Aunt Jackie was the most thoughtful gift giver. She decided what would be the perfect gift for each person and set out to find that exact thing. Once, Jessica complained that stuffed animals were ridiculous because they were all pastel colors instead of the actual colors of animals. That Christmas, Aunt Jackie searched (this was before internet and Google) until she found a brown and black striped stuffed cat for her Christmas gift that year. Jessica returned the favor by naming her gift Methane, since Aunt Jackie was a chemist whose real cats were all named after chemicals.
On Briana's second Christmas, Aunt Jackie apologized ahead of time. She wasn't sure what to get her and was so worried she hadn't guessed correctly. I felt sad for her because Briana was too young to really care much either way. It ended up being a wonderful experience for Aunt Jackie and everyone who observed.
Briana was happy about 99% of the time. She was happy 100% of the time that she was tearing into a package, no matter what was inside. Odds were definitely on Aunt Jackie's side.
The gift-distributor called Briana's name and she got excited. He handed her the package and she beamed as she tore in. When she had uncovered the box that contained the dancing dog, someone took it from her, wound it up, and placed it on the floor. She squealed, put her little hands on her face, jumped up and down, laughed, squealed and laughed some more, and was so uncontrollably delighted that everyone in the room was in tears – especially Aunt Jackie.
Even the little kids weren't overly anxious to move on (we open one gift at a time in our family). Dancing doggie went through several rewinds before Briana's excitement showed any sign of waning.
She did open other gifts that night but promptly put them aside to return to her dancing dog. So, even when Aunt Jackie was unsure what to get, she still found the perfect gift.
1 comment:
The best kind of giver. Sounds like she nailed it big time.
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