Tis Better to Give

Somewhere between 4 and 6, the thrill of giving takes on greater importance. I know it doesn't happen at 4, because Danielle is still very interested in the receiving, but at 6, this is the most excited I've ever seen Tyler about giving.


At school this year they had a Gingerbread Shop. The kids could take in money and shop for their loved ones. We sent enough money for Tyler to buy each of us a gift. I was helping in his class that day and saw him buying his items. (I did not see what he bought.) He was SO excited about his purchases! When he got home from school that day, he went straight up to his bedroom, locked the door, and looked over his gifts. He hid them in his closet, where he visited them often over the next several days. Eventually he got so excited that he had to show me what he bought Danielle and Ron. He didn't tell me what he bought for me, but he kept hinting. His most repeated comment was "Mom, when you open your present, you're going to like it so much you're going to want to kiss and hug me forever." And it was always accompanied by a huge grin.



We had a gift "store" at my school when I was little, too. I remember walking around looking for the perfect gift for my mom and then finding the "one". It was a fuzzy deer figure. I don't remember actually giving it to her, but I remember the way I felt. I was so proud of myself and so sure of how much she would love it that I felt like I would burst. All these years later, and I can still remember how strong that feeling was. My mom displayed that deer for years and I always felt proud when I looked at it.


Wednesday night after dinner Tyler asked if he could give us our presents. We told him no, we should wait until Christmas, and thought that would be the last of it. It wasn't. He cried from dinner time until bedtime because we wouldn't open our gifts. If we had realized how upset he was going to be about it, we would have just said yes at first. It got to the point, though, where it was going to be miserable to open them because he was just so upset. At one point he sobbed "If I had kids and they wanted me to open my present early, I would!" (My mom loved that one.) I felt horrible. The next morning he asked if we had time to open our gifts before Ron left for work. We both said yes, and he happily ran to his room to get his treasures.


He gave Ron his gift and eagerly stood by waiting for him to unwrap it. Then he gave Danielle her present and did the same thing. He was just so excited. She unwrapped her gift & immediately jumped up to hug him. Then it was my turn. He was so happy, I thought he was going to burst. I opened my gift and, remembering what he had predicted, I kissed him and hugged him and kissed him some more. He was beaming. And he never once asked for a gift for himself.

This is my fuzzy deer equivalent (a heart shaped magnetic clip that says "I love you Mom") and I will gladly display it and brag about it and hope his chest swells with pride every time he sees it.