{"id":2466,"date":"2010-12-30T07:17:10","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T15:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/?p=2466"},"modified":"2010-12-30T07:17:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T15:17:10","slug":"gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/?p=2466","title":{"rendered":"Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"

#reverb10 – Day 30 – Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?<\/i> (Author: Holly Root)<\/p>\n

I have received a lot of gifts this year. The most important emotional gift has been the gift of time. Because you cannot, of course, save time in a bottle, nor can you wrap it. But you can take the children away for the morning so that I can breathe and you can make it plain that you will do it on a regular schedule so I can even breathe in between days, knowing when the next respite will begin.<\/p>\n

And, in the past month, I’ve been given momentum, a giggling tumbleweed in a wind storm, putting the work out there, and out there, and out there.<\/p>\n

As for tangible gifts.<\/p>\n

A few weeks before Christmas, Trombone asked me what I wanted as a gift. We had been talking a lot about gifts. He wanted a medium sized drum kit (thank you preschool field trip to a recording studio) and had asked Santa for it. Twice. (spoiler alert: No. Way.) Fresco has been asking for a Real Buzz Lightyear since August and given his sustained dedication, we decided he probably would love it forever or at least until it broke. The kids and I had decided to get SA a calendar of pictures of outer space, because he loves outer space. <\/p>\n

Put on the spot by Trombone, all I could say when he asked what I wanted was, ‘a pretty necklace.’<\/p>\n

Which is kind of whack; I already have necklaces and I rarely wear them because I rarely wear anything but a t-shirt and jeans or, if it’s cold, a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans. But I really have trouble thinking of things I would like as gifts, other than ‘time.’ I like everything! Books, socks, pens, chocolate, wine. I am very not picky. You could buy me a gift at a gas station, five minutes before we are to have a seasonal cocktail, and I would be delighted with it.<\/p>\n

The way I hear the story told, SA and the children went out on a morning (my gift of ‘time’ is ongoing) and looked at some necklaces in a store. Trombone really liked one with a jewel-crusted skull and crossbones, because pirates are a girl’s best friend, but SA decided a better option would be to make a necklace.<\/p>\n

The following weekend, after buying ten pounds of apples at the Royal City Farmers Market,<\/a> we wandered down to downtown New Westminster, where we got a coffee and snack at the cafe on the corner of 6th and Columbia that until that day had never once been open when I went by. Not the Starbucks, the other corner. As we walked down the street I spotted a shop called Moody Beads<\/a> and pointed it out to SA. Then I went to Army & Navy and bought hilarious joke underwear for him and Star Wars underwear for Trombone, because even though they say not to give underwear for Christmas, if your recipient is a 4.5 year old boy, Star Wars underwear is more than appropriate, it will earn you a hug and a kiss and a “I LOVE MY NEW UNDERWEAR”. Very gratifying.<\/p>\n

There was much hushing and shushing in the house whenever the necklace was mentioned. Fresco really wanted to tell me all about it. Trombone was figuring out how to keep a secret. While I got my toes painted in the comfort of Jen’s house,<\/a> the necklace was being crafted. On Christmas Eve afternoon, it was meticulously wrapped. And on Christmas morning, fraught with excitement, Trombone made me open it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And it’s beautiful. I mean, it would have been beautiful even if it was made of fossilized spiders, but it is truly beautiful. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It clicks against itself when I move. It is bright and shiny. It is soothing to the fingers. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Each bead was strung by someone I love. Each bead is<\/i> love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#reverb10 – Day 30 – Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year? (Author: Holly Root) I have received a lot of gifts this year. The most … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[275,304,471,82,458,173,454],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1","tag-reverb10","tag-beauty","tag-fresco","tag-gifts","tag-new-westminster","tag-the-one-the-only-saint-aardvark","tag-trombone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2473,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions\/2473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/torturedpotato.com\/cheeseblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}