Some gifts warm your heart. My husband’s Christmas gift? It ignited a firestorm of rage. What followed was a year-long plot to deliver the perfect revenge, culminating in a Christmas moment I’ll never forget.

Have you ever received a present that made you question everything about the person who gave it to you? Not an ugly sweater or a pointless knickknack, but a gift so thoughtless it made your stomach drop and your blood boil. That’s exactly what happened to me, Susan, when my husband Murphy decided to give me his idea of a thoughtful Christmas gift. And let me tell you—it set the stage for the most satisfying revenge of my life.

Money was always tight for us. Murphy worked grueling double shifts at a metal fabrication plant, while I pieced together an income tutoring kids and babysitting for the neighbors. Between bills and raising two teenagers, we barely scraped by, and Christmas was no exception. For 16 years, we had an agreement: presents were for the kids and our parents, but not for each other.

That’s why, when Murphy called me into the living room ten days before Christmas, grinning from ear to ear next to a massive gift-wrapped box, I was caught completely off guard.