Practicality
Well, it is over. Thanksgiving came and went and as of this writing, there are only 30 days before Christmas, 30 shopping days that is. I, for one, will not do a great deal of shopping until the very last minute, not because I am a procrastinator but because I have learned over time that my best gifts materialize when my daughters help me shop.
You see, they help me pick out things that “delight in the moment”, something I have always struggled with. I am certain I inherited that poor gift giving trait from my father. For example; he took so much joy and pleasure in giving my mother a new vacuum for Christmas one year, and not just any vacuum, a top of the line vacuum that practically did the work for you. It wasn’t until my sister started helping him with his Christmas shopping did he realize the value of “in the moment” gifts like jewelry and stuff.
Because of his teachings of practicality over emotion, I am a practical gift giver also but just so you know… I also enjoy receiving practical gifts like tool organizers and hammers. I love that stuff. Overtime, I did learn the lessons of being a good gift receiver. It may have taken a little too long but never the less, I love all gifts.
It took me a few Christmas’s to understand that when I was a kid and my grandparents gave me a nice dress shirt or a 6pack of underwear to be gracious and loving. It was quite a task to fake excitement of a gift designed towards efficiency and practicality. I know I am not alone when it comes to those memories. As a parent, you realize that low impact gifts such as socks or t-shirts become a teaching moment for your offspring. It helps the parent illustrate to the child to be gracious and thoughtful when opening dud gifts and not just be a spoiled brat.
By now, you know that it is important for be gracious when receiving gifts, but especially gifts from me. I understand my limitations when it comes to creativity and when I finally find that perfect gift for whomever happens to be on my shopping list, it’s a big deal. It means that I have put some serious thought into the selection, at least an hour for sure. So, if I have given you a socket set with both metric and US sizes available from 5/16th all the way up to 15/16th in a super durable folding case or perhaps an ironing board with double lined pads and no scorch ironing surface, you have to know that it came from the heart. I don’t make these choices lightly.
Another form of special gifts are the ones that are made. These are my favorite gifts to receive by far and they are also rapidly becoming one of my favorites types of gifts to give. Back when I was a young man and was determined to move through the corporate ranks at the speed of light, I never had time to learn how to use a drill, saw, or anything else that you could plug into a wall and then set out to lose a finger learning how to use it. This type of equipment intimidated me because I had this very strong belief that I needed all my fingers. I still hold on to that belief but not as tightly.
With much more free time on my hands, I have not only learned to love power tools but I have sort of learned how to use them. I am not great at it but thanks to YouTube and some very skilled friends, I have learned enough to not only keep all my digits, but to create some relatively cool stuff. I guess I am not as scared of losing a finger as I am not being remembered. When I heard the great comedian Jeff Foxworthy say that we are just two generations away from not being remembered at all, it hit me. I thought about it and I realized that I know my great grandfathers names, but I don’t know anything about them on either side of my family tree. Think about that. I know…I am getting off track.
Anyway, it is time to get busy at least thinking about the gifts you would like to give and the ones you might like to receive. That’s another point that I must make here; Dropping hints is incredibly important for friends and family with limited imagination, creativity and funds, LIKE ME.
As much as I would like to be like Elvis and buy Cadillacs for my all of my friends and family, I can’t. I don’t have that kind of dough… So, the best thing you can do is open the practical side of your brain and share a few things with folks like; “You know, I sure could use a new ruler, mine is in terrible shape, it only measures up to 9.7 inches now and sometimes I need the whole foot”, or “Gosh, this stapler jams up every time I try to staple more than three sheets of tax evasive paperwork together”, followed up with “a red one would be so easy to find”.
Being a good gift giver is an exceptional talent, a talent that I don’t possess and probably never will. You see, it requires GREAT observation skills and above all, GREAT listening skills, I struggle with both. However, we can all learn to be GREAT gift receivers, not the fake ones, but the ones that open gifts and then smiles like the grinch that just stole the roast beast, followed by a genuine thank you and possibly even a hug. Now that I think of it, being appreciative of the gifts that I have received is a gift all by itself.
Happy Shopping Everyone!