The best Christmas present I received this year

I’m at the age when I enjoy receiving practical gifts.  A can opener, a new pillowcase (sewn by my mom), a set of Pyrex storage bowls, a Sigg water bottle, and clothes I can wear to work–I know I will use these things on a regular basis.  My big present, a car radio, is not quite as practical, but it’s pretty cool.  My car used to play either cassette tapes or the radio.  Now I can listen to a CD or plug in an iPod or a flash drive with MP3 files.  My dad loaded me up with some audiobooks to listen to during my commute.  It almost makes me want to go back to work (not quite!  I can wait until the 7th).

However, the best present I received this year is completely impractical.  To explain, I have to go back to when I was about five years old.  I was sick and had to take medicine.  To increase my cooperation, my mom let me pick out a special toy that I would get when all the medicine was gone.  I picked a Care Bear, one with a rainbow on its tummy.  I dutifully took all my medicine and the day came when my mom was going to buy me the long-awaited Care Bear.  However, she returned with the wrong one.  I was very upset.  She tried to explain that the store didn’t have the bear I wanted and she didn’t think that I would want to wait for it, so she bought a different bear.  She didn’t understand how much I had my heart set on the bear with the rainbow, so I was stuck with the wrong bear.

The story came up a few weeks ago.  My mom’s version was a little different.  She claimed that I was with her and didn’t want to wait for the rainbow bear, so I agreed to the bear with the flowers.  I asserted my version.  One of my aunts stuck up for me.  She didn’t know which story was true, but figured that a child would be more likely to accurately remember an incident with a beloved plaything.

I’m sure you’ve already guessed what my best Christmas present was.  My mom gave me a jumbo-sized Care Bear with a rainbow on its tummy.  A little brokenness inside me from a long, long time ago has now been repaired.  It’s not so much that I now have the toy I never got back then.  It’s that when my mom realized how disappointed I really was by not getting that Care Bear, she wanted to make it up to me. 

I have a great family.  We all get along and enjoy hanging out together.  I sometimes joke that I have the most functional family I know.  Even in the best of families, though, there are slights and grudges.  Now that I’m a parent myself, I can understand how a parent can be tired or thinking about something else and not give full attention or consideration to a child at any particular moment.  As hard as it can be to let go of adult concerns and focus on a child’s concerns, it is important.  Not all of the hurts we cause our children can be healed with the gift of a stuffed toy.

I’m normally not a fan of over-size stuffed toys.  However, this Christmas, a giant rainbow Care Bear represents just how much my mother loves me.

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