Gift giving - naturally.

It’s Friday. It’s raining. I have good hair. I am meeting my dear friend for lunch today, at her house, and I want to take her a present. I don’t have to. I’ve reached that strangely grown-up time in my life where I don’t take a present to somebody’s home unless I really want to (and I truly enjoy being with that person). This does beg the question, why do we go to someones home if we don't like them? But that's another story.

But it’s raining. And, much as I love her, I don’t want to go out into the rain, to the shops, because I am not even sure what I want to take.

As I got ready I thought about the whole idea of giving presents; for some people it is an obligation, a nuisance, and for others it is a joy and a demonstration of their feelings. My theory is that if we want to do things that make people happy then it shouldn't be complicated (and it should make us happy too).

So, with that in mind I started to think about what to take to my friend. Hydrangeas are my first thought. My garden is filled with Hydrangeas of all colors and sizes but, aside from the fact that they are laden with rain, they take up a lot of space on a table and would need a large vase to hold them. I decide to wander around my garden for inspiration (in the aforementioned drizzly rain). I have a Thyme plant on the back step. With frost looming I thought that would be a good gift. My friend loves to cook and eat fresh, organic produce. Perfect. I bring it inside, pick out the dead leaves that had taken residence, washed the excess dirt off and prune it so that it looks cared for.

Turns out it looked so happy in my kitchen that I put it on my windowsill, and decided not to give it away afterall.

I then remembered I had some more herbs, which I had planted in a half-barrel, in a rather dismal attempt to try and grow a Mediterranean garden. How ironic, it looked like rubbish all year and now, as Winter approaches, it decides to take on some form of fabulousness! I dug up the large, fluffy Oregano and went to look for one of my favorite terracotta pots (I found a pile of old, odd shaped pots just lying on the side of the road years ago, abandoned. I like to imagine they have lived a long, interesting life, squirreled away in some secret garden – maybe even a castle courtyyard overlooking a cliff). I planted the Oregano in one of these pots and put a rock on the side for decoration (in reality it was to stop the plant from tipping out). Found a small china saucer to put underneath it and I was done. It would look at home in anyone’s kitchen.

Anyway, after potting my herb plant I wanted to share my ideas for gift-giving (not the Wedding sort, just the everyday, I’m happy to see you, sort).

- My first idea is to always shop at home first. I know as I write this that it does take a bit of forethought, but overtime it will become a habit, and you will be surprised at how much you can improvise with what you have around you. I love to bake, but I also know that when I don’t have all the ingredients there are some delicious box/refrigerator items. Brownie mixes (Ghirardelli) and sweet Bread mixes (Krusteaz) are always very good (you can easily add extra chocolate, nuts or dried fruit to these too without changing the cooking time). Don’t mean to be rude, but steer clear of the cut and slice cookies in the refrigerator section, buy a box of pre-made cookies instead.
- Check your pantry cupboards. Do you have something delicious that hasn’t expired? (e.g. imported box of tea, cookies, specialty jam, hot-chocolate and marshmallows). Unopened of course.
- Flowers or plants from the garden that you can pick (or dig up)?
- If I have nothing at home then I do head to the shops, but admittedly I usually spend a few moments before I go, thinking about my budget and planning what I would like to buy. This saves time and stress.
- Don’t overlook the beauty of seasonal fruit and vegetables. Find the absolute best you can, put them in a clear cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon (grapes, peaches, asparagus, tomatoes on the vine, fresh cranberries). Miniature fruit is another one of my favorites, especially in the Fall (e.g. lady apples, clementines, forelle pears).
- Bottle of wine from your home town (or country) or one that has a particularly funny label on it (Australian ones especially, have a lot of funny names and pictures and are often around $10).
- Flowers or plants from the supermarket. Find the most natural looking bunch of flowers there (gerberas, sunflowers, chrysanthemums, tulips etc). Ask for a cellophane floral sleeve to put them in. These keep them fresh, and always make your gift look a bit nicer without being too fussy. Remove any baby’s breathe, ferns, rubber bands, labels or price tags. Cut the stems all the same length. Place back inside the cellophane bag and either take as is, wrap in gift wrap or tie a ribbon around the middle. Fold down or cut the cellophane neatly if it is too high.
- Plants. Same idea. Go to the supermarket and pick something natural. Remove any garish decorations, price tags etc (if you need the care label try to hide it, or just give it to them later).If the plastic pot is covered in a foil or paper sleeve that you don’t like, change it. Take it off, put a piece of plastic (or a plastic bag) over the holes then cover with a square of your own wrapping paper. Tie with a ribbon, or, for a quieter look, just carefully tape the wrapping paper to itself so that it doesn’t fall off. Even easier, just take all the extras off, put some tissue in a bag and put the “nude” plant in the bag, letting it peek out the top.
- Inexpensive book that you know pertains to that person’s life at the moment (e.g. the funny side of parenting for a mother raising teenagers).
- Chocolate, a really delicious bar. Wrap it as if it is the most precious thing in the world.
- Daily desk calendar of their favorite indulgence (travel, shoes, handbags…)
- Anything that they love (favorite candy bar, shampoo, soap, beer, lip-gloss, Twinkies etc)
- A balloon. Who doesn’t love a balloon?

Well, you get the idea, the list could go on; but the point is that with just a little time and thought (and not a lot of money) it is very easy to give gifts to people that we care about.

Decorating with Children - Part 2

I love my daughter dearly, I must do, because I promised not to disclose the contents of the debris that lurked in her room. Things that had not seen the light of day since George W. Bush first entered the White House, and many things that, if offered, would be happily accepted by any of the CSI franchise.

It took four days to finish her room. Painting was the least of it. I took as much out of the room as I could, but the rest I had to move from wall to wall as I painted. Some things were put back while the paint was still wet, and I know there are smudges of purple in areas that there shouldn't be. Decorating is never a perfect process, but like any room, once it's re-loaded the imperfections disappear, and, if we are lucky, we see it as a whole, not just a single piece.

The end result is better than I had hoped. I finished about 10 minutes before she came home from school yesterday. I turned on all the lights, made the bed and fussed with the curtains. Just like a makeover show on HGTV I made her close her eyes while I opened the door. When she opened them she squealed. She loved it so much.


The best part for me is that her room now reflects who she is at this exact moment. It is filled with what is important to her. Her hamster and hermit crabs are on the desk by her bed (so that she can watch them as she goes to sleep). The small loveseat has been rediscovered as a place to sit with her friends. Her collection of rocks, shells, bones and claws (!) have been given their own shelf. There is plenty of room to add more, and she can finally see what she has without sorting through worn, paper bags and special, little cardboard containers. I gave her a white board for drawing and a cork board so that she can pin up art work and photographs. Things that she still loves, but doesn't need on a daily basis, were stored away; still accessible but not on display.

Before I began her room I decided to do a consultation with her. I pretended she was a client ; asking what she liked and didn't like,what she wanted and how much leeway I had to use my own ideas. I wrote notes as we talked and I sketched a plan of the room. We discussed the placement of her bed and whether or not she liked to sit by the window. What could I store away and what did she need to have in plain sight. The small amount of time that this took helped me to understand her as a person, not just a girl who recoiled in horror every week when asked to clean her room.

As parents we often ignore what our children want in lieu of what we think is right for them. Decorating a room is an easy opportunity to let them create their perfect world, to show them that we care about what is important to them.