Winter to Spring Gifts

It’s early April and where I live the daffodils should have been blooming a week or two ago. As I look at my garden today, I’m still waiting for these early spring gems to dazzle me with their brilliance.

Cold and dreary seems to be more a condition of February and early March, not April. I am hopeful that by next week the temperatures will increase. I don’t know why the Great Plains have been so cold - I’d love to send it northward where the polar icecaps are melting to help that area out!

After the drudgery of winter it’s so nice to feel the warmth of spring. I love seeing the flowers start to grow and the birds return to my northern climate. And spring also brings the return of many different celebrations. From valentine’s day to graduations, Mother’s Day and Father’s day. So many different occasions some formal and some quite informal.

Will all these different occasions there is one downside. Most of them seem to require us to give a gift. An interesting gift that we can be proud of.

When I think spring, I think of color and being outdoors. So, using this as inspiration for my gifts, I like to give gifts that are colorful and/or can be used outdoors.

If you are buying for Mother’s day and she likes to garden, consider a useful garden tool. For newlyweds, a gift that doubles down as a housewarming gift is always loved. Now mix in the nature element and give them a picnic basket filled with some of their place settings. Or for more modest budgets you can use cheaper but fun plastic-ware that they’ll use over and over.

My niece is getting married this spring. She is so very excited and just beams every time I see her. She is having her reception outside so for wedding gifts anything that has a natural or ‘outdoorsy’ feel to it would totally rock. Of course she needs everything from stemware to placesettings. She and her soon to be husband have purchased their first house and are working hard to make it a home. So a nice park bench or hammock would be awesome gifts. She also is looking for unique bridesmaid gifts and some cool groomsmen gifts but needs to consider her wedding’s theme first. And then there are wedding invitations, guest books, flowers and personalized wedding favors.

Kids love spring more than anyone. After spending hours indoors at school and then hours indoors after school as well, they can’t wait to break out and play outside for a while. My daughter’s birthday falls in spring, and she has received beach towels, sand toys, and pool toys for gifts. Other gift ideas would be anything to get kids outside playing, such as hula hoops, jump ropes, bicycle bells, sidewalk chalk, and flower seeds. We all know spring can also bring rainy weather. To brighten up those stormy days, consider giving a new, brightly colored umbrella or rain coat.

Spring is that wonderful time of year when it’s not too hot or too cold and the world is alive with color and new life. May your spring gift giving be inspired by this wonderful time of year.

Celebrate Your Graduation

Last year we celebrated a graduation. My husband completed his MBA. It took three years of evenings and weekends, innumerable papers and too may team projects – but he got it done.

After all of the blood sweat and tears, his gift to himself was to go through the graduation ceremony, which gave him an excuse to have a big party afterwards. This was easier said than done, as a couple of months before the ceremony, we moved to a new city about 400 miles away. But we made it work and we celebrated anyway.

I know graduation ceremonies can be a bit dull, and I know many graduates opt to stay home (or work, sleep, or play) instead of attending. Depending on the size of the school, there can be hundreds of students that need to walk across the stage, which can make it feel very impersonal. But there is something about that boring ceremony that puts an exclamation mark at the end of the journey.

Sometimes the guest speaker is enough to get one motivated to attend. The schools my family has attended have not been prestigious enough to have the President of the United States speak, but we did hear Bob Newhart once!

In the end, it doesn’t matter what your GPA is. It doesn’t matter what your degree is. It doesn’t even matter if you loved school or hated it. To graduate is a fantastic accomplishment. It takes focus, time, and money, and often a great deal of sacrifice in all three of those areas. To make that final sacrifice to attend the graduation ceremony, put on those nice clothes, the robe, and the funny hat, and walk across the stage gives the graduate and all of his or her loved ones a moment to step back and appreciate what the graduate has accomplished.

I didn’t expect to be moved at my husband’s graduation ceremony. Heaven knows Bob Newhart didn’t make me cry. But having that time to appreciate all of the hard work he went through and the sacrifices we made as a family was a wonderful gift. And the party afterwards wasn’t bad either!

Celebrate Your Graduation

Last year we celebrated a graduation. My husband completed his MBA. It took three years of evenings and weekends, innumerable papers and too may team projects – but he got it done.

After all of the blood sweat and tears, his gift to himself was to go through the graduation ceremony, which gave him an excuse to have a big party afterwards. This was easier said than done, as a couple of months before the ceremony, we moved to a new city about 400 miles away. But we made it work and we celebrated anyway.

I know graduation ceremonies can be a bit dull, and I know many graduates opt to stay home (or work, sleep, or play) instead of attending. Depending on the size of the school, there can be hundreds of students that need to walk across the stage, which can make it feel very impersonal. But there is something about that boring ceremony that puts an exclamation mark at the end of the journey.

Sometimes the guest speaker is enough to get one motivated to attend. The schools my family has attended have not been prestigious enough to have the President of the United States speak, but we did hear Bob Newhart once!

In the end, it doesn’t matter what your GPA is. It doesn’t matter what your degree is. It doesn’t even matter if you loved school or hated it. To graduate is a fantastic accomplishment. It takes focus, time, and money, and often a great deal of sacrifice in all three of those areas. To make that final sacrifice to attend the graduation ceremony, put on those nice clothes, the robe, and the funny hat, and walk across the stage gives the graduate and all of his or her loved ones a moment to step back and appreciate what the graduate has accomplished.

I didn’t expect to be moved at my husband’s graduation ceremony. Heaven knows Bob Newhart didn’t make me cry. But having that time to appreciate all of the hard work he went through and the sacrifices we made as a family was a wonderful gift. And the party afterwards wasn’t bad either!

I hate February.

I live far enough north that February is still cold (snowed here last night) and there is little greenery showing except for the evergreen shrubs and trees. But I can feel Spring getting closer - I certainly can hear it. Outside my windows I hear the cardinals chirping anytime the sun shines. Especially on cold but sunny mornings. It’s as if to say that they are still here, hanging on and glad to be alive.

When Spring finally does get here I’ll be ready. And thinking of Spring made me think back to some of my more memorable Mother’s Days. You can read more about that here.

For now, I’ll just go back to looking at garden magazines and dream…

It’s another gloomy winter day here. Snow blankets the ground which is preferable to the otherwise grey and brown landscape that would dominate my view otherwise. But I look forward to those days when the sun shines and I can feel the warmth through the windows. Days are getting just a tad longer and I patiently wait for winter to melt into spring.

It’s Christmas season in full swing and I’m doing my gift shopping. I have a few people left to shop for but I’m close. I just nabbed the perfect gift basket for my Uncle Stan who is an avid golfer. And I’ve got some really nice sweaters for my nieces. My husband will actually get that big screen TV and my son, the PS3 he’s been longing for. All in all, it went pretty fast. I ordered some gifts online and shopped the local malls for others. Oh yeah - I stayed within my budget too! From me and mine to you and yours, have a healthy holiday season.

Welcome to Winter to Spring Gifts. This is our first entry - come back frequently and find more!