About Nude Not Naked

~ Hand In My Pocket, Alanis Morissette.

An email popped into my mailbox a moment ago. Alex wrote to tell me that we might be heading to Moscow for Christmas and New Year celebration. It would be cold, he said and I would have to prepare myself for the bitter -30C winter. He will even sponsor a nice Russian fur hat (which I discovered much to my disappointment, is not made from real rabbits) to keep my little elfish ears warm.

With the Christmas season just round the corner, Alex and I have been talking about our Christmas presents. Actually we have never been a fan of giving each other presents and we have previously spent very little to impress each other present-wise. To a certain extend, I guess we love each other enough to not bother about the presents. Usually a card or a little letter suffices. He picks me stuff from the street whenever he is away from me, such as shells from Perhentian, Phuket and pine cones everywhere he has gone without me. He sent me poems, quotes and a little toy Patrick. But it seems that we are doing it differently this year. We are going with a big bang.

I guess we found some coins while we jiggled our pockets on the way to work. This is the first year that I am actually asking for a specific present. And no, it is not going to be a portable vacuum like the one he gave his ex-girlfriend, a struggling optometry student he met while crashing into a stationary car, one night not so long ago, when he was very, very drunk. (Yes, he crashed into a STATIONARY car and received 25 stitches across his head and face and scored himself an oriental girlfriend) Alex insists that she was the one who requested for it. I am still doubting this...

Anyway we have discussed what we both wanted as presents and we both agreed that he will buy me a Tag Hueur Aqua Racer for Christmas plus 2007 birthday plus Valentine’s Day. Yes, yes I know this is like a bargain section present hunting but seriously I do not have the heart to dent his wallet. Neither do I lust for any thing so much that I must have it or else I'd die.

Being the smart girl that I am, I knew his heart is set on the new iBook and offered to replace his old Mac, which so impressed me when we first met in 2002 on the island of Perhentian. Apparently his father bought him the iBook as a present last week and I am stuck with buying him a Plasma TV.

“And if you are a really good boy, I’ll buy you a PS3 too.”

I thought happy thoughts whenever I think of flying to London for this Christmas. It is my first white Christmas and I am very excited about being in Alex’s family home in Scotland. And I am not the only one who is well pleased with this news. His aunt and parents wrote me short emails voicing how pleased they are to hear that I shall be gaining 5kg over Christmas, just like the rest of them. I find that thought very warm and inviting. I think it even beats the Tag Hueur as a gift!

And then I had tea with PY today and she changed my mind. Now instead of wanting and requesting for the Aqua Racer, I am asking for the latest vaccination for cervical cancer prevention. Yes, you read it right. I am asking for the vaccination, a course of three painful jabs on my upper arm so as to prevent myself from the second leading cancer disease among Malaysian women.

I am telling you, there is no romance in the relationship when you are no longer asking for the moon and the stars. Something is changing within you when you no longer equate a man’s love with swimming in shark infested waters on his quest to buy you the latest Hello Kitty or making a 15 minute dash to the dry cleaners for your pair of favourite silk trousers, so you look cute in Laundry on Friday night. There is a shift in the relationship when all you want is to reorganize your life so you can accommodate each other’s future plans and place the other person's love above your very own.

What are you left with when you start wanting such practical gifts?

I remember a time when I slipped my hands into his pockets when we took long walks. When the wind was cold and blowing, Alex said I would look adorable in a Russian fur hat.