The Spirit of the Gift

From a pretty early age I liked the idea of buying gifts.  I would save my pocket money in the weeks leading up to Christmas and until I was old enough to catch the bus into the big town, I would walk to the village of Lees.  Thirty-ish years ago Lees had a small library, a dress shop, a sweet shop, and on the corner a chemists (aka pharmacy).  All were small shops with glass cases and an array of merchandise that was dazzling to my eyes.  I remember most of my presents being purchased at the chemists because they sold a little bit of everything.  I could find a box of jellied fruits for my Nan, a model airplane kit for my brother, jewels for my Mum, and soap on a rope for my Dad.  Even today soap on a rope makes me think of my Dad and whenever one of the boys presents me with pretty rings or shiny bracelets I can hear my Mum’s sweet laughter that sounded like wind chimes brushed gently by the breeze.   

Over the years I graduated to colognes and desired books for my Dad and at the peak of my gift selections I gave him a moustache trimmer.  This gift was talked about for many years and became the gold standard of gift giving in our home.  My Dad loved gadgets and reading the instructions from cover to cover, laying out the gadget in front of him and mastering each of its capabilities, and intermittently saying “Watch this” excitedly was all part of the fun for him (and for us but we never admitted that).  This gift was an immediate hit as it had numerous settings and speeds.  Once he had gone through this ritual practice run he was eager to try it for real and headed upstairs to trim his moustache all the while murmuring to himself that this was the best present yet.  After a while we heard a meek voice calling for us, “Diane…Nic…can you come here for a minute?”  My Dad emerged at the top of stairs looking surprised and bemused as we rounded the corner.  My Mum and I braked, gasped and burst into laughter; half his moustache was gone!  He tried to look hurt when we couldn’t stop laughing but instead he started chuckling and in a matter of moments we were all doubled over.  In fairness to my Dad he had not seen the look on his face which was even more amusing than his uneven facial adornments.  Finally, weak from laughter, my Mum stammered, “What happened?” and my Dad, sounding bewildered, replied with “It’s a bit more vicious than I expected.”  Over the course of the next couple of weeks we alternately compared him to a certain political leader of the past who led a certain unpopular political party and Charlie Chaplain.  Fortunately my Dad was a somewhat hairy man and the moustache grew back quickly.  No greater love has a father for his daughter than he who doggedly stuck to his story for years that this was the best present he ever received!  Truly, he used it frequently and every other present after that was always compared to the moustache trimmer.

From this experience I learned that it is the thought that goes into gift giving that matters to those you love.  This year I think we have hit some home runs.  Thanks to my amazing husband we started thinking about each of our recipients early in November and consequently had time to plan, devise and find exactly what we were looking for; as an added bonus all shopping was successfully completed before the end of November, an absolute first in my lifetime!  If you are reading this and you are a recipient, please know that if your gift is not everything you wanted we thought about you lots and hopefully that helps ultimately!!  I still love to see the reaction of those I love when they open their presents and I’m optimistic we will have at least four gasps this year; rest assured that no-one is receiving a moustache trimmer ;o)