Sunday, May 29, 2011

From the Heart










I love homemade gifts. As cliche as it may sound, they truly are gifts from the heart. They can be little (like a hand-drawn card) or big (like a homemade quilt), but, no matter what, the gift giver put something of themself into the gift and had you in mind as they went through the process.

In just the past month alone, I've been the recipient of three such expressions of love/friendship.

The first came from my 16-year-old who presented my new husband and me with a "love jar." This particular gift made me teary-eyed for several reasons. First, it's a variation of the "summer fun jar" I made for both my girls each summer when they were a little bit younger. Only my daughter's gift to me, contained slips of paper with date ideas for my husband and I to do together (rather than the summer outing ideas mine once had). Second, it (along with the note) was one more shred of proof (in a long line of them) that she is happy for us. Priceless, that.


She spent days leading up to the wedding working on her jar, writing ideas on paper, glittering up the outside of the jar, and making it something special.

The second homemade item came from my youngest just two days ago. She walked into the kitchen with a necklace for me. She'd put it together using a chain she had and the dual heart charm we'd put around the favors at the wedding. She thought it would be a way for me to remember the wedding and to keep it close always. Very sweet (I'd show a picture of this, as well, if blogger wasn't being a bit difficult/I wasn't being a bit inept).

The third homemade item came from a fan-turned-friend of my mysteries. She reads my personal blogs and Facebook page and knew that I love certain types of candy. So, when I went down to her town for a speaking engagement, she presented me with a bouquet of my favorite candies alongside little placards depicting the covers of all of my books. It was great!

So tell me, what are some of the best homemade gifts you've received?

Laura

3 comments:

Linda Warren said...

Hi Laura,

Congratulations!!

My neighbor made a poster of the covers of my first ten books and framed it. I loved it and it hangs on my wall.

A reader made me a special bookmrak, another some magnets for my refrigerator and another a fleece wrap that is very warm. All treasured gifts.

Linda

Estella said...

The clay hand prints each of my children made for me as they passed thru the first grade.

Winter said...

For Mother's Day this year, my youngest painted a picture frame in school and his teacher put a picture of him inside. HE actually smiled! This is the kid who doesn't like to smile for pictures. I have a stack of homemade gifts from my four kids over the years and I'm running out of room to display them.