Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Great Gifts


Whether it's Black Friday or Cyber Monday, a lot of folks are out shopping. That got me to thinking about presents and how magical they can be.


In the days after my mother's funeral, a friend slipped me a small, wrapped package. Inside was a copy of Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. Known as spiritual chiropractic for the artist's soul, this book has exercises that get you writing again no matter how bad a slump your in. I've used this book over and over and it has never failed me. It is one of my most treasured possessions.


So this is my gold standard for present buying. And I never come close. Will a tooth brush sanitizer or tower of sweets change a life? I don't think so. So I try books. One year, I gave Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life to family and friends. Except for one friend, they uniformly hated it. This year I gave that friend a copy of Eckhart Tolle's new book. She found it dense and didn't finish it.


So this year I'm back to looking at those tooth brush sanitizers. I mean with all the flus and super bugs maybe they are just the ticket. Anyway it's always helpful to have a tooth brush around especially after you've eaten the tower of sweets.

1 comment:

margaret blake said...

John mailed a very funny poem a few years ago about this kind of thing. He was once given a candle snuffer, all he wants is baccy for his pipe or a bottle of rum for his wee tipple. But buying gifts for people, I find, is a minefield.
Yet Kathy you always give me the nicest,most welcome of gifts so you must have a talent for it.