My husband listened as I described the satisfaction this task provided. It was soothing and made me feel like everything was restored to order. Once my army of crayons was satisfactorily arranged across the floor I sat back and admired the progressive blending of all the hues. Then one by one, they found their correct home back in the box. When I colored pages, I only removed one or two at a time, so that they never got jumbled up.
A couple months passed by after this conversation between us; it was late October, and I was attempting to think ahead to Christmas. Mike and I don’t always exchange gifts during the holidays, because at this point in our lives we had everything we could possibly need. If we want something in particular, we just buy it for ourselves. I don’t wish to purchase something just for the sake of it and have it turn out to be something Mike neither likes nor wants. He feels the same about getting something for me. Admittedly, we’ve become increasingly particular as we’ve aged.
However, this year a small package came in the mail and when Mike opened it, he quickly closed the flaps on the shipping carton before I could see what it was. Hesitantly, he confessed, “It’s your Christmas present. I wasn’t expecting it to arrive so soon.”
Oh. Well, if he got something for me, then that meant we were exchanging gifts this year and I hadn’t given it any thought yet.
He read the look on my face accurately and quickly explained, “It’s not much. Really, it’s just something silly.”
Regardless, I definitely wanted to reciprocate. I remembered something we had purchased for someone else last year that he had admired. It was a multi-tool that folds up like a pocketknife. I thought about ordering it but wasn’t sure about which features he really wanted. There are several brands and sizes with different features, available with a wide price range. I decided to tell him I wanted to get one for him, but I wanted his input. We looked through different options on the computer and he selected what he wanted.
The tool arrived a few days later and it seemed senseless to wait two months until Christmas before giving it to him. Especially since he had mentioned how handy one of the tools would be while he was volunteering at a nearby tourist railroad. The special holiday trains would be running in November and end before December 25. The new tourist season wouldn’t begin until about March or April the following year, which would be a long time to wait before having a use for the tool.
Mike understood the dilemma when I handed him the gift and wished him a happy early Christmas. It’s one of the reasons why we give little tokens to each other throughout the year, instead of waiting.
After he examined all the features of his multi-tool, he got up and left the room. A few minutes later he handed me the box that had come in the mail a couple weeks earlier. He reminded me that it was just a little gift.
I opened the flaps of the carton and there was a box of crayons … 64 in number! I was delighted and tears came to my eyes.
“I remembered you telling me about getting crayons for Christmas,” he explained, “I know it’s silly, but ….”
“No, it’s not silly! The real gift is knowing how much you really listened and paid attention while I yammered on and on about something from my childhood. This is a loving gift.”
I opened the lid, admired the beauty of color, and took a deep sniff. My senses took me time traveling and I was a little girl again. I touched the built-in sharpener and smiled, because I didn’t require permission to sharpen crayons to my heart’s content.
The crayons didn’t get rearranged immediately. I saved that for a day when the timing felt right to treat my Inner Child to a trip down memory lane. I dumped the crayons across the kitchen countertop and began contentedly organizing the array of dyed wax sticks. One by one, I read the labels before they were tenderly slipped into their proper positions in the box. A few of the names have changed over the years, but most of them were like meeting familiar friends. Now I’ll get acquainted with Macaroni and Cheese, Mauvelous, Bluetiful, Tickle Me Pink, and Granny Smith Apple.
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