Day Twenty-one

I didn’t forget! Not really. Day 21 is a Monday, my first day back at work after a week off getting ready for our Christmas party. To say there was a pile of work waiting for me is somewhat of an understatement. I thought, “I will post something on the blog as soon as I get to work”, but 335 email and 286 elync (which are internal emails from employees) kind of sort of got in the way. I am telling myself that they were all wishing me a happy holiday, but that may be self delusion.

Tonight we went to dinner with another family that has children roughly the same ages as our boys. The conversation turned to the idea that gratitude is not always a trait that is inborn in our children. My friend disclosed, on the condition that I protect her identity, that she has practice sessions with her son. “What do we say when we already have the thing you get as a gift?” “Thank You!” “What do we say if you do not like the item you get as a gift?” “Thank you VERY much!” Her family might be reading this so that is why she needed the anonymity.

Which reminds me that when I was a child, maybe about 8 or 9 my Mom had given me a heads up that her boyfriend would be giving me a Christmas gift that year and that he did not have children of his own, and was not used to being around children, so the gift might not be something that I want, but nevertheless I was to say thank you. When I opened the gift I ecstatically proclaimed, “I LOVE IT! This is Just EXACTLY what I always wanted! What is it?”

For years after every Christmas my Mom loved to tell that story and would open a present from me and say “ohhh I love it, what is it?”