Ya Chicagoan,

I strongly agree with you , he should not be thankful for what he did in that case but chicagoan think from the dads point of of view. He always want to give happiness to his siblings no matter what price he has to pay for that, isnt it. So, i guess in this case dad did the same thing. He sacrifices the opurtunity to see his dad just to make his kids happy with New TV.

But still you are also right. It depends on individual state of mind.

BD.