I Told You No Gifts!

On Ukrainian Christmas Eve morning I was impatiently waiting for my roommate to get back home from going out to get a gift bag for our host’s gift for the holiday. He had been gone for close the thirty minuets and I was starting to get really pissed. We were going to be be late and miss our bus if he didn’t come soon. I called to ask where he was and he said he would be back really, really soon. I had everything packed and I was just waiting on him. When he came home he yelled Merry Christmas with a huge shit eating grin on his face and thrust a Pull and Bear bag at me. I was shocked for a few seconds, as I had kind of forgotten what the day was, then I started stomping my feet and mutter about how I had said no Christmas presents for me. I sat down on my bed and pulled out a box wrapped in brown paper bags mixed with gift wrap and my friend apologized for it not looking pretty, but all the shops had been closed. I told him it was fine and in the States I wrap gifts with news paper. I was more concerned with the amount of what looked like packing tape that had been used and how I was going to open it. When I tore off the first piece of paper and saw a box for a new Cannon 75-300mm zoom lens. I might have started crying a bit, yeah I did, and I was over joyed to say the least. I also got a new 8GB memory card, which was a huge improvement over my 1GB.

(My arms are folded to show that I am mad for the gift giving, but seriously look at that face. Not mad one bit)

I thanked him and complained that it was too much, but he said no it wasn’t because I need it and deserve it. The whole walk to the bus stop I am pretty sure I was glowing I was so happy. He turned around and asked if everything was ok and my smart ass reply was something along the lines of “I’m horrible. I don’t know how I could possibly be happy right now. It’s not like I just got the most awesome Christmas present ever or anything.” The shit eating grin had now been transferred to me. The more I thought about it, the more impressed I became of how well thought out this gift was. It was probably the most perfect thing I could have ever been given and I didn’t even know that I had wanted it until I had gotten it. 

I have only been using my new lens for about a week now, as Ukrainian Christmas is on January 7th, but already I am ecstatic about my new toy. I have been going around Lviv using it to stalk people and photograph them. I feel like I am paparazzi or something. It is truly amazing the freedom I have been feeling with it. I feel like the possibilities are endless right now. I also truly do thank my friend, even though it was too much. I wonder what he will get from my birthday...