The holidays are the perfect time to surprise your loved ones with something nice, be it a small gesture of appreciation or a present of grand proportions.

The redditor going by the name of ‘PM_me_your_recipes’ chose the latter to surprise his wife with; he got her a gift that she’s been waiting for for years. Unfortunately, the grand gesture didn’t roll out as expected, thanks to the online seller.

Surprising a loved one with the perfect Christmas gift can become the highlight of the holiday season for both sides

Image credits: Nicole Michalou (not the actual photo)

This redditor got the ultimate gift for his wife, but the surprise was ruined by the online seller

Image credits: Liza Summer (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Tima Miroshnichenko (not the actual photo)

Image credits: -PM_me_your_recipes

Our brain seems to react quite strongly to positive stimuli we didn’t see coming

Image credits: Tim Douglas (not the actual photo)

Not everyone is equally thrilled about surprises; while some enjoy the excitement of not knowing where their friends are taking them for their birthday or the mystery of guessing what’s inside that box, others dread both of said scenarios.

It’s unclear what determines such a distinction between people, but there is a scientific explanation behind why the former type enjoys the unexpected. Scientists from Emory University and Baylor College of Medicine found that, because of the way reward pathways work, the pleasure centers in our brain react more strongly to pleasurable stimuli when they are unexpected. That means a gift you really wanted, presented when you least expected it, is likely to become one for the books.

But brain activity and surprises seem to be a two-way street; while our brain is responsible for the way we feel about the unanticipated, we can also consciously use surprises to influence our brain, too. Researchers suggest that actively embracing and engineering elements of surprise can bring more engagement, creativity, and wonder into one’s life.

Having a positive secret can have an energizing effect on the person keeping their lips sealed

Image credits: OLIVET PICTURES (not the actual photo)

While keeping secrets doesn’t always bring positive connotations (“I have something to tell you” is arguably more often met with a pit in the stomach rather than an excited smile), it can have a positive effect on the person trying to keep their lips sealed.

Research suggests that holding on to certain secrets can have an energizing effect. “Positive secrets that people choose to keep should make them feel good, and positive emotion is a known predictor of feeling energized,” associate professor of business at Columbia University and lead author of the study, Michael Slepian, PhD, explained in a recent news release.

Slepian continued to point out that people tend to go to great lengths to arrange a grand reveal of a positive secret to make it even more exciting, similarly to the OP wanting to keep the gift a secret until their annual surprise gift reveal show. “This kind of surprise can be intensely enjoyable, but surprise is the most fleeting of our emotions,” he added, suggesting that having extra days to keep the joyful surprise to themselves allows the person to enjoy the positive emotions longer, even if only in their own minds.

That might have been one of the reasons why the OP wanted to wait before surprising his wife with the long-awaited gift. And even though the plan was altered by the spoiler from the online seller, the woman was still over the moon (if you will forgive the celestial pun) with her gift, which was all that matters, according to the redditor.

People in the comments tried guessing what the gift was

Fellow redditors shared their thoughts and discussed similar personal experiences

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