Gift Giving

I have a hard time when it comes to buying gifts for christmas, birthdays and weddings. I am very much a part of the “gift card philosophy” which lets the receiver of the gift buy what they really want.

Sarah, on the other hand, doesn’t really like gift cards because she appreciates the thought process poured into gift-giving and there is no thought behind a gift card. And I can understand that. If we all just buy each other gift cards, what is the point in giving gifts in the first-place. It’s like that scene in Donnie Brasco where Johnny Depp walks up to Al Pacino and they hand each other their christmas presents, which happens to each be a card full of cash. In the end, you just get your money back.

But I am often worried that the receiver of the gift won’t like the gift. Especially if I don’t have a registry or gift list to go by. So that’s why I always end up resorting to buying gift cards. I don’t want to buy something that might be useless. And the gifts that folks really, really want…well, I can’t really afford to give those kinds of gifts.

Since I mentioned Sarah, let me tell you another something about her. A little something of why I love her.

The other night, she came home in distress about one of her kids at school. This kid had no food to eat at home. His step-dad became injured and lost his job. Soon after, his mom lost her job. No income. No food. An empty fridge and cabinets.

So Sarah decided that we were going to buy this family groceries. Off we went to Wal-mart and stocked up our car full of groceries. We also included a $50 gift card so that they could go buy some meat and maybe other essentials that they could use.

The next day, Sarah took this kid home from school and gave him the gift card and told him that she “used some of her social work connections” to get his family food. He was shocked, and then Sarah opened the trunk of the car. He kinda melted down and couldn’t believe the amount of food his family would have this Christmas.

That’s why I love my wife. Always thinking of others and willing to take her job into our private life in order to help others. And she is always looking to put thought behind the gifts that she gives…even if I do force her to just give a gift card sometimes.