Our daughter Elsie could hardly balance herself up with the assortment of items in her small arms.
As she made her way to my truck after daycare, I had no idea what “treats” she would be bringing along with her. Once buckled in, she began to hold up each individual item in her hand.
Father’s Day was rapidly approaching. And Elsie meant business.
The first thing she held up was a homemade drink coaster she made from a Fourth of July fabric. The next three items were all enclosed in envelopes, splattered with stickers, stick figures and other artwork.
“You can’t open these, Momma,” she said. “They are for Daddy.”
The entire ride home, Elsie held onto those items like a Momma Bear. Nothing was going to get to her surprises for Jason.
Once we got home, Elsie carefully placed her gifts on the fireplace mantle so that “James couldn’t be nosey, and Jase wouldn’t tear it up.”
Elsie patiently waited for Jason, who was working late that evening. But when that back kitchen door came open and the familiar sounds of Jason entering the house rang through our home, her entire face lit up.
As soon as Jason entered the living room, Elsie presented him with her gifts. She immediately told him to place his tea on her patriotic coaster.
And with each envelope that was opened, Jason was greeted with homemade cards that told him how much he was loved by Elsie.
Jason grinned from ear to ear, before giving his little girl a tight hug.
Those little gifts made by your children can outshine any fancy gift you purchase from a store. They are simple, but they come from the heart.
I have managed to keep every Mother’s and Father’s Day gifts inside an art crate. And I hope to keep adding to the collection every year.
I know there will come a day when the sticker-filled notes, the colorful stick figures, the macaroni necklaces and the fingerprint-bookmarks will come to an end.
I want that box to open up from time to time to be reminded of how little my children were but also how huge their hearts were with every stroke of a crayon or swipe of glue.
My own mother kept every single creation I made for her on every Mother’s Day. From painted rocks to a homemade oven mitt, Momma kept everything.
I often wonder if she shifts through the items and remembers the day I gave her my gifts.
I honestly think she does because I noticed a collection of rocks on her dresser the other day when I was paying her a visit.
They were the very same rocks I presented to her when I was a child. Being a tomboy, I was always outside. And when I found a rock that grabbed my attention, I would scoop it and it inside my mother’s hands.
It brought a smile to my face to see that she kept every single, tiny rock I ever gave her. And she had them proudly displayed.
The next time I am out, I am going to find another rock to give Momma. And I will place it in her hand and hopefully in her heart.
