This Blog Presents Making Presents

I stood in the Wal-Mart arts and crafts aisle for twenty minutes last week and stared at pages of card stock, glitter containers, glue sticks, lace borders, stencil kits, coloured pencils, and paint brushes. I envisioned earlier that day I could make a gift, and inspiration and ability would just flow from my hands onto the page, and this gift would be the most fantastic present any person could ever receive ^_^ Instead, as I stood while dozens of shoppers flew around me, I realized that...

Don't wait until it's the LAST MINUTE. Set aside time to
MAKE that PERFECT gift ^_^

"I'm in BIG trouble."

It was years since I last constructed a present for someone that wasn't my mother. Sidenote: Bill Cosby was right; Moms love whatever you make for them. That is why boys and girls go crazy saving money and buying exquisite and wonderful presents for their mothers ^_^ I think that's cool! Something happens, though, when you have to get something for Dad. From my experience and what what I learned they usually get a candy bar, a golf putter, maybe some golf balls, an afternoon out to a sports bar or restaurant, and more often than not a phone call from their kids. Where am I going with this again? Oh yeah, making gifts. If you were small and you made something for your parents, then you probably remember running home to show them what you made, yet more than that you can't forget how happy you felt when you gave it to them.

I made a round brown paper cutout, and in is I pieced together a family portrait of the five of us out of colourful bits of construction paper and clear orange primary school glue (Elmer's wasn't released to the public schools until two years later, so we settled for clear glue that came in a clear plastic bottle with a spout that look like lipstick. I gave it to Dad, and he kept it in his work office for the next twenty years. He now keeps it on the sofa in the master bedroom ^_^ It is a weird little thing; I drew glasses on my Dad's face, and I have a black rectangular piece of grade C paper for hair.

Fast forward twenty-five years and now I'm doing almost the same thing for someone else, without any clue of how I should start o_O There are ways around this creative conundrum that don't involve brick laying or glue that doesn't stick (Oh, the stories I could tell about Elmer's Glue). You can author a poem, write a song, bake a cake, mix a CD, generate a YouTube playlist (maybe), or paint a picture ^_^ What is more, if your heart is in the right place, then I'm sure that special someone will appreciate it all the more. Plus, it will be a complete SURPRISE! Unless, you told that person already o_O ...I'm sure they will love it ^_^

If you have a story you don't mind sharing, feel free to leave it in the comments below!