A Gift For Her

     Diamonds are forever, right?  At least that is the 007 flick so well fashioned after the coined phrase now used to encapsulate  your bride or perhaps future bride, and with a rich, sultry voice you are thus hypnotized to believe that the two starved models walking towards each other with that, "Gosh, I could really go for some Rally's fries about now" look in their eyes, could actually be you and your lady friend.  You are serenaded by music resembling Berry White and watch as beautiful blondes become grossly giddy with excitement and awkwardly fake smiles when they realize that he went to Jarred's while being ransacked by the worst jingle ever conceived, or worse yet...or maybe you are told how to spell the word, Kiss.

     In a consumer-driven world where today's toy and diamond purchases become next year's donations and jewelry box liners one begins to ask himself, "Was it worth it?"  Break it down numerically for a moment.  Let's say you earn $10/hour at your place of business and we shall pretend a pack of smokes COST $5 a box.  If you are a smoker then you just spent half an hour laboring away for a pack of cigarettes, and must ask yourself, "Was it worth it?"  Can we apply the same principal to gifts?

     I can not necessarily recommend you to a jewish diamond emperor who goes by Haivvy and owns a jewelry store ran by brunette triplets who all answer to a guy named Doug, and possibly sold strawberries at $15 a pound to the late, great John Pinnette, I might have an idea or two as to how you might channel your inner Papa Elf and deliver some solid gold memories this year without taking out a second mortgage on the house.

     Time is certainly a rare commodity and we seem to have even less of it in today's day and age.  We so casually trade an hour of it for the latest Madmen or Walking Dead episode...guilty.  It is needed for us to trade at least 8 of them for a days wage or maybe 5 hours for a night's sleep, but do we consciously go about spending the money with the same measures by which we accumulated it?  Entertain this idea - your most memorable vacation, was it the one you spent going all out, and everything was perfect?  Or was the vacation on which you look back and laugh the one where the vehicle broke down, they had no vacancy so you stayed up all night playing cards and teepeeing the house across from the parking lot where you parked you RV?  I recall being in college with barely enough money to purchase both the laundry detergent and bologna.  Our first Valentine's Day dinner was spent on the living room carpeting because our kitchen table just broke.  We had a few candles bought from the bargain bin at Walmart and dined on some Great Value pasta with Berry White playing softly through my Bose speakers I received as a gift from the folks. (They are now almost 20yrs old and play as if they were delivered yesterday.)  The wine was so bad we dumped it down the sink after a couple of sips, but we still, and will forever have the memory.

     One does not need money to celebrate Christmas, they simply need the right spirit.  If all you have to give is time, then use it wisely.  Get creative.  The less money you have, the more creativity is required.  

     1. Go one a date.  It doesn't have to be the most expensive restaurant in town.  One elf with whom I am vaguely acquainted took his date out for "The World's Best Cup of Coffee", which inevitably turned out to be a "crappy cup of coffee", but nevertheless a memory was born and only gave them another story to add to their repertoire of dramatic encounters which they will share for years to come.  The commissioner will tell you that he and his bride would walk to the mound, pop a squat, and share a sandwich back in the day.

     2. Speak her language - does she want time? Has she asked you to be of service around the home in some way?  Has she asked you to attend one of her special events?  What is it that is important to her?  Different people in general speak the language of love in different ways.  Some feel loved by receiving a simple gift, not expensive, , but just the simple thought that you were thinking of them will send them into a warm and fuzzy place while others desire nothing more than a little time next to her man.  If you do not know by now, then ask your lovely lady about her preferences.

     3. Give her a story that you two created together.  Give her a story that she can share with her friends when she goes back to work in January or with her friends at their next get together.

     In the meantime, have a holly, jolly Christmas.  It is the best time of the year, but then again...that's just my humble opinion.