Christmas and Holidays

Best Mother’s Day Gift

Backstory

From the first macaroni necklace strung together with love in kindergarten, I had always wanted my gift to my mom to stand out from all the rest. As the years passed, a unique present became more and more challenging.

During the pandemic, we had to avoid things that would bring us together. Now that just may be the best gift of all.

Best Mother’s Day Gift

Mother’s Day is the biggest greeting card holiday of the year. Adult children throughout the land spend precious time considering what card and gift to give to the woman who gave them life.

Purchases will include nightgowns and sweaters and jewelry. Restaurants will be full of moms being celebrated by their families. Florists’ and card merchants’ cash registers will sing.

But as your mom ages, the Mother’s Day gift she may need from you, more than anything else, is the gift of your time. During the quiet time together, she can recall all the moments that gave you both joy as you were growing up. You can tell her how proud you are of the kind of mother she was. She can tell you what pride your choices in life have given her.

Figure out how you can give your mom the gift of your time. Plan a weekend away, just the two of you. Give her tickets to a play, with you as her companion.

Take her to a concert or a bingo, or a wrestling match. Whatever she likes to …whether it’s one of YOUR favorite pastimes or not.

Give her a gift certificate to a gym – and then go with her to exercise.

The THINGS you buy are appreciated, but the real value is the memories you give. It applies on Mother’s Day – and all year round.

P.S.

I followed this advice with my own mom. While a speaker on the convention circuit, I took her with me when booked out west, in Hawaii, and elsewhere. We’d add a few days to spend together after the work was complete. Those times were always precious. First, Mom got to see her daughter in action, and then she got my undivided attention.

Time with your mom – a few hours or a few days – promises treasurable memories for you both.

[Show #291]

Christmas Past Revisited

Backstory

We are storytellers. When our family gets together, there always has to be time for folks to tell their stories. Christmas tales are particularly popular. So many warm and happy events – and those that evoke laughter all around.

Thinking of how much we enjoy them, I thought I’d tell you about them.

Christmas Past Revisited

One of my favorite rites of Christmas is when the family gets together and remembers Christmases past. We hear from each person; whether you’ve had 8 Christmases to date or 80. There is a willing audience to hear you tell about it.

Some eyes glaze over; others brim with tears as we remember loved ones with whom we used to share holiday meals and traditions and gifts and love. You can practically feel the spirit of those who used to share our lives and are here no more. How precious to bring them back to life in our memories and have them share a few holiday moments with us.

The younger family members will hear of how things used to be. The older members will probably recall family traditions or foods. We may be able to congratulate those who still carry out the traditions or lament that they exist no more.

In addition to telling our favorite Christmas stories, each person gets to tell what they are thankful for. The expected treasures are mentioned – love of the family, health, and making it through another year without a major tragedy. But what is often heartwarming is to hear how grateful people are for something small done for them that really mattered: a suggestion that helped solve a problem; a contact that resulted in beneficial networking, news about people who needed help so that we could provide it.

It’s all part of the family Christmas-telling tradition.

P.S.

As our family of locals shrinks and there are fewer oldsters and more little children, the storytelling changes a bit. As we go around the table, we may hear more about a new video game, the latest posts on Instagram, or delight over Taylor Swift’s latest lost love. These stories need to be cherished and valued as much as those about walking to and from school two miles, uphill each way. Throw in some microwave recipes, and you modernize Christmas storytelling.

[Show #511]

Christmas Decorations

Back Story

Every year, merchants present new decorations for the holiday. Modern themes are often glittery and colorful. It’s always a big decision whether to go contemporary and get new stuff or reveal in things old and traditional, coated with memories, secrets, and love.

Christmas Decorations

I do so look forward to dragging out all those tried and true Christmas decorations each year. I look forward to tub after tub of memories opened, explored, spruced up, and lovingly placed around our home.

The wreath chosen by my mother for its lush colors. The hand-made ornaments of my childhood. The treasured nutcracker with the year 1936 in my grandmother’s handwriting on the bottom. The wooden toys that march across my mantel each December. The collection of angels, each a gift from someone who decided to add to my unannounced collection.

With Christmas carols playing and candles burning, I can almost feel the presence of those I have loved over those years, paying their Christmas visit and adding to the smiles the memories bring. Some of my best times with them were during the holidays. So those special memories seem stored in the tubs, along with the garlands and tinsel, to be opened and celebrated and added to each year.

Here’s wishing you many fond memories of Christmas past and the makings of more during this holiday season. Annette Petrick, wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas.

