Sometimes the simplest effort is the greatest gift of all. As a mom busily preparing for her 5th Christmas with kids, I know I appreciate and look forward to every little favor, effort and attempt to help that I can get. So, husbands, take note. When it comes to buying gifts for Moms, it isn’t so much about what you buy, but the effort you put into it. As it turns out, a little of Dads Help is all we really need.
When Dads Help with Christmas
Last night I asked Billy for a favor… The boys and I had been wrapping Christmas present earlier that day and like every mom out there, I’d bought my presents for myself. The boys would ask, “Well who is this for” to which I would say, “for me!” Their little faces wrinkled up as they responded in a very disapproving tone, holding their little palms up in disbelief, “But you know what it is!”
So, after bedtime, I asked Billy, “do you think you could do me a favor?” Never turning down a favor request he responded, “Sure!”
I then asked, “After school, tomorrow could you take the boys to the DollarTree and let them pick out some gifts for me?” It was Friday, Billy’s day off and his day to take the boys to school.
His immediate response, “I would love to do that.”
I had been to the DollarTree {way too} many times in the past 2 weeks so I gave him a few suggestions of easy things the boys could pick out for me. Candles, chocolate, etc. Billy’s birthday is actually 12/18 and I had JUST taken the boys to the DollarTree last week for them to shop for him.
The boys, as I’m sure all kids do, LOVE shopping for their dad’s birthday. It always surprises me what they remember from earlier in the year and what stories come up as we’re shopping. So, I thought, why not, I’ll ask Billy to do that with them for me. And he did it.
When they got home, in a rough and tumble hurricane of whispers and giggles through the door, I pretended to work {not that hard} in my office. They all three scurried to the living room to wrap up their purchases in the boxes I strategically laid out. It was quite the ordeal from the sounds of it and the wrapping might have been more than Billy agreed to. But, he did it. And the boys wrapped up my presents from them in their own too much tape and no folded corners way. Billy, who I’m sure would have used electrical tape if it had been readily available used post-it notes as tags instead of the gold foil ones I provided.
It’s not picture-perfect Christmas wrapping. But they did it for me and I love it. Perhaps this simple effort is my gift, despite whatever they brought home…
And, for the first time in 5 years of Mom Christmases, I have no idea what I’m getting. Other than a lot of effort and true love.
#mysweetandsticky
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