Do they want the gift of YOU?
Some grandmas are all about snuggling with their grandkids, holding babies and being sweet…Yeah, that’s not me. Drew’s the snuggler. 
Give me the kids when they’re old enough to have fun with me (sometimes spelled trouble)…and change their own diapers… and feed themselves…you get the idea.
This is the reason why I’ve scheduled a “Day of Holidaze Hooligan’s” with 2 of my grandkids. They’re old enough for us to try some new things together and whether they work or not, we’ll be creating something that will last them their lifetime. This leads me to the reason why I’m writing you.
What should you buy this year to give as gifts?
It depends on if you want to be remembered or if you want to regret the money spent.
Let’s go with richly remembered. This is easily accomplished through 2 things: New Experiences and Convenience. Today’s focus…
New Experiences: what do you remember when you look back at your life? If you’re in our family, some of the best gifts we recall are:
>>> When grandson Lance was given a water gun for his b-day and told it was a showdown in the front yard. He was then ambushed by Drew and me with our own arsenal of water guns and water balloons that drenched everyone in attendance. This has now become a standing family holiday, with the guests packing their own for self-defense. But it wouldn’t have happened if we would have just given a water gun; we decided we should have our own toys, too.
>>> The year we took daughter Kelley and son Steward to buy a Christmas puppy. To disguise what we were doing, we told our son we were buying Kelley a Christmas coat. We had both of them walk into the barn where the puppies were, expecting them to melt at the sight of their new buddy. Our son melted down alright. How could we buy a coat made out of puppies, he demanded! (In his defense, he was only 9 at the time) We’ve had a number of dogs in the years since then, but the coat-that-almost-was holds a special place in all of our hearts.
>>> The Thanksgiving that daughter Lindsay was given a bag of stuffing to break apart. She decided the easiest way to do this, would be to whack the bag on the table; and as the bag burst apart, stuffing flew over 3 rooms (kitchen, breakfast and family room). There were so many croutons on the floor, the dog stopped eating them and curled up to sleep off her carb hangover. Not to be outdone, daughter Kelley was in the corner gagging, because she was going to have to touch a dead bird. All of this quirky chaos was accomplished because Drew told our daughters they could no longer watch him fix the turkey, they had to participate. I think the girls have decided it’s going to be a Cracker Barrel To Go Thanksgiving next year.
The unique and different experiences in our lives’ actually take up more storage room in our subconscious than the everyday stuff. This is one of the reasons why it’s so easy to recall these times. But it’s more than pictures in our head; we bring back the laugh-till-ya-snort-and-your-ribs-hurt feelings that go along with them. This reinforces those feel goods and attaches them to the other people in our mind pictures. Which is why we can feel so good just thinking about someone.
Back to Richly Remembered: whether you’re giving to a kid, or a kid at heart, put a bit of your presence in the gift. That’s the best present you can give.
Dawn and Drew
P.S. Our Gift to YOU…
