I'm still trying to figure out how to accept a Christmas present I was given. A couple of years ago, I borrowed some money from a family member. I sold some property to pay off part of that loan which was supposed to be all of the loan I was supposed to be responsible for. There was some left over which was to be covered by our company, where I'm Vice President and basically a shareholder. Things progressed over the past couple of years to where we felt the need to put things in writing and while I signed a note signifying that debt to be my own, even as I signed it, we made it clear that all parties involved knew it wasn't my personal debt.
So, yesterday morning as a Christmas present, the person holding said note signed off a large chunk of that debt to me. On the one hand, I should probably consider this the best Christmas present I've ever received, but on the other hand, I'm left thinking, "I didn't owe you that money anyway." Technically, I basically got nothing for Christmas, which is fine considering we've been hurting the past couple of years and we knew this Christmas would be tight, but now I'm left feeling like I need to gush over this gift. I failed a bit yesterday in my reaction and while I still have mixed emotions about it, I plan to make sure the person who granted me said gift will be made fully aware of my appreciation even though I'm a little annoyed by the whole thing.
I don't know if any of this makes sense, but it feels better expressing it. In the end, if I knew the "loan holder" recognized that the fact I was stuck with my name on the note was bull**** and they were writing off a large chunk of it to acknowledge that fact, I would be far more appreciative. It's just that I don't have any prior experience to think that is the case. Yes, I feel like an ##### for even thinking about things this way.