December 30 – Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year? (Author: Holly Root)It's funny that this is today's topic. Last night I was putting away tangible Christmas gifts and I took a few photos and figured I'd have to do a post-Christmas post soon to talk about some of them. And of course I don't have access to the photos right now. So maybe I'll come back and add a few pics to this post over the weekend.
The clearest intangible gift was the addition to our family of my future-sister-in-law, a gift about which I'm quite excited, but it probably doesn't count as a gift to me! And of course I know I've got some gifts that come with both weddings next year, which is more time with my awesome family. And there's all that love with family and friends that hasn't been taken away from me this year, despite my ever-present flaws, but that's all mushy and would be a weird post to read.
So it's easier to stick with tangible gifts. I'll recap some of the gifts I got for Christmas: books (two cookbooks, one running book), bags (five mini reusable shopping bags, a new carry-on suitcase, the new Vera Bradley briefcase-sized bag to match my purse), kitchen stuff (a 12-inch springform pan needed to make my mother-in-law's recipe for ricotta cake, a new blender set), running stuff (running pants, a little balance-type bracelet watch, a hand-held water bottle), things to wear (dress watch, a t-shirt that my family got a big laugh over), games (a chat/questions Christmas game, a puzzle made from a photo taken in Italy for our wedding, which is similar to our photo below that we took on vacation in 2006 (in Tropea, which is a sea-side town in Calabria, Italy)), things to use (a paper shredder, a vase, netflix, lotion and shampoo), and of course things to eat!
And there's also the non-gift I got -- used silverware. Haha. We have three different sets of silverware basically. 1.) One set of silver that was my grandma's, service for 8. 2.) One set I got from my family brand new, service for 8. 3.) And one mostly-complete used set that my mom gave me when she got new stuff, service for 8ish.
So that means we have plenty, but when there's something like book club or Thanksgiving and more than 8 people are eating, at least one place setting doesn't match. Well, the same person who gave me the second set in my list above got new silverware this year for Christmas and gave me all of her old stuff, which was identical to the new set she'd given me about 10 years ago. So now we have about 20ish (a few pieces missing) of one set! Wow! My brother who got engaged on Christmas Eve is about to be living alone starting tomorrow (he had lived with my baby brother, who is moving in with his fiancee tomorrow when the lease for the place he and my bro shared ends this month). He'd mentioned that in his Christmas list so I got him a few kitchen things since he had very little. Of course, as soon as he got engaged, everything we got him seemed kind of stupid -- sure, he'll be able to use it over the course of the next X months before they get married, but they'll probably register for stuff they want. But either way, if I'd known I was going to get silverware leftovers, I could have brought the used set my folks gave me and let him have it. Oh well! Either way, the new-to-me supplement set is awesome and I'm excited to have things all matchy-matchy. I'd still like to track down a few more settings of my grandma's sterling silver, so we'll have service for 10 or 12, but that can wait.
I got a couple awesome birthday gifts -- hubby gave me a gel kitchen mat. Not terribly romantic, but I was having major foot pain at the time and our neighbor has one and I'd let him know how much I coveted hers. The funny things, my hubby does all the dishes, so I don't even stand at the sink very often! But I move the mat to my fave countertop chopping space when I'm cooking. I also got from my folks a really funky white fish pitcher for my birthday. It's hard to remember what I got for Valentine's Day (flowers for sure), for our anniversary (though I do remember a jigsaw puzzle!). But I know I love everything I received this year. My family and friends are quite sweet --I got many things I knew I wanted, and some things that I hadn't mentioned but are great nonetheless.
But I'll probably choose as most memorable the plane ticket my husband got for me. It's a ticket that goes from Dallas to Pittsburgh to Boston and then back to Dallas. The return date is more than two weeks after we leave, so it's pretty definite we'll be heading to Italy after the race. But he said he was so proud of me for qualifying for Boston that he wanted to support me in getting there. That was particularly sweet of him since the race is on our second wedding anniversary.
My sweet hubby really is my biggest fan. One funny story to relate about that from a couple months ago -- a few days after the marathon (MTCM), we were going to get our flu shots. One thing led to another with his work, and he was really late to meet me, so I went in and got my shot alone. As I was leaving, he and one of his co-workers showed up. He was dealing with work stuff still and I was chatting with his co-worker, who I know but not particularly well. His co-worker asked me if I was excited about the marathon. I replied something like, haha, the marathon was actually this past Sunday, it was great. And then his co-worker said, no, I meant are you excited about the BOSTON marathon. It was a little surprising for me to realize that my husband's not just proud of me and complimentary to my face, he's also saying great things about me behind my back! The gift of the plane ticket is the gift of a trip I'll always remember. Now I just have to log the miles that will carry me to another finish time that I like!
The subject of the photo puzzle I got for Christmas this year (Tropea, Italy):
Some other Christmas gifts (including the shirt that my family all thought was oh-so-funny) (but no, we didn't get my parents' cat):
Oh, and an UPDATE, 1/3/11: Over the weekend I got another gift and it's potentially my favorite. It required a great deal of thought, and is super-meaningful. At our new year's eve morning run, my local bestie gave me a metal water bottle and a map. The map is a Streetwise Boston, and the water bottle was created by one of those photo websites and it features pictures of me at MTCM and it notes that I'm Boston-bound in 2011. She was so proud of me, it touched my heart!
No comments:
Post a Comment