Why did I have to add the car type, you ask? Transmissions are already ridiculously expensive. However, a luxury German made car transmission is the price of a small American made vehicle -- fully loaded -- and I needed you to understand the magnitude of the bill.
In the second week of Christmas, my true love gave to us, a brand new hot water heater... that took two days to fix... leaving us with no hot water. My big burly retired Marine teased me because I was using my electric tea kettle to fill the bathtub. He said, "It's not too cold, You could take a shower. You guys are wimps." Yet when I came home from work on the second day, I caught him with the teapot in the bathroom.
In the third week of Christmas, my true love gave to me, $800 worth of front tires... to replace the bald ones... so I could pass the VA. inspection. Of course with my luck, their one inspector was out that day leaving me having to make sure I squeeze in another visit to a car care center with all that free time I have during the busy holiday season. Of course my deadline was December 31st.
In the fourth week of Christmas my true love and I gave to my son, a great Christmas. (The gods gave us a break.) Yeah! We focused on my son, though. We decided we had given each other enough lavish gifts for the year.
However, in the fifth week of Christmas (December 31st to be exact -- just when I thought we finished the month unscathed) my true love gave to me, a brand new rear passenger side tail light fixture for $400 dollars because I still failed the inspection.
You see, it was broken, and I kind of forgot because the light still worked. It's just that the red plastic covering was a tiny bit cracked,... okay... broken open... leaving a bright white light glaring into the windshield of all that followed me. I didn't think it was that bad; I just considered myself a beacon of light. Besides, it was my true love's fault. Ever since a heavy wind blew the basketball hoop onto the hood of his Bimmer, he never pulls far enough up the driveway to allow me room to back out of the garage without a fight. And I believe the only reason he refuses to park in the garage is because he hit the side of the door opening as he was turning in one day (though he has never admitted it.) Hence, early one dark morning at 5:30 a.m., I clipped his car trying to back out of the driveway. We were waiting until January to fix it, forgetting that I needed a safety inspection. Ugh!
And now it is the new year, January 1st to be exact. While, I am the first to admit that these stumbling block, Murphy's Law type unexpected bills around the holiday are annoying, I will add that I realized the truth which is that we are blessed to be able to pay them off without issue. The true nightmare would be if we could not. However, let's hope this year my true and I are done with the lavish gift giving for now.
