The Spirit Of Giving

Yesterday, I was sitting on my favorite tree stump, which used to be my favorite tree until they cut it down, but hey, now I can sit on it. Couldn't do that before. Anyway, I was just sitting there contemplating the whole Christmas/Winter Holiday gift giving thing and I realized, it really is the thought that counts.

You ask your loved ones what they would like for a gift, and of course, they never give you any GOOD ideas, or they don't give you any at all. So you spend 4,000 hours trying to come up with the "perfect" gift.

And of course, having siblings, my sisters and I each year compete to see who will give the gift that makes my mother cry. I won last year. I got her tickets to see "Gypsy". She loved it.

Of course, not as much as the year my sister gave her a Movado watch, but I digress.

But this year, I asked my mother for some ideas. I said "Mom, what do you want for Christmas". Being of Christian faith, this is what my family celebrates, of course.

"Food. Cigarettes. Wine." She joked.

It was funny. I laughed. Then I came up with the pefect gift. Personally, I think she'll love it, and after all, it does come from the heart.

So on Christmas Day, I know I'll enjoy the look on her face and watching the tears well up as she opens my gift.

Because I've decided to give her a half-eaten bologna sandwich I found in a dumpster last week (I'll be kind and scrape the mold off first, though), a pack of Lucky Strikes and a bottle of Muscatel. Nice, huh? Yeah, I pull out all the stops when it comes to my dear old Mom. I love her so.

It is the thought that counts, right?