Rocking Chair Conundrum

Katie

I’m 37+2 today, due with my first baby (a boy!) on December 10. His baby shower was woodland themed, with a lot of red flannel and natural wood decorations. A lot of those decorations we kept for his nursery, but we put a more contemporary spin on it so it would be less “lumberjack” and more like a baby’s room. Today, my sister surprised my fiancé and I with a handmade rocking chair and side table combo made from sticks and reclaimed wood panels. Normally, this would be a wonderful gift. She drove out of state and, judging my the quality, paid a pretty decent price tag for it. The proceeds went to the woodworker who made them and it was an extremely thoughtful present.

The problem is that my fiancé and I had picked out an upholstered glider from Target that we both really wanted and were planning on buying later this week. We had picked it out because it was incredibly soft and comfortable and matched the nursery. The rocking chair from my sister is all hardwood with no cushion, and in all honesty, isn’t really the sort of style we were going for. It looks like it belongs in some old man’s cabin in the mountains. The nursery isn’t big enough for two chairs, and when my sister realized we had picked out a different chair, she became visibly upset and kept apologizing and offering to bring it back to the shop she got it from. We thanked her up and down and told her it was a wonderful gift and that we didn’t want her to return it, but we could tell she was pretty disheartened. She put a lot of thought and effort into getting this furniture for us, and I feel like such an asshole for wanting something different. Should my fiancé and I just be honest and tell her it wasn’t really what we had in mind or just keep it to ourselves and appreciate the sweet gesture?