Jour de Cadeau (Gift Day)

Every month, since March 2003 (that's before we were married!), Christopher and I have celebrated our own special holiday, one we call Gift Day.  We have a box at home in Virginia, filled with 31 little slips of paper, numbered 1 thru 31, all folded up.  Each month on Gift Day, we pull a number for the following month.  I brought those little pieces of paper with me to France in a little red velvet bag.  Last month on Gift Day, after we exchanged gifts, we picked a number out of the bag and got a "10."  That means that this month, Gift Day was celebrated on the 10th of November, and the maximum we were allowed to spend on each other was 10€.

I've had these little slips of paper for over 7 years

What can you get for 10€?

yummy french pastries (from CDN to me)

yummy italian panettone (from me to him)

I keep a journal of all of the gifts we have exhanged over the years.  I list the date and the gifts we exchanged.  If you happen to be visiting us on Gift Day, we just might give you a present, too!  Sometimes Gaius gets to participate, but most of the time, he is left out.  It's our holiday and we make the rules.

Rules:  The number you pick is the date for the following month as well as the maximum amount in dollars/euros/kronor/yen you are allowed to spend.  We can't give each other junk.  Tax and shipping are not included in the amount you spend.  You can spend as much or as little as you want,  as long as you don't go over the maximum for that month.  The amount you spend has to reflect the local currency of where you are, or where you were shopping.  For instance, I was pretty excited when we pulled a "29" for September.  But, as it turns out, we happened to be in both Denmark and in France on Gift Day (it was a travel day).  In Denmark, 29 kronor is the equivalent of about 4€, or $5.  We ended up spending the kronor.  You can get nice gifts for 29 kronor/4€/$5!

In all the time we have been celebrating gift day, we have never picked 11.  I keep a running tally.  And, I check every year or so to make sure that all the numbers are in play.  SCANDAL ALERT!  I just counted the little slips of paper and one was missing!  Number 2!  We have not pulled a 2 since July 2010, which means it has been out of play for the last 5 months.  Oops.  Well, it could be worse.  See?  We're really serious about this holiday.  Oh, in case you were wondering, the most frequently picked numbers are 14 and 24.

the new #2

There is a cute little store here in Gif called Gif Souris Verte.  I do a lot of shopping for gift day there.  In October, the date was the 21st and we got some great loot!

Gaius got a cup for his pens

Christopher got a clock that tells him the time and temperature in French

I got this super cute elephant to hold my glasses for me!

My favorite gift day gift was from earlier this year.  Christopher got me a travel bag for my chef knives!  His favorite gift from me was the swim bag I bought him ($8) to take to the pool.  The lowest numbers make the most fun holidays.  On July 2nd, I got an ice cream cone and Christopher got an eraser shaped like a peanut.

We have other traditions in our family, like pancakes on Sunday.  But since we live in France now, we don't do that anymore.  Gift Day is something we will always celebrate, no matter where we live.

I actually pulled a "1" for next month's Gift Day.  Any suggestions?

à bientôt!