Gifts That Last

Well Hippo Birdie to me!

Speaking of hippos, I decided that the one way I could pig out on four kinds of ice cream was to invite the neighbors over for a "party." Oh, it may have looked like "hospitality" but I've got my motives. I'll list them here:

1. Butter pecan
2. Chocolate peanut butter
3. Oregon strawberry
4. Chocolate fudge brownie

Did I mention the sugar cones?

There were 27 people happily snarfing down free ice cream celebrating my birthday right along with me. I received only ONE present, and it was a bunch of freshly-picked roses, straight from two of the neighbors' front yards.

And that was probably the best gift of all.

Oh, not the roses (though they were niiiiice, vuuury niiiiiice). What I liked was that everyone took me seriously when I said "I DOHN-WUN NUNNA YER STINKIN' PRESENTS."

(That Love Languages Quiz? My "gifts" score ranks at # 489.)

I would have accepted cold hard cash, of course. But it might have been a bit too..."AWK-wuuurrrd" to ask that of my neighbors.

Instead, I'm finding that those overwrought phrases "'Tis better to give than receive" and "Your presence is my present" have become more and more true as I've aged (ahem) year by year. So much of the junk STUFF that's entered my house has not brought much joy to my heart. But people have. And giving has.

So sharing a bunch of ice cream with others made my birthday special this year. I got what I really wanted: people laughing, people sharing, people helping.

Good memories.