Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts

Friday, May 3, 2013

Still Don't Have That Perfect Mother's Day Gift for Mom or Grandma?


Consider this blog your one-stop-shop for Mother's Day gifts.

I've written two articles about Mother's Day gifts for different types of moms. And in this blog, I'm including ideas for Grandma. Just click the links to read the articles already written:







3) BEST Mother's Day Gifts for Grandma (the blog you are now reading)

What is the best gift for Grandma? Not flowers, not candy, and not jewelry – time and memories.

As a grandma, one of my favorite gifts for any occasion is photographs. I would dearly love for all of my kids to get together and present me with a photo album filled with their favorite photos of themselves and their children (and their children). Pictures on my wall are important too, so framed photos are treasures.

But the best gift of all is time spent with my children, my grandchildren, and my great grandchildren. You can't wrap that in a box and mail it, can you? Phone conversations are nice, and Skype is even better than phone calls, but the physical presence of my loved ones around me is the greatest gift of all.

Still feel that you have to actually BUY something? How about a photo mug or a laptop? Say whaaaat? If you insist on buying something, get the whole family together and buy Grandma a laptop. Don't forget to teach her how to use it – and Skype – if she doesn't already know how.

Grandma probably already has everything she needs, but you could treat her to a massage, a manicure, a pedicure, or even a total makeover if you think BUYING her something is necessary. Other than that, keep in touch with her. Share your time. Don't be concerned about what to talk about. Tell her what you're doing and what your kids are doing, and ask her what she is doing. She won't care what you talk about. She'll only care that you cared enough to call.

She wants your presence – not your presents.

Read more from this author HERE! Thank you for visiting!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Mother's Day Surprises

Nolan (whose sister loves dressing up)

Audrey playing dress up.
I couldn't publish this article when I wanted to publish it – I was in the hospital. Even now I'm home on breathing treatments and lots of drugs for asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia.

So even though Mother's Day is over, I am sharing a couple of Mother's Day stories about kids who wanted to make their mommy's Mother's Day special.

A writer friend of mine awoke to signs posted on her bedroom door:

Happy Mother's Day!
Don't wake up!
Don't Eat!

So, though she really wanted to take a shower, Maria obediently sat in bed for over an hour while her husband and children shopped for her and brought her a surprise breakfast.

As mothers everywhere will attest, it was well worth the wait. Kids get so excited when they know they're going to surprise Mom (or Dad).

Closer to home, my granddaughter, Audrey, knew exactly what she wanted to make for her mother for Mother's Day – a potholder.

Audrey brought the project to me and once she got the first layer of loops on the loom, she couldn't figure out how to proceed to the next stage – she had lost the tool that would have enabled her to drag the loops over and under the loops already on the loom.

Well, I thought, we could use our fingers. Unfortunately, my fingers weren't cooperating, and even though the new potholder looms are designed to keep the loops attached better than the old ones ever did, once you get to the end, the loops tend to pop off anyway and it's very aggravating.

Audrey was already frustrated and ready to throw in the towel – I mean potholder. Not giving up completely, she asked me to "help" her.

Her little six-year-old fingers couldn't maneuver the weave, though, so we made a plan: she had already strung the bottom layer of loops – I would weave the top loops. She would be responsible for choosing the colors (she has a good eye for colors).

I was having a difficult time using my fingers until I found a plastic coated paper clip. It worked, but I had to be careful not to drag up the lower loops with the inside of the clip.

When the looping and weaving phase was over, she said, "Now what?" So Grandma took over the next job too, while Audrey watched TV, occasionally glancing in my direction when I prompted her, "Look how this is done, Audrey, so the next time you can do it."

"Audrey."

"Audrey!"

She was sitting right next to me but she was watching something fascinating on TV, and it sometimes takes a minimum of three attempts to grab her attention.

As I was at the early stages of getting really sick, my energy level was depleting quickly. I had to set it aside and told her we'd work on it the next day. She was nearly hysterical. "You'll forget!" (How well she knows her grandma.)

But I promised her that we would complete the project; I just needed some rest.

After we (not really "we") weaved it together, I found that pulling off the loops was just as aggravating as it ever was. UNTIL I remembered that I had crochet hooks that just might work! And they did.

After the potholder was complete, I hid the potholder inside a place I thought Audrey's mother might not find. Audrey's instructions on Mother's Day morning were to put the potholder into a small decorative bag, cover the bag with crinkle paper, and with Nolan holding one of the handles, walk together with the present to hand it to their mother.

I spent Mother's Day in the hospital, but I heard the plan worked and Mommy was very happy with her present, even though she knew that her mommy had made it for her under the directions of her daughter.

If you would like to read more from this author, click any of the following links:

Your Weird Dreams

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Help For Single Parents 


My Heart Blogs To You 


Writing Creatively

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Theresa Wiza's Blog 


My Associated Content Articles

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Thank you for visiting!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Today is Mother's Day



Mom's Favorite Flower - one of my favorite memories

Gentle breezes and a warm sun play across my face as I monitor my children from our front step.

Though he is not allowed to wander far, my son rounds the corner and hands me a beautiful red rose, obviously from a neighbor's garden.

Not to be outdone, his older sister hands me another beautiful flower, probably from the same neighbor's garden.

My 3-year old, unaware of where her older siblings found these treasures, searches and searches until, beaming with pride, she emerges from the corner of the house to drop remnants of dead dandelions in my hand.

I fawn over them as I did over the other gifts bestowed upon me by my babies.

Years later, I sit in a Dairy Queen parking lot with my youngest daughter, when a little girl approaches my window. Her father smiles bashfully as he watches his daughter hand a perfect stranger a precious gift, a memory. The dandelion sits in my palm, a lovely reminder of that warm sunny day when my children placed their gifts in my hand.

Today my grandchildren -- their parents the givers of more than a dozen bouquets of dandelions -- carry on the tradition. I gratefully place each droopy dandelion in a glass, careful not to drown the bugs flitting around the yellow flowered weed.

My children are grown now. I miss our daily contacts, especially those with my Marine son who is often stationed overseas or living across the country. I long for the day he comes home.

And if he brings me nothing else, I would welcome with laughter and tears another red rose, or even a handful of bug-infested dandelions, my favorite "flower."