With 364 Days to Plan Ahead

Today, while LM hung out with me at work, I realized his dad never called him on Christmas. It's not a huge deal, I thought, he'll see his dad Wednesday evening, but still, I can't imagine not talking to my son on a major holiday. Within the hour, my cell phone rang and LM came to the office where I was, talking with his dad on the cell. They spoke for a few minutes and then he handed the phone to me. His dad had forgotten what arrangements we had made for swapping LM mid-week. I reminded him that I was bringing LM to work on Wednesday and my ex was picking him up from my office (which was a courtesy to my ex, since work is much closer to him than my house is). He asked if we could change that. He hadn't realized his significant other was off work on Wednesday (I thought he was going to ask to have LM sooner) and so they'd like to do their Christmas shopping on Wednesday. I wasn't certain what this translated into for my purposes until he said, "Could I just pick him up on Thursday instead?"

I told him that was fine, I have never had a problem with having more of LM's time. Before I could put too much thought into the idea that my ex postphoned seeing his son over the holidays because he had SHOPPING to do, he asked if I would put LM back on the phone. "I'd like to ask him what he got from you yesterday," he said. Well, that'd be a nice gesture, to actually ask LM how his Christmas was...but my ex continued, "so I don't duplicate anything."

In simple terms:

Despite being after Christmas, my ex postphoned getting his son for the holiday by an entire day so that he could get his Christmas shopping done, including the gifts he is getting for LM. (I made sure to tell him what I've already purchased for LM's birthday in May (I'm not that prepared, it's just extra from Christmas) just so he doesn't go out and buy that.)

I should note that when I found out that LM hadn't purchased ANYTHING for the people on my ex's side of the family (despite the need to get the gifts shipped to Florida in time for the holiday) I helped him create a list of ideas for all seven people and together we purchased four of the gifts.

I guess I won't hold my breath that LM's presents will be wrapped.

Update: at 4:55pm, my ex called me while out shopping. "What size shoe does LM wear?" I could wager a guess, but I'm just not certain why I need to help his shopping at this point. "I think you'd want to have him with you to try them on," I suggested. "Oh, okay, nevermind then. Thanks." Christmas shoes, apparently, are all the rage with 10 year old boys.