My Secret Subject is: "What is your favorite Mother's Day gift you've gotten so far?" It was submitted by The Momisodes. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you need to. She's pretty frickin awesome.
I'm going to pull a classic mom move and talk about a gift from the heart that I received. I honestly enjoy getting hand made cards and paper towel tube craft projects. Anything that shows some effort. I tell my kids that it really is the thought that counts. That just because you didn't pay money for something, or don't have a gift to wrap up in a box, doesn't mean it's not special and thoughtful and appreciated. I try on a yearly basis to convince them that cleaning the kitchen or going a whole day without fighting would be an awesome gift for me. Still waiting for either of those.
(Side note: if we're being honest here, I did get an awesome material gift a couple years ago from the hubs, a Keurig coffee maker. Pretty sure I did a spastic happy dance for a couple straight hours over that one.)
One of my most memorable gifts was a Mother's Day breakfast in bed. I don't remember exactly how old everyone was, but it was back in the days of my being a single mom, so I'm thinking the six of them ranged from about 3 to 13.
Each of them had a job to do for the breakfast; my middle son, probably about 6, was sent out to the yard to pick flowers to put in a little vase on my tray. Now that I think about it, that may have been the year there was a pink ladyslipper in my vase. Which, in our state anyway, are illegal to pick, lol.
My middle daughter (9 or 10 at the time) was in charge of making my coffee. My pre-Keurig coffee. Like, brewing a pot with grounds and water and everything. Apparently it came out pretty........disgusting. Because they sent my oldest son (11ish) down to the little store at the bottom of the hill to buy me a cup of coffee.
For some reason, this was really touching to me. They knew that coffee was my favorite part of breakfast, and they worked hard to make some. But it didn't meet their standards so they scrapped it, scrounged up enough change to buy a cup of coffee, and my son was willing and happy to walk to the store, then walk back with a hot cup in his hand.
I remember lying in bed as they were preparing things and noticing that there was no fighting going on. No yelling, no "I'm telling Mom!" Either they did a marvelous job of getting along, or they did a marvelous job of keeping the bickering quiet. This is in and of itself a gift! Moms of more than one kid, can I get an Amen?!
This year, my ex husband gave the 4 kiddos still living at home some money to buy me a little something for Mother's Day. And no, Hell hasn't frozen over, I checked! He must be working on his resume for Heaven or something. Anyway, I drove them to the mall and they all walked around together, helping each other choose a gift and count money. Again, a gift right there; anytime my kids pull together and do something as a team makes me smile. It was really cool to see how excited they got over having something to wrap up and give me. And I loved seeing how well they knew me by giving me stuff that I actually liked! (Bath & Body lotion, a phone case, sunglasses, and a Mother/Daughter necklace set.) The actual presenst weren't what warmed my heart, although they were great. It was the fact that they put thought into what would make me happy, made the effort of picking out something, and helped each other like siblings should.
So yeah, to me it really IS the thought that counts. Whether it's the thought of 'which gift would mom like', or 'how burnt can this toast be and mom will still eat it?'
Go check out these other amazing bloggers and see what Secret Subject they got!
http://hypnoticbard.blogspot.
http://dinoheromommy.com/
www.thepursuitofnormal.
http://themomisodes.com/
http://singlemumplusone.
http://mooreorganizedmayhem.
www.dailydoseofdamn.blogspot.
http://www.tinystepsmommy.com
http://momrantsandcomfypants.
