The Challenge of Gift-Gving

I’m totally a “words of affirmation” girl; but if I could pick another love language, it might be gifts.

I love gifts as well as the next girl – especially if they are accompanied by a mushy card!

Thinking back to my childhood, some memorable gifts come to mind:

• ·        Spic and Span – I once was giving a little cleaning set with a play mop, bucket and a tiny box of Spic and Span cleaner. (There really was cleaner in the box, too.) [This would have been before we moved to Raymond Street, so I would have been somewhere between 4-6 years of age.]
• ·        Prell – Dad would often bring me samples home when he had been traveling. In particular, I remember the gift of a tiny tube of Prell. Since I was really into commercials, I already knew that Prell would give my hair a radiantly alive look! [See Wikipedia- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prell ]  (I knew this because I was an avid commercial-watcher. Mom says I would play while the TV was on and pay no attention until the commercials came on. Then I would come running and stare at the screen until the commercial went off. I was already programmed to become a consumer!)
• ·        Washing Machine – Once my granny bought me a little pink metal washing machine that I said I was going to wash my doll clothes in. She should have known better since I preferred my dolls be nudists and I spent my time dragging them around caveman style (by their hair).

Clearly I had an obsession with cleanliness!

My obsessive personality was apparent after I received another gift, an African Violet. My grandmother showed me how to water it using a medicine dropper syringe cautioning me to water it sparingly each day. I guess she thought a squeeze bulb-type dropper would keep me from flooding the plant.

Little did she know I would have to water it with the dropper hourly. First, because maybe I forgot to do it today? I should water it again, just in case.

Secondly, because the thrill of dispensing water from the dropper was too great to only do it once a day.

I’m sure it is no surprise my Violet ended up in a watery grave.

Now that you see what kind of gifts I received, perhaps it's not surprising I’m not good at giving them. By that I mean, inspiration does not hit me concerning giving gifts to other people.

In fact, I can agonize for days on what kind of gift to give. If the occasion is some sort of grab-bag gift, it is fairly easy since I can always buy something I would like for myself. (And then, if for some reason I cannot go to the event, Voilà! Another gift for me!)

However, the challenge of buying for loved ones puts me in a panic. I want it to be special, something that makes their eyes light up when the gift is received. But alas, I have no inspiration. It’s like as soon as I start shopping, I forget everything I ever knew about them.

Oh, the pressure!

I personally think a gift card is the way to go. “Not so”, says daughter #1, who just happens to have the love language of gifts, “too impersonal.”

The only solution is to make said daughter my personal shopper. She could pick all my gifts out for me, AND she is a bargain hound! Sounds like a win-win for me.

Then I’d only be responsible for buying gifts for her … oops, back to more pressure!

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This post was written in response to Writer's Workshop prompt #4 "Write a blog post inspired by the word challenge." I'm linking up with the community at Mama's Losin' It.