Grasshopper New Media Presents...

The Christmas shopping season is in full swing. Yes, full swing. I refuse to think that ten shopping days means any shopping I do now is last minute!

A few days ago, Alex and I stood in the aisle of a local department store, hand in hand, surveying some fishing tackle. Neither of us had any clue as to what we were looking at, but we were trying.

“How about this one, Alex?” I held up a lure with giant eyes and some sort of bobbling head.

“No!” he shook his head emphatically, “It hass to be perdect! Dat’s not perdect!”

He was very upset at my choice. The lure seemed to be the most logical gift to me, because Grandpa loves to fish. Alex very much disagreed. He grabbed me by the hand and led me through the aisles. Clearly, he was on a mission. His nearly four-year-old mind was set on something and not only could he not quite articulate it, I couldn’t read his mind and figure out what it was!

As we rushed through one aisle in particular Alex suddenly stopped. He yelped and reached for a large, bright purple plastic cup with a big straw coming out the top. Into the cart it went.

“What is that, Alex? Why a big cup?”

He rolled his eyes as if to imply that my minunderstanding was typical of me. I guess I wasn’t in on the ritual.

“When Dampa and me go get slushies at the store, I can put some in da cup for him. Me can sharwe with him now!” His smile was so wide, his eyes so bright. This was it. It was the perfect gift for my four year old to give his grandfather.

No matter what notions of the perfect gift I had in my head, Alex really understood the idea of giving. I knew that Grandpa loved to fish and had planned to spend a certain amount of money on lures. I knew nothing about fishing or lures, but I figured they were thoughtful enough. Alex only knew what he and Grandpa love to do together. For about $2.50, he was going to give a gift that said “I like spending time with you, Grandpa. Let’s do it more often and I’ll share my precious slushies with you.”

In my head, I went over both scenarios in my head. Giving him the tackle and giving him the cup. The tackle would result in a smile and hearty thanks, because Grandpa does like to fish. The cup would be met with some confusion at first, I’m sure, but once Alex explained to him why he bought the cup laughter would ensue. I could visualize him hugging Alex and asking him when he wanted to go out for slushies.

Quite a few times during this shopping season, I’ve gone for quantity over quality – wondering what the point of it all was. More than once I’ve cynically thought to myself that if the person I was shopping for really wanted that CD, why didn’t they just buy it?

One morning with my son and my cynicism was cured. The answer was simple; just think like my pure-hearted four-year-old.

[tags] perfect present for grandpa, holidays, christmas present, parenting[/tags]
Photo by Taro Taylor via Flickr.