Already there's a small stash of Christmas gifts hidden in our house.
That might seem extreme, but you don't know how much stress that relieves when the holiday draws near. Plus, why wait? If you see a gift that you know someone will enjoy, then snatch it now. You and I both know you'll forget what that perfect gift idea was when the pressure's on in December.
Sometimes I can't wait, though. A few of years ago I carried a package into the house, and as I was sneaking it upstairs Daphne caught me and asked, "Is that for me?" She was teasing me because at the time I had been buying quite a few books on eBay. I answered, "As a matter of fact, it is for you."
Daph didn't believe me, so I added, "Do you want your Valentine's Day gift early? Or do you want to wait?" Daphne called what she thought was my bluff, and she opened the thin cardboard box to find this DVD of Oklahoma! waiting for her inside.
Daphne was suspicious of Hugh Jackman in a musical (think of Carrie Underwood's train wreck in The Sound of Music), but this is actually very good. Even Charlotte, who was only five months old and sick, liked Hugh's singing and dancing. So, the DVD was a good gift, but I jumped the gun and had to find something else to give her on February 14. For me, there are much worse things - like trying on jeans at the store. I hate shopping for jeans. Hate it.
But here's the hard part when you've always got your gift radar turning. It hurts when you find great gifts for people who have passed away. For instance, this ad was in my email this morning.
My mother-in-law would have really liked "The Classic Sound of Hollywood", but I can't give it to her now. Although that's sad, I can still imagine her reaction. I can remember how she would dramatically suck in a breath, pull her hands to her face, and laugh behind her fingers. It was fun to watch.
The same goes for my dad. Whenever he was really surprised with a gift he would turn it over in his hands and murmur, "Jeeese! I can't belieeeve you found this. Bud, that is a collector!" And then, if he were visiting my house, he would hide the present in the trunk of his car, as if he was scared he would lose it.
So maybe that's all I have to do when I see a perfect gift for Dad or Deb. I just have to remember what their reaction would be, and they'd know that they are still important to me, and that I was thinking of them.
When I die I want to be like the character Doc Graham in Field of Dreams. I want people to find a bunch of gifts in my closet that I just didn't get around to giving to them.
That would be a fun legacy to leave behind.
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