It’s the Thought That Counts

Gifts That Money Can’t Buy

By Jeff Salter

This week, we’re talking about the favorite gifts we’ve given to others. When I think of this topic, I often come to that O. Henry story in which the poor young husband sells his heirloom watch to buy a comb for his lovely wife to use on her long, beautiful hair. And — also having no money — the wife cuts her hair and sells it to buy a chain for her husband’s treasured watch. Neither of them can now UTILIZE either gift, but each gave sacrificially to honor and please the other. It’s a touching story — sweet to see how much they loved each other… but sad to see that each sacrificed what they loved.

Well, I ain’t cuttin’ my hair… and my wristwatch don’t need no chains.

“A Trip on a Ship Can be Hip, if You Don’t Give Any Lip”

I think my favorite (outgoing) gifts have been the “books” I’ve created for several family members. Here are some examples:

For one of my wife’s milestone birthdays, I put together – with my daughter’s help – a photo album with colorful captions. It was before the scrapbooking craze and before we had access to computers — so it was typed directly onto thick pages and the photos were cropped and pasted into place.

For my son’s 21^st birthday, I created something similar, though with completely different pictures, of course. As with the one for my wife, the focus was on a humorous framework for each photo.

For my daughter’s 18^th birthday, I looked 32 years into the future, when she would be 50 and I would be 75 — and I wrote a sort of “biography” of her life to that point. A lot of it has come true, except she is not yet the Secretary of the Treasury… and she did NOT marry Joey McIntyre of the NKOTB.

For my dad’s 70^th (or maybe 75^th) birthday, I made a booklet similar to what I’d done for my wife and son — except this one used clip art and the wondrous production capabilities of the (now old) PageMaker software.

After the Caribbean Cruise – which my whole family went on… as a celebration of the 50^th anniversary of my Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law – in 1998, I put together a commemorative booklet entitled, “A Trip on a Ship Can be Hip, if You Don’t Give Any Lip.” I made copies as gifts for the in-laws.

I’m sure there have been other examples. All were fun to do, but each took a LOT of work, time, and planning. I had nearly forgotten about these “book” gifts… until one of the Foxes posted earlier this week about some creative productions of her own.

Question:

What has been one (or some) of your favorite outgoing gifts?

[JLS # 361]

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