As an adult, I can honestly say that I get more pleasure from giving a meaningful gift than from receiving one.
The Charm Bracelet:
When my paternal grandmother’s first grandson (Andy) was born, my Aunt, Anne, (the new mother) wanted to give her own mother a gift. Anne recalls feeing a deep sense of appreciation for her mother’s hard work and devotion throughout her life. After six months of brainstorming Anne finally called my father (who was soon to become a dad himself) and shared her idea. Anne suggested buying my grandmother a beautiful gold charm bracelet, and of course a charm to go with it.
The first charm was a tiny gold baby face engraved with Andy’s name and date of birth. Needless to say, my grandmother fell in love with this bracelet, which she proudly showed off to all of her friends. After that, each time a new grandchild was born my grandmother was bestowed with another charm. I am the youngest grandchild, so by the time I was born the bracelet was already shining with seven beautiful charms.
I remember as a little girl visiting with my grandmother. She lived in Chicago and we lived in New York so I didn’t get to see her often, but I can still remember her special smell and her perfect white hair. I used to crawl up onto her cozy lap and admire her shiny charm bracelet. Each time I would ask her to tell me the story of each of the charms, who they were for and the story of their birth. I cherished the times that she told the story of her youngest grandchild, me, with utter delight.
My grandmother was blessed to have two great grandchildren born while she was still living. Her oldest great-grandchild was my son. I can’t possibly describe the joy my grandmother and I felt as I delivered her a tiny gold charm engraved with my own son’s name and date of birth. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away just six months before my daughter was born. While my grandmother did not merit to meet her, my daughter’s charm has special meaning. After all, my daughter was named for my grandmother.
The Wine Bottle:
Three days before my wedding my mother’s close childhood friend, Eva called me and asked to arrange a time with me to deliver an important gift. In all honesty I was a bit annoyed that she wanted me to dedicate some of my precious time before my wedding to her. I thought can’t she give me the gift after the wedding? None the less I agreed to meet her – and I am glad I did.
Eva pulled out a beautiful sterling silver cup which she had engraved with my name and my fianc?’s name. She asked me to please use it at the wedding ceremony. It was indeed meaningful, and each time we use the cup we think of the first moments we were joined in holy matrimony.
This gift was so meaningful that I actually called Eva up to personally thank her. About a year and a half later, our first son was born. As is traditionally done in Judaism, were planning on making a celebration for his circumcision. One hour before the party Eva knocked our door and said she was sorry to disturb but she had to give me something.
Again, I was quite surprised by the timing, but this time I knew that she probably had a good reason to be disturbing me just one hour before the party. Sure enough, Eva walked in with a stunning, shining silver plated wine bottle holder. Eva blessed us that our son should merit to use this wine bottle holder at his circumcision, Bar Mitzvah, and eventually at his wedding.
I was quite emotional, probably mostly from hormones after giving birth, but I can say that the wine bottle holder is proudly displayed in our living room, and my four year old son is already awaiting the day we will take it out for his Bar Mitzvah.
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Revital Belz is one of the team members at Canaan-online.com. As a mother of five boys, she also enjoys creating stylish items for men, including personalized T-shirts.