Mormon Bloggers

You guys, I can’t believe what I just did!

My husband worked so hard this last week.  I did too because that left me alone with four children more often, but seriously, I am so grateful for the long hours he puts in at work, especially since his job is physically demanding.  He comes home so tired and sore, often late, and gets up early again.

I wanted to do something to show him how much I love him.  Something that would involve sacrifice.  And then the perfect answer came to me.

Fruitcake.

My husband loves fruitcake.  He is the only person on the planet to openly admit this to me and complain that he never gets homemade fruitcake like his grandma used to make.  I happen to think it is one of the world’s worst foods.  I eagerly tried it once when I was 15 and I couldn’t even swallow it.  It was bad.  It was really, really bad.  It never occurred to me that I might eventually marry someone who highly valued this culinary nightmare.

It’s easy to give someone a gift that you like too.  It could cause them to question your reason for giving it to them.  But it could not be denied that by making my husband fruitcake, it was an act of selfless love.

I will give it one positive comment.  It actually smelled kind of good while it was cooking.  But oh my heck, I tried a nibble of candied fruit and I can’t believe people are willing to consume that, let alone combine it with chopped walnuts and whatever “mincemeat” is.  That just sounds disgusting. 

My sons helped me bake the fruitcake I found on allrecipes.com.  It was the easiest one I could find and supposedly fool proof.  I asked them if they could keep a secret.  Indeed, they agreed not to tell their dad about the fruitcake.  But this didn’t stop my 7-year-old from telling my husband, “Whatever you do, don’t look in the oven, Dad!”

He was very pleased with the smell and I’m grateful to have found a unique way of showing love, even if it was totally gross.  I think this beats the time I gave him the first season of 24 as a gift and part of that gift was that I would watch it with him.  I had zero interest in that show, but I got hooked!  We were up until 5am for a few nights in a row saying, “Just one more episode!  WHAT?!  They can’t end it like that!  One more and that’s it!” 

I will not be getting hooked on the fruitcake.  What would be your spouse’s ultimate gift that would pain you to give?  I challenge you to find something wonderful to give so you can enjoy the shocked/happy look on their face.