modern was linens. I scoured the internet for bronze gift suggestions. A lot of the suggestions were various bronze sculptures or art pieces that I simply had no interest in. One site did suggest the Nintendo hand held in a deluxe bronze case that N probably would have liked, but I refuse to add to his gaming collection. He already has several hand held devices sitting in drawers not to mention the consoles hooked up to our tv gathering dust. I also liked the Brookstone wine opener that came in a bronze finish, but we already have a really nice wine opener. I finally picked out a new wallet from the Fossil store that had a broze(ish) finish and one bronze accent button. Yes, it's a stretch, but merely something to put the Watercourse Way reservation slip in. An elaborate gift card if you will. Molly will be spending Friday night at my parents while N and I enjoy a private room (One Pine: Multi-Jetted Wood Tub, Sauna & Cold Plunge) followed by an hour massage. You can never go wrong with spa treatments.
In looking up this years gifts I was reminded of what we had done in previous years. The traditional gift for the First anniversary is paper. In a shocking turn of events I bought N a gift certificate for Watercourse Way.
The Second anniversary was celebrated with a nice fluffy cotton (traditional) robe and a china (modern) coffee mug.
Our Third anniversary was celebrated on a dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef. We didn't get gifts for each other because we were diving and that was more than enough for both of us. There's actually a pretty funny story about this. It was the second day (our actual anniversary) and we were catching up on our dive log book (did our Advanced Cert on this trip). I ask N what the date was and he tells me the 25th. I then note that the previous day was the 24th and start filling out those dives. N just looks at me for a minute and then says, "Happy Anniversary" to which I reply, "Oh shit, it is." Aren't I such a romantic? At this point the Skipper interrupts to make sure he's heard things correctly. That the *husband* remembered the anniversary and that *wife* did not. Yep, he heard correctly.
Anyway, that year my mom and N's mom decided to keep our tradition going for us. My mom picked us up some wine glasses (modern). N's mom got us a leather (traditional) magazine rack.
For our Fourth anniversary I picked up a camping ice cream maker as appliances were the modern gift. I also got us some fruit for the ice cream as that was the traditional gift.
The Fifth anniversary was wood (traditional). This was the year I got N to agree to new bedroom furniture. First, it took me almost a year to find a set I liked then another year to go order it. Unfortunately when I went to order it I was informed it was no longer available as that line had been discontinued. I have found another set that I like, but the bed frame is a solid piece that will not be moved once put down (drawers underneath for additional storage). That leads to talks of doing the floors, painting, putting in baseboards... etc. etc. etc. You can see why this hasn't happened yet. Let's just get the garage project done and then we shall revisit, mmmkay?
For our Sixth anniversary I picked up a cast iron (traditional) kitchen utensil holder and filled it with N's favorite candy (modern). Yeah, the creativity is starting to wane.
Last year for our Seventh anniversary I think I spaced. I believe we went out for a nice dinner, but I think that was it. The traditional gift was copper and the modern one was desk sets. Nothing very inspiring which is why I don't think I did anything. Whoops! Sorry handsome.
I leave you with a picture of N and I in Kauai right after we picked up our marriage license. Look, N has hair!
