Marshmallows & Jello Molds

During the last couple of days, the internet has been trying to give me a topic for this week. It handed me two gifts, both wrapped in the newspaper funnies section, having neither bows nor ribbons. Both times, I thought, “Oh, that’s nice,” and absentmindedly put them off to the side while I continued to search my brain for something to write about. Little did I know that my topic sat waiting inside those packages that were right there beside me all along.

The first gift the internet gave me was a video. Someone had wrapped a banana up in a box as a Christmas present for a little boy who was probably about three years old. That little fella opened that box and was so freakin’ excited over that banana. Anyone who could watch that video and not smile is a Grinch.

The second gift the internet gave me was a news article. This one was a story about a third-grade teacher who had received an extra meaningful Christmas gift from one of her students; the gift was a small bag of Lucky Charms marshmallows. The reason that gift was so special is because the child, who received free breakfast and lunch at school each day, didn’t have the means to buy her teacher a present, yet she figured out a way to get one.

Everyone knows that the marshmallows are the very best part of Lucky Charms. In fact, without the marshmallows, Lucky Charms would be nothing more than sugar-coated Cheerios. The student had picked the beloved charms out of her breakfast, deposited them in her empty spork wrapper, and presented them to her teacher as a Christmas present. The teacher, overcome with “the feels,” posted a photo of the gift with a story explaining the photo. That photo and story must have given everyone the feels, as it has been shared over 46,000 times since it was posted. Anyone who could read it and not be moved is undoubtedly the Grinchiest Grinch of all Grinches.

Now, the reason I did not recognize that there was gold inside either of these newspaper funnies wrapped packages was because all I was seeing was the idea of being grateful for what we receive, no matter what the gift is. The problem with writing about that topic is that I’d be preaching to the choir; after all, I know that every single one of you is the type of person who would be grateful for any present you receive. Later, as I was racking my brain trying to think of the perfect gift to buy a certain someone, it hit me…while I know how to be grateful for everything I receive, I’m not showing much faith in the people I give gifts to, to do the same. If I were, I wouldn’t stress myself over the whole thing.

Over the years and with practice, most of us have mastered our expressions of gratitude when receiving gifts. My favorite example of being a gracious gift receiver is in the movie, Christmas Vacation, when the elderly (and somewhat senile) Aunt Bethany wraps her cat up in birthday paper, bringing it as a gift to the Griswolds, who host the yearly family Christmas dinner. (We won’t talk about what happens to the cat a little later on in the movie.)

Not only does Aunt Bethany arrive with a gift, but as any good dinner guest would do, she also brings a dish to contribute to the meal…her dish is a green jello mold, also wrapped in birthday paper, that she has lovingly adorned with pieces of dry cat food. Ellen Griswold graciously accepts both gifts, explaining to her son that because Aunt Bethany and Uncle Louis don’t have much, she takes things from around their home, wraps them up, and gives them to people as presents.

While most of us are as gracious as Ellen Griswold and the third-grade teacher who received the Lucky Charms marshmallows, few of us are like Aunt Bethany or the the little third-grader; unlike them, we don’t give enough credit to the recipients of our gifts…we don’t have faith that regardless of how much they like (or dislike) what we gave them, they’ll love the simple fact that we thought about them.

I don’t know about anyone else, but when I get something for someone, I’m thinking about them while I’m picking their gift out. I’m thinking about them as I’m wrapping their gift. I’m thinking about how I hope that they’ll like what I got for them…or made for them. One year, I made loaves of pumpkin bread for people and I thought of those people as I measured the flour, beat the eggs, and garnished the loaves with morsels of dog chow (okay, the dog chow part was a joke and also to make sure you’re paying attention).

Here’s the thing: I’ve been giving gifts to people for many years and if the recipients didn’t like what I gave them, they played it off well. There’s only ever been one person who didn’t even pretend to like what I’d gotten her (I gave her milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate so she felt the need to let me know that she didn’t like milk chocolate and therefore, gave it away). With the exception of that one person, nobody has ever made me feel bad about what I’ve given them.

I think that when we give people gifts, they are too busy appreciating the fact that we thought about them to take time to judge what we got them. They know that we put time and thought into their gift and for most people, that’s what counts. As a matter of fact, one year I bought a friend a gift from the dollar store, added a few things to it to make it into a joke that I knew he’d find funny, and put it under his tree when he wasn’t looking. Years later, he was still talking and laughing about that dollar store present…out of all the gifts I’d given him, that’s the one thing he never forgot.

This year, if you’re stressing over the idea that maybe what you bought or made for someone is something that they might not like, just remember the kid who loved his banana, the teacher who was so touched by the spork wrapper filled with marshmallows, and the dollar store joke present I gave to my friend. People won’t care what you got them; they’ll be happy that you cared enough to get them anything at all…

Unless, of course, it’s your cat.