The Best Gift Ever and a Good Cause

I used to love giving gifts. I had a two pronged approach wherein I’d spend months doing recon and then spend the rest of the year on the lookout for the perfect gift for each recipient on my list. I had that kind of time and I had that kind of money and I took great joy in making others smile.
Then I had kids and all of it went to hell. I may know exactly what to get for people but I don’t have the funds or I might have the money but be unable to remember a single coherent conversation with the person so I have no ideas for gifts. My husband gets the worst of it. I know exactly what I’d love to get him, a golf vacation with his dad, or a weekend in Vegas betting on NCAA basketball. Heck, I’d even take a new coat at this time. But, during this time of Santa debt that comes with three kids, just the idea of these makes my walled seize shut.So every year the poor guy gets a steady stream of white cotton undershirts and a stocking full of razor blades and hankies. (Yes, my fairly young husband uses handkerchiefs. That’s a post for another day.)
I had one stellar moment with him though that I will be eternally grateful for.
The year that The Middle One was born was the year The Husband was out of work for nine months. I thankfully still had a full-time job and picked up a small sales business at nights to bring in extra cash before I took eight weeks unpaid leave.
We only had one kid then so The Husband still played a fair amount of golf. I had an idea that summer to buy him new clubs. He’d never had fancy clubs and while it was an extravagance, he never asked for anything and rarely did anything for himself. He had proven to be quite an amazing husband and dad and I thought he deserved to be spoiled.
Then he lost his job and my income was supporting our family. For about three weeks I put the idea to bed. Then, one night I had a particularly successful sales event and realized if I just had a few more of those, I could put some of that money from each one toward golf clubs and still keep our family afloat.
So I busted it for three months. I teetered out on heels night after night with my giant pregnant belly leading the way and I sold my (quite large) butt off.
Walking into that golf store with a cool wad of money in my wallet was one of greatest feelings ever. Yes, it was a present for The Husband, but the hard work that met the goal was all mine and that was an incredible gift too.
As for Christmas morning, I can still remember his face. Not only was he shocked which is hard to do, he was giddy with joy and it had been a long time since I’d seen that.
Those clubs stand dusty most of the time now, but on those few occasions when he gets to take them out, he still looks at them with wonder. And that, is the best gift-given or received.