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I can sympathize because I don't have a good relationship with my father, either...well, really, any kind of relationship at all. We talk every now and then, but that's only to keep up appearances on his part, I'm sure. After my parents divorced when I was 4, he was always more concerned with spending all his time with his girlfriend (who didn't care for me much and liked to gossip about my mom) than with me. Things went on this way until last year, when he and the girlfriend/now ex-wife got divorced and suddenly he was calling all the time wanting to take me out to eat and stuff. I was really happy because I was idiot enough to believe that since wifey was out of the picture, he had realized what all he'd missed out on for the past 24 years and wanted to have a real relationship with me. Well, it lasted about as long as it took him to find a new girlfriend, and now I can probably count on one hand the number of times we've talked in the past 6 months. I haven't seen him in almost a year. I guess some men just never grow up. I think I'm fortunate in that I at least have a stepfather who did all the things--and more--that my dad should have done, but it's still hard knowing that your own father doesn't really care that much about you.
If I were you, I'd do like everybody else says and keep the gift certificates. But I would also proceed with caution--your dad may actually have come to his senses and want a relationship with you, but then again, he may not. This is just one of those things that you have to let time sort out.
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