The Gift I Never Saw Coming!

I spent yesterday Christmas shopping. I wish I could say it was all pleasant and fun and whoo hoo, didn't we have a good time. It was nice, it wasn't crowded, we did actually find a few things for a few people on our list, but my feet hurt, we were rushed for time and frustration set in on the second attempt to find just the right Star Wars Action Figure for a nephew.

As we were driving home, my husband and I started talking about Christmas gifts and shopping for each other and how vastly different our giving styles are from each other. He is the more practical of the two of us, he asks what I want, I tell him, and if it is not too over priced or outlandish, he usually gets in, wraps it and places it under the tree. I, on the other hand, never like to really ask what he (or anyone else for that matter) want. I prefer to shop for someone, based on what I think they might want or enjoy, according to how I know them or know something about them. I like the surprise element of gift giving, the joy of watching someone open a present when they have NO idea what it holds and even better I like knowing that they know how much I care about them, investing in the gift selection time as well as the purchase of the item. As you can imagine, this difference between us has caused some disappointment for me on gift giving days of any sort. I guess I am now in the stage of life where surprises just don't happen, but I would really like one or two every now and again. I guess the child within me is still alive and well.

All the talk of creative gift giving caused me to think back to the most memorable gift my husband gave me... it was Christmas, 1992.

When we first married, I had a cow collection -- don't ask, it was the early nineties, most everyone had some sort of farm animal collection for their kitchen, kinda like how everyone decorated in country blue and mauve in the eighties and burgundy, green and navy in the early nineties, don't judge!! Anyway...

I had cows in the kitchen. It was our first Christmas, money was tight, we were young and in love. I had no idea what, if anything I would get for Christmas that year, truthfully, I guess it didn't really matter, I was just happy to be a wife and in my own home.

So, Christmas morning arrived and I walked into the living room and saw this...
It wasn't just an ordinary cow inspired stool. This was a handmade stool, handpainted by my husband over many nights at his parents' house. To make it even more poignant, most of those nights, I had been mad at him for going over there and leaving me alone...I had assumed he was working on a car or some other bit of "male nonsense" and all that time, he had been creating this gift for me. It was kinda like our own version of "The Gift of The Magi!"


I don't even remember what I gave him that year, I just know that it could have never measured up to the gift he gave me. Not only did I have a really COOL stool for the kitchen, it was personal, a complete surprise and told me that he had taken the time and effort to really get to know me. To this day, sixteen years later, it is my favorite Christmas present he has ever given me.

I am grateful to receive anything at all, especially when so many in the world have so little. My thrills at Christmas now come from seeing my child's face light up and I know I am blessed with the greatest gifts a woman could ask for a home, a family and the love of those that I love.

But a few surprise items in the stocking wouldn't hurt this year... HINT, HINT, HINT!! ;-)

Living Happily In the Moment!
Beverly