Hey.Mom will gush and bawl like a baby over any old thing we get her this Christmas, right? Yeah. She always does. When I was four I gave her a flashlight battery that I had found under the couch and she gushed for a whole five minutes over how much she loved it.
Sorry, but that just doesn’t cut it. I’m twenty years old, not four. I love my Mom dearly, and think she deserves quite a bit of thought when it comes to gift-giving. Every Christmas and birthday, she’s gone out of her way to research and track down the ultimate gifts for each of her five children - especially me.
When I was twelve, she bought me my first electric guitar - and a fifty-watt amplifier to go with it. I probably annoyed her to death, playing chords at full volume all afternoon long, but she never said a word. In fact, I think I caught her smiling every now and then when I’d learn a new chord or scale to play.
For my birthday this year(October), she bought me an electronic tuner for the acoustic guitar that I’ve owned for a couple of years now. She grinned when she handed it to me, saying that since I had no musical sense whatsoever, this might help. Okay, so I was slightly insulted, but deep down I was INFINITELY grateful.
She has purchased shiny new bicycles for Christmas, brightly-colored underwear for birthdays, awesome compact discs for Santa to leave under the tree, and new CD players whenever the need for a replacement came up. She has assembled full-sized drum sets in the dead of night, strung guitars after we were sound asleep, and wrapped odd-shaped packages with a creative flair that made the gift look like something entirely different - she kept us guessing, she did, and we loved every minute of it!
If Mom can take the time to find the perfect gift for me, then why can’t I do the same for her? I may not have a lot of money, but there are plenty of things that I can do or buy for her this holiday season that will mean a hell of a lot to her.
I can use her CD recorder to make a mix of the various songs that she listens to - this will not only please her, but it will also ensure that she leaves all of my 300-something compact discs alone in the future.
I can find that South Park tee-shirt that she likes so much - the one with Eric Cartman dressed as a miniature police officer and screaming, ’’YOU WILL RESPECT MY AUTHORI-TAAAH!’’ Strange sense of humor, but hell, I share it with her, so I can’t complain.
I can buy her a package of disposable lighters, since I’m forever swiping hers after mine run out of fluid or become lost somewhere between here and the Wal-Mart parking lot.
Or, if I wanted to be REALLY nice, I could sit down and write her a serious letter.thanking her for being my mother even when I couldn’t stand half of the rotten things that she did to me(how DARE she make me turn down MY stereo!). I can let her know that, despite the fact that she is far from perfect, I love her dearly, and appreciate having her around - because I have a lot of friends whose parents are either divorced and living far away from each other.or are dead. I’m fortunate, I really am.
And, if all that sentimental and heartfelt letter-writing doesn’t sound like the perfect gift, I can always buy her a carton of cigarettes or a twelve-pack of Dr. Pepper - she’s ALWAYS happy to receive those.