P.S. Each year, when the Christmas boxes come out, I check hopefully for photos. I’d just love to see celebration moments captured for posterity. Alas, there are no photos. No matter how hard I look. I so admire people who remember to take the shot. Our people seem so busy enjoying each other that no one brings out their Kodak Brownie.

[Show #251]

No Christmas Tree This Year

Backstory

My homes were always well decorated for the holidays. There would be lots of relatives and friends visiting, and all that shimmering set the stage for fun and laughter. As the years went by, things toned down. Old or damaged things were discarded, space got smaller, and deletions were deliberate. Until now, we are down to one central adornment – the Christmas tree.

No Christmas Tree This Year

This year is the first time we are going to have no Christmas tree. We planned to leave our home, up north, just before Christmas to spend the winter in Florida. So why bother dragging out all of those ornaments and lights and stuff? It would be so much easier this way.

Of course, I did love looking at the sparkling angel that topped the tree. A gift received long ago from a dear friend who is no longer with us.

After the holiday last year, I packed the Christmas ornaments into boxes labeled with the names of each of my kids and grandkids. I included in each a list of who made each ornament, why it was purchased, or who had gifted it – even how it was found at a yard sale or a craft sale. Opening each of those boxes this year would have brought back so many happy, sometimes distant memories.

Well, I can just remember it all this year without all the fuss. No tree. No trouble. Make sense. Who needs it?

I thought of the lights flickering different colors on the tree branches and the tree skirt made by my sister surrounding its base, barely visible with all the gaily-wrapped gifts that usually cover it.

On the other hand, it IS only once a year. And we WILL be here for most of December. Ah shucks, we can do without a tree NEXT year. For this year, bring it on. Christmas, I am yours!

P.S. Ours will not be one of those houses bowed by the weight of a million Christmas lights. But we sure do enjoy visiting the lit-ups. Will the rising cost of power this year discourage flipping the switch? Several long-time displays have been closed down recently. Don’t worry. Other young families will come along and fill the gap. Merry Christmas will endure.

[Show #469]

Gifts for Grandchildren

Back Story

With commercial advertising beginning before Halloween, your Christmas shopping may be long concluded. You may be at the dramatic stage – Do I wrap and bow tie? Or take the easy way out and bag ‘em up? In either case, sympathize with me on my quest for the perfect gifts for grandchildren.

Gifts for Grandchildren

Grandkids are high on your Christmas gift list if you are lucky enough to have some children of your children in your life. They are an enigma when it comes to choosing a gift they would really like.

The group printed on that sweatshirt they wanted last year, today may be “Oh, totally yesterday, Grandma.” You could misunderstand the techno talk about what they want and buy earbuds instead of headphones.

And that doll you planned to buy when your granddaughter reached just the right age? Look around her bedroom. Do you see the kind of doll collection you had at that age? Do you see any dolls at all?

When your grandkids’ parents were growing up, you were in the house with them. You overheard conversations, received not-so-subtle hints, and sort of had the lay of the land. With grandkids, they may live hundreds of miles away, or their minds may seem miles away, or their wish list items may cost far more than your budget.

Is the ubiquitous gift card the answer? Try asking for a Christmas gift wish list to help you out. Is Justin Bieber still on it? How about Dora the Explorer? Or you could always revert to the hand-knitted scarf – With the gift card tucked inside.

Happy shopping.

P.S. As the kids and grandkids get older, I like to give a keepsake – something they can set on their desk or hang on their wall (probably accompanied by cash) and point to, far in the future, and say, “My grandmother gave me that.”

[Show #510]

The Gift Of Peace And Tranquility

Backstory

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.” – James Allen

The Gift Of Peace And Tranquility

Have your kids or grandkids composed their Christmas gift wish list?

You hear a lot of iPods and video game requests; dolls and stick-riding horses seem to have disappeared. Funky clothes still make the list for the girls. The boys? More customized wishes depending on their age and interests.

Can you imagine finding peace and tranquility on their Christmas list? Not hardly!

And yet those are the things that allow all the other pleasures – Including the hope that a Santa will make some of those wishes come true.

Those kids don’t have to worry about someone bursting through the door at night and carrying their father and brothers away. They don’t see soldiers with guns on the street or hear mortar shells falling and worry about where the next one will hit.

We have been so blessed with peace and tranquility in this country for so long that we can be tempted to take it for granted. Yet there are so many places in the world where peace and tranquility are only a dream – at Christmas or any day of the year.

So as we struggle to make this the best Christmas ever and worry about providing all the things on those Christmas wish lists, let’s give thanks for the good life here in America and pray that tomorrow, our children and we can continue to enjoy peace and tranquility.

P.S. Seeking tranquility, one might pray – “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

Show #465