Longer Lasting Gifts

Children and presents go together. All children want presents. All parents and grandparents and kid-lovers want to give presents. Presents are just one of the thrilling aspects of having close relationships with children.

You can chalk up some of my gift philosophy to my mother again, since two of my most wonderful presents, a copy of a Joy of Cooking I received for Christmas the year I was thirteen, and a solid foam bed pillow when I was fifteen or so, came from my her. I know she was not on a mission to give practical gifts. In fact, I asked for the bed pillow. (I would wake up coughing every night, and the only way to stop was to fold up my pillow and turn my head upside down on it, suck on ice, and try to breathe deeply for about an hour or so until things would settle down.) Anyway, I thought a more solid pillow would help this process, so I asked for one.

My mom actually asked me if I would be disappointed to get a pillow for a Christmas present, shortly before running into the S & H green stamp store. I said of course not. That was why I asked for one. She ran into the store, leaving me with instructions to look out the front of the car and not turn around. I always assumed the pillow came from the stamp store. Regardless of where it came from, I used it for years. It went through high school and college and into marriage with me. Why, probably the only reason I did not cough myself to death was my pillow therapy!

But my pleasure in those gifts, because their value to my life lasted such a long time, made me think about my own gift-giving when we had children to buy for. I imagine these sorts of gifts are easier to pull off when you don’t have children steeped in the current fads, so perhaps starting while children are very young is wise. But while it is still early in the year, and most of the gift buying for 2013 is still ahead of us, here are some suggestions for Longer Lasting Gifts.  Any other ideas?