I am not a creative gift-giver. I like to think I'm generous but when it comes to great ideas–I know I don't do so well. So on my Friday morning walk with friends, I asked what they were giving their grown kids and grandkids. Not being nosy–just desperate for something that might work for my giftees.
Here's the point one friend made. There isn't much her grandkids need. They have all the clothes, books and electronics they can use–or their parents approve of. So this year, she decided to give her 14-year-old granddaughter one of the pieces of jewelry she inherited from her mother–her granddaughter's great grandmother. She chose a bangle style bracelet she thought a teenager would find wearable. For her 15 year old grandson (his name is Nick), she chose a pair of her father's cuff links (his name was Nathan) that are engraved with the initial N.
There's something so meaningful in passing on a treasure from one generation to another. Whether the teenagers in question will like their gifts is unclear–and maybe even beside the point. The answer may be, perhaps not right now but eventually.
I'm now pawing through boxes of stuff in my basement that we harvested from my parents and paterfamilias' parents' homes. My grandkids may be too young for anything that's in there now, but the grownkids might like some of the delicate and tiny serving bowls.
Not sure anyone wants the porcelain statuettes of shepherdesses or their shepherd admirers that adorned by mother-in-law's bookcase for years or the one that sat on my mother's coffee table. Some things are of their time.
Eventually, though, our grandkids' kids might find them fashionable again. If so, we've got half a dozen hand-painted tea cups and saucers–collected by each set of our parents–to pass on to them. Here's to their holiday chai.
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