Hello and welcome to this week’s Marketing for Romance Writer’s (#MFRW) 52-week Blog Challenge. After my not-so-subtle hint last week, you might have already guessed that this week’s topic follows up with The Best Gift I Ever Gave.
Initially, I thought of a gift that was the best I’d ever given but then I realized I considered that gift the best, but perhaps the recipient may not have thought it was the best gift they ever got. There’s a difference in what the giver wants to give, and knowing the best gift for the recipient.
Money for Nothing
When my husband and I were first dating, I wasn’t working so I had very little money for anything. I saved any money I received for holidays or birthday gifts etc. So, when Christmas came around that year, I used the money (most of which I’d received from my future hubs months before as a gift) to buy my future hubs a nice gift. In retrospect, my generosity made me feel good about the gift, but that doesn’t mean it was the best gift I ever gave, it only meant I felt the best about the gift 
since it was something I couldn’t normally afford.
For several years after, once I was working, I took pride in choosing gifts for people. It took some personal reflection to realize that often I chose gifts based on what I liked, or what I thought the person should like.
It took me years to finally stop buying the hubs sweaters. Just because I liked how the sweaters looked, he’d verbalized more than once that he didn’t like them. Occasionally he’d wear them begrudgingly since I bought them. But it was obvious that he wouldn’t buy them for himself.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
I came to realize that giving the best gift came down to listening. I could always go out and get a nice gift by picking out something I thought they would like, or by purchasing a gift card so the person could get their own gift.
These #gifts didn’t make me feel as good as one that I knew they really wanted, but never expected to get. #MFRW #author Click To Tweet
I’ve successfully gotten a ‘close to perfect’ gift for more than one person by paying attention all year long. I note down ideas when someone mentions something they like. The other person isn’t really asking for something, or telling you what to get, you simply know what to get because you’ve been listening. (Kind of like Ruthie’s gift of knowing in my book Destiny Calling –but not that good) They may have mentioned the gift months ago and never expect that they might receive it. The best part of those gifts is seeing the surprise, and joy, on the person’s face when they open it. Then I’ve truly succeeded in getting the perfect gift for that person.
P.S.—Scruff Chose His Best Gift
You may have realized that Scruff is just a bit spoiled. He won’t admit it, of course. He has a plethora of toys and loves them all, but one is extra special. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you might have heard me talk about Bummy, the Lhasa Apso we had before Scruff for almost 15 years. Losing Bummy was hard on all of us, and especially my girls who were only around nine years old at the time.
They made a ‘shrine’ of some of Bummy’s things on the bottom of their bookshelf. One day, while Scruff was still a young pup, he saw the bookshelf and desperately wanted the ratty, old, stuffed duck that used to be Bummy’s favorite toy. We let him have it, and it’s now his favorite toy over all the shiny new ones that he gets. He knew exactly what he wanted