G is for Gifts
Gifts are my Love Language, which I hate to admit. It makes me sound materialistic and greedy. But for me, it is more about the thought and the effort than the price tag.
Little Girl Lost
One of the sweetest gifts I ever received was this doll (pictured.) I had one when I was a little girl and it was lost when we moved from my Dad’s house, after the divorce. It represented so much to me–a loss of innocence, the definition of beauty and worth and the loss of my family. My best friend, Robin, had one just like it.
Robin and I grew up together in our small town. We’ve been friends since kindergarten, we were college room mates and we are still best friends.
I lost the doll when I was eight. Years passed and I still thought about the doll, even looking on ebay.
When I was newly married and visiting my hometown, Robin saw my car in my Mom’s driveway. She flew in the drive and said, “I have something for you!”
She had found the doll in a box at a garage sale. She was naked and $1 was written on her leg with a Sharpie marker. But she was the same doll I had lost so many years ago.
Every time I see this doll I am reminded of how much my friend cared. I hadn’t mentioned the doll in over ten years but she saw it and thought of me.
Priceless Gifts
The price of the gift is never the issue.
- My Mom made my two sisters and me a scrapbook of our Christmas pictures. She wrote memories on every page.
- My college room mate, Anna, sends me a pumpkin related gift every October. We have been swamping pumpkin items for almost 20 years now.
- My husband has been known to drive 45 minutes to bring me orange Tic Tacs–just to say “I love you.”
- My Ohio friends add a household product to each of our birthday and Christmas gifts. One year it was Lem-Shine, another year it was a dusting product. These are items we would never splurge on for ourselves.
It is truly the thought that counts.
What gift have you received that spoke directly to your heart?
Tomorrow’s post is on Hedgehogs.
Last year my oldest son (20 yrs old) gave me the first birthday gift he’d ever bought on his own. It was a simple picture frame that said family, and he’d filled it with photos of all of us…from a wedding picture all the way to a photo of my boys in their military uniforms. It was awesome!
Several gifts come to mind, especially homemade cards and gifts from you girls, but the one that stands out is my rock. No, not a “rock” on my finger but a huge one in our front yard. Don remembered I had mentioned I liked one I saw years before. He asked you, Nicole, what my favorite Bible verse was (Prov. 3: 5-6) and had it engraved on the rock along with our family name. It was sporting a big red bow when we pulled in from the hospital after my knee replacement surgery. I appreciate the effort he made to find out my favorite verse.
Thoughtful gifts are the best ones no matter what they are. My husband going to get my favorite chocolate from the chocolate Man despite it only costing him $7 is one of my favorite gifts. Oh, and drawings from my nieces and nephew.
A really cool ring with lovebird initials the week before my husband deployed! 🙂
two always come to mind, both from my grandmas: a quilt and a lesson on how to make strudel. May a great H gift you tomorrow
The best gift I ever got was a Hershey’s kiss-filled baby bottle , symbolizing the grandson my daughter would give birth to the next January. She handed me the bottle over breakfast, and even though I knew she’d been trying to get pregnant for nearly a year, it took me a minute to make the connection.
I still have that silly bottle, though we haven’t had a baby around who takes a bottle for a long time.