Not all little girls want ponies. I didn’t, but I sure wanted to be a cowgirl. So when
I was seven years old I asked Santa to bring me a cowgirl outfit complete with boots, hat, toy gun and holster, and bandana. I got it and was happy to supply my own horse…a broom with a ribbon tied around the handle to use as reins.
Maybe riding a broom was a premonition. Just sayin.
I’ve been fortunate to receive some awesome gifts during my lifetime. Most of them—since marrying the Grinch-who-changed—have been practical. I mentioned the cast iron skillet in the last blog. It wasn’t exactly romantic, but it was one of the more useful things I received, as was the life vest which I use whenever we are underway on the boat.
My sister-in-law who married the Grinch’s brother, said her first gift from her spouse was a set of steak knives. No-frills must run in the family.
The most unusual gift given by a spouse to his wife was one I heard about years ago while working for a small city in Southern California. In the break room we were all talking about our Christmas gifts. Grinch had supplied a warm, practical robe for me that year. Someone else had received jewelry…another perfume. But Ruth, the Public Works Department secretary, topped the list. Her husband had given her a chain saw. “A chain saw?” we all gasped. “Yes, and guess what I’m going to cut off first.”
To be fair, I’ve given gifts that have remained in their box since the gift was opened. One year I proudly gave my spouse a set of Patrick O’Brian books. He was a fan of Horatio Hornblower so I thought he’d like the Master and Commander series.
Never read.
Books will one day mysteriously appear in the Friends of the Library book sale.
As we’re inundated with glitzy commercials touting perfume and jewelry and new cars (a new car…really?) I have to repeat something I learned from Dr. Seuss. Christmas doesn’t come in a box. My all time favorite gifts have been periods of time when the family has been together…crazy, silly, all in one place…my happy place.
Enjoy the holidays with your family, whether they have two legs or four legs and fur. And tell me what your favorite or your most unusual gift has been. I’m nosy.
I gave Phyllis an oak toilet seat one year. Mark has zero on me!!
Merry Christmas!
Yes, he did and a frying pan too one year. I suppose the 1977 year was most interesting. Having to stay home, pregnant with twins, I painted a dozens and dozens of ornaments which to this day augment our tree decorations and then came “ekk” and “meek” on 12/28 (really Tyson and Morena). Whew!
Two years ago it was a DeWalt compound miter saw;
last year a big (but not too big) flat screen TV–the better to drool over Jamie Fraser of Outlander fame.
This year it will be either a leaf blower or paying a
speeding ticket. With no husband, I buy these for myself, and I’m never disappointed.
If I had a gift-giving man in my life, I’d love a romantic long weekend somewhere warm. Hmmm, ya think my gift history scares them off? (lol)