How patient would you be? It's a mystery...

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Last year, on November 5th, I received the following text from my sister:

We already had plans to see each other for Christmas…but okay, I’m willing to play, and I love a mystery. Through the next few texts, because I had a lot of questions (see user name… :rolleyes: ) she told me that, ok, fine, it’s not really a Christmas present, just an odd assortment of things she wanted to send me. She will text me, upon occasion, and let me know when I can have a present. (I do not have any idea what sequence of events has to occur for me to get a present.)

Sometime in March, she and I were texting back and forth, and she told me to cut open the box, and blindly take out ONE thing. I slit open the top, but not the sides, so that the box would not pop open, thus revealing its wealth of goodies. ( If I had cut it entirely open, I am not sure I could have stayed strong.)

One of the things in the box is a …metal handle…with a grooved grip…for something. I couldn’t find the end, maybe it is wrapped, and just feels like a different present. I have no idea. It’s the one I am most curious about, but I couldn’t get it out of the box without opening it fully. So I pulled out the plastic jar, and it was intensive moisturizing lotion for the eczema/psoriasis on my shins.

Since then, nothing. (I guess I have not been very good… :dubious: )

It has been six months since I received the box. I waffle between giggling that she may have forgotten, and being mildly disappointed that she might not have trusted me; she may think I just opened it, and thus the game is done. Sometimes, I want to text her and remind her that I still have presents, but the game is too much fun for me.
So, what would you do?

2

I would text her and declare an end time,( like a week from now), for the game. If the gifts have not been assigned by then, all will be revealed.

Then just wait!

3

Pack it up inside a larger box (no peeking!) and mail it back to her. Include a note informing her that She’s It.

4

I would have opened it when it first arrived.

5

Send her the question “Can I open the next present yet?” as a text message, one letter at a time, once a day at the exact same time. If she responds to that with anything other than instructions to open the next present, just ignore that response.

6

I think this is so cool and now I want to do this with my sisters! It would drive them nuts! Actually, it would drive one of them nuts because I firmly believe she would play along. The other would totally open it all at once.

7

All good things must wait. Be patient, put it on a shelf in the closet and forget about it until you hear from her.

Stick to your word! Even it takes 5 years.

8

For me it would not really be a question of patience. I frankly do not have a lot of faith in the good judgment or mental stability of my siblings, and for at least one of them “an odd assortment of things” would likely mean a bunch of trash. Not something cheap or tacky but literal trash such as empty bottles or broken pieces of something or other found in a parking lot. There is no way in hell I would blindly reach into a mystery package from this sibling.

Even if the box were from a sane person and I could reasonably expect that nothing in it would be rotting (or worse, breeding), I’ve been on a decluttering kick recently and a box full of things I may or may not even want would not have been left sitting around taking up space for 6+ months. I would have opened it at Christmas or soon afterward, kept anything I actually wanted, and disposed of anything I didn’t.

9

This wasn’t very well thought out. Why didn’t she wrap the presents up individually and send them all in one big box?

It would still preserve the game while making it way easier for the recipient. Including making it easier not to cheat.

10

elbows, but that would put an end to the game, don’t you see? I am enjoying the game, and I had already intended to go with what Me_Billy said… the box is on a shelf in the closet.

I can out-stubborn my sister, I can, I can!!

Grrr! the box was shipped straight from Amazon.

Merneith, I love your answer!! Problem is, she’s currently packing to move, so she is on a decluttering kick; already held her second moving sale. I somehow don’t think she’d find it as funny as I would!!

TriPolar, that’s cheating!! (Would you have admitted to it? Told her you didn’t have the patience, or extra space, or simply didn’t want to play, or what?)

**congodwarf, ** I am the sister it is driving crazy! Those four little words, “I got you something,” especially in that sing-song delivery, and I am 5 years old again. “What is it? What is it? What is it???” I had to put it in the closet, or I couldn’t have even out-stubborned myself!! :smiley:

11

I bet she just forgot.

12

I’d also bet she’s forgotten about it.

For me, this is the sort of thing I might find fun for a little while, but let’s wrap it up within a reasonable timeframe. Six months is not reasonable. Frankly, I’d probably have thrown the unwrapped stuff in the trash by now out of spite.

13

Start texting her every few hours: “Now?”. When she asks what you’re babbling about, you can remind her. Then you go back to asking, “Now?” Hopefully that’ll push her over into giving you permission.

14

I’m not a fan of mysteries and surprises but if I put my mind to it, I can out-wait anyone. In fact, at Christmas, I kind of like teasing the gift givers by enjoying each present as I open it, so that the ones who come later are like “Just finish opening them all already!” Then I do my patented evil villain laugh and make breakfast first. :slight_smile:

Still, this seems pointless. It doesn’t sound like a progressive gift that’s building up to something. And it’s not all that well thought out to have you just blindly grab something. If she really intended it to be opened over time, she should have wrapped them separately and made the order important.

15

Yeah, it really doesn’t seem like much of a mystery or game to me to keep a box lying around while you wait for months for someone (who may or may not have forgotten all about it) to tell you to take something out of it. There aren’t any clues to figure out, and if there are any tasks or challenges that must be completed the OP has been given no hint as to what they are.

If the gifts are just supposed to be a surprise and not a mystery or game then IMHO it would have been more thoughtful and more fun for the sister to just send them one at a time whenever she felt it was appropriate.

16

Send her a text thanking her for the lotion. Tell her that your shins now are looking wonderful (or that the lotion was a bust and your shins now look like the bark from a dogwood tree, whichever).

Also state / imply / demand / remind her that you can’t wait for the next foray into the mystery box.