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I LIKE THIS TOO
Submitted by Alison Storm on December 30th, 2008
You’ve got one. Everyone does. That person on your gift list that is absolutely impossible to shop for. Mine is my mother– she’s the woman who has everything and anything she doesn’t have she just buys for herself anyway. She’s a collector of stuff– bird houses, antique door stoppers, stuffed animals– so you’d think that would make her easy to buy for, but it doesn’t. Here’s an example.
As a kid I started to buy her Snowbabies. They are tiny cherub-like figurines taking part in winter-time activities like building snowmen, pulling a sled or making snow angels. Their $20 price point makes them the perfect “mom†gift for kids whose income is comprised solely of a weekly allowance. So for a few blissful years Snowbabies were my go-to gift. I don’t know if the collection was growing too slowly for my mother’s impatient taste or if her passion for the chubby statuettes was just too intense but the little things started multiplying. Soon my mother’s collection rivaled that of the inventory at the gift store in the mall that sold them and I could no longer tell which ones she owned and which ones she didn’t. So I gave up. Snowbabies were no longer my thing– they were hers.
I think my mother has even contrived collections just to give us something to give her. There was a penguin phase, a moose moment and of course, the cherished hummingbirds. But even buying something for her collection isn’t always a safe move. I remember watching her unwrap a gift from a long-distance relative that came in the mail just before Christmas. Inside was a hummingbird ornament, albeit a slightly tacky one, but the unsuspecting relative probably thought she was making a lovely addition to my mom’s collection. Mom thought otherwise.
She’s also had a thing for jig-saw puzzles (only 1,000 pieces or more) and Audrey Hepburn. So last Christmas I knew I had a win-win when I came across the Audrey Hepburn puzzle at a bookstore chain. “Jackpot,†I thought. “She’s going to love this.†I threw in some Sudoku books (another temporary passion of hers) and called it good. Until I talked to my sister.
“I found mom the perfect Christmas gift,†my sister announced a few days before the big day.
“Oh yeah? Me too!†I told her, fairly certain that mine would beat out hers.
“I got this Audrey Hepburn puzzle for her,†my sister said.
Surely, it wasn’t the same one.
“No way. I did, too,†I exclaimed. “What are we talking here– Breakfast at Tiffany’s? My Fair Lady? Charade?â€
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s,†she clarified.
“Yep, I got her the exact same puzzle,†I said.
But not only did we both get her the same puzzle, we both bought her Sudoku books, as well.
Neither of us wanted to tackle a repeat shopping trip to find another present for mom. So we agreed that rather than rushing to the store to try to find a more unique gift, my sister and I would keep our little secret. We wrapped up the pair of puzzles and both books and presented them to my mother on Christmas morning. She opened the first one, and gushed with glee. When she opened the second one my sister and I acted startled by the coincidence.
“I guess you two know me well,†she laughed.
