Merry Christmas

Gifts are such a wonderful thing to receive. The best gift, as said in the wonderful words of Sean Connery is an unexpected thing at an unexpected time. A gift is definately not something that can be bought at the store. The true gift, to me, is really the thought behind the gift. As I try teach my husband that although jewelry is wonderful, I want a gift that he "saw" and "decided I couldn't live without." Last Christmas I had to explain that, this theory did not include a waffle maker. But he tries hard, and I love him.

I try hard when I pick out gifts because it is not good enough to me to just buy something. I would prefer not to give anything if I cannot find a truly meaningful gift. After all, why do we give gifts to begin with. Are we giving a thank you gift? Is it a gift to celebrate a meaninful life event? Or is it just a gift because you wanted that someone to feel special. I rack my brain sometimes to find the right gift for someone, usually I come up with something.

Sometimes we receive "gifts" that are messages. If someone gave me a bar of soap, I wouldn't really consider that a gift --more of a sign that I need a shower, but does it make it a gift if it is wrapped up in a big pink bow? Often times gifts do fulfill a need, and those are very necessry, but buying things off a registry seems more like an obligatory purchase. Ms. Manners hates registries, as do I. Also amusing are those subliminal gifts that really end up benefiting the giver and not the receiver. Even more annoying, are those "gifts" that you end up paying for yourself. I was reading an article about gift cards. A parent gave a a child's teacher a gift card to a high end designer clothes store. But the card was not enough to buy anything that teacher might like, and the teacher certainly couldn't afford to buy those items on her salary. What good is a gift that you have spend more money to take advantage of? I can understand if it is something I plan to do anyway, but I certainly don't want a "gift" that I have to spend more money OR drive a long way to use.

Its unfortunate to see how holidays and special events have been so commercialized. Being that it's June, the "dads and grads" sales were everywhere just a few weeks ago. Its not that dads and grads are undeserving, but I think there are a lot of great thoughtful commemorative gifts that don't come from Best Buy.