Jessie: In New Hampshire, enjoying being out of book jail!
This month we are talking about the unexpected. So, I wanted to ask you all if you have ever received an unexpected gift and if so, what was it?
Julie: I’m always delighted when people think of me. A friend made me a mask with Boston Red Sox fabric, and that delighted me. Another friend knew I like the edges of brownies, and sent me a pan that makes only edges out of the blue. I love that sort of gift–one that is thoughtful and helps you think of that person over time.
Edith: I got the unexpected gift of a lifetime from these very ladies last week. Malice Domestic had said they weren’t going to send the Agatha Award teapots in the mail, that they would award them next year. My dear Wickeds didn’t want me to have to go a whole year before getting my official teapot for Charity’s Burden. So they made me this unofficial one, with lettering by Jessie Crockett. When I unpacked it I cried for ten minutes!
Sherry: Edith, I’m so glad you love your gift. It was Jessie’s idea and a brilliant one. My husband is my unexpected gift and the gift that keeps on giving. He asked me to dance one night many years ago. I said no at first, but finally said yes. We’ll be married thirty years this fall.
Barb: We moved in mid-December the year I was in seventh grade. It’s a hard time to move a kid and I wasn’t graceful about it. When I came down on Christmas morning, my presents were a bright red quilt and a rocking chair that my father had painted. They were the first non-kid presents I’d ever received and I treasured them. The quilt disintegrated 20 years on, but I kept the rocking chair. It was in my son’s room when he was a baby and then in my daughter’s room. I repainted it at least once. I gave it to my son and his wife when my granddaughter was born. They don’t use it anymore. It never was very comfortable. But they’ve kept it so Viola can have her photo taken sitting on it every year on her birthday. For me, it’s the unexpected gift that keeps on giving.
Jessie: A couple of years ago my two youngest sons told me they were heading off to do some sort of errand one afternoon mid-week. I thought nothing of it until about an hour later when I was standing at my kitchen sink and a third son popped his head round the corner. The three of them had arranged for a surprise visit for my birthday. I was totally surprised and very touched!
Readers: What unexpected gift have you received or given?
Last year, my son celebrated the fact he had money by buying me flowers and chocolates for Mother’s Day. I forget exactly why I found out beforehand, but I remember him saying, “You’d better act surprised when I get home!”
That is so sweet, Liz!
When our daughter was in first grade, we lived next door to a florist. Just before Mother’s Day, she slipped away from the babysitter, walked next door and bought a little green vase with some yellow silk roses with the money she had in her room.
Seeing them over flowed my heart with love, but then the realization that evidently the babysitter wasn’t watching her and that a business would sell merchandise to an unattended child (this was back in the 70’s), we did have to have a little talk done lovingly. That’s when I found out how fortunate I really was because she had been wanting to be a crystal vase with a lot more flowers but they wouldn’t let here CHARGE IT like Momma did. 🙂 Seems they found out how much money she had and then let her spend every penny of it. I did later have a nice talk with the florist. I also found a different babysitter. Still have that little group of yellow flowers in the green vase.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
What a heartwarming and also terrifying story!
This happened to my daughter-in-law. She was visiting her parents at their lake house and didn’t know that her brother, who lives in China, was coming home until he walked onto the beach. She hadn’t seen him in a year and couldn’t help but cry happy tears. Kudows to her family for keeping the secret!
What a lovely story! And what a thoughtful family!
Jessie, you are the bee’s knees! What a thoughtful and lovely thing to do for Edith. I wish I’d thought of it, myself!
I also love the idea of any gift handed down generation after generation, Barb. And I love your children’s idea of using it for an annual photo of your grandchild. That’s just perfect.
Kay Garrett’s florist story reminded me of a story in our family. When she was about six, my aunt got her father a birthday gift of a large red fire engine. When he asked her why she chose that gift, she said it was because that’s what she would want if it were her birthday.
To this day, no one in the family ever learned whether that was done in all innocence, or if it was a crafty ploy to get him something SHE would get to play with (not to mention priming the pump for HER next birthday). Since I’ll never know the truth of it (since my aunt died 30 years ago), I’ve decided to come down hard on the side of sweetness and innocence. Sometimes being able to choose what to believe can be the best gift of all.
I love this story about your aunt! And I love that you are framing it in the light that makes you happy! And thanks for the compliment! I love to be called the bees knees!
Many years ago I made friends with the Quechua maid of a family I stayed with in Peru. I made a point of seeing her every year when I returned and would always take her some little present from the US. One year she returned the favor big time. She gave me a hand woven blanket with her name woven into the fabric. I still get choked up with emotion over that. It lives right next to my computer and it is a very treasured gift. She also cooked all the food for the family, and of course, it was different from what we have here. She said she liked me because “that gringa will eat anything!” Sure did. It was all delicious.
What a touching gift! I love this story!
I’m drawing a blank right now because I got the unexpected gift of a meeting at work that is driving me up a wall. Seriously, no one is listening to each other and we keep answering the same questions over and over again.
I did surprise Mom for her birthday one year. My dad and brother were in on it. The look on her face when she saw me at the front door was so wonderful.
That’s a great gift for a son to make, Mark! One of my sons showed up as a surprise after I had a knee replaced a few years ago – it sped up my healing.
Good luck with your wall crawling!
Lovely gifts <3 My first e-reader was a surprise gift from someone I helped with editing. I had no idea until the UPS guy rang my doorbell. I had a long learning curve with it, beginning mostly with ARCs only available as ebooks, then to preferring it for really big, heavy books. With libraries closed for physical books now, I've turned the corner to still liking "tree books" as well, but having a preference for reading on my iPad. (I gave that first Kindle to my great-niece, because that's the kind of aunt I am). BTW, and OT, the library has opened for drive-up, and the DVD of HARRIET was in my reserves. So moving! Counts as a surprise gift, perhaps, since I had no idea it would be there, requested so long ago.
What a lovely gift! And so useful right now!