English speaking room

Dear girls,
in connection with the subject we discussed before and some words about the customs in different countries
Last year, just before Christmas, we were in the surgery. (In England "surgery" is the word for what we call policlinic in Russia, I don’t know the word used for it in the USA). In the reception I saw an old lady who asked a receptionist to give her best Christmas wishes to doctor D. and in addition to it there was a Christmas card and something wrapped in a bright Christmas foil (possibly it was a box of chocolate sweets) It was for the first time I saw something of this kind here and I was inspired! It reminded me about Russia in some respect. At home I told My Darling that I would like to give a small Christmas gift to our doctor (a box of chocolate sweets and a Christmas card as well). You know in Russia it is a usual thing - a small gift to your doctor (sometimes it is not small, but on the contrary ) to express your gratefulness. But if you could see my husband’s face when he heard about my plans! He was shocked! He said that he would never do it and didn’t advice me to do it! On my question “why?” he replied that in this case we pretended to be treated like special patients and it’s not good!!
I thought it over: may be he was right, and what old ladies can do, (could be taken very indulgently) and not inadmissible for all the rest. At least I can’t imagine it being a pleasant surprise on the face of our doctor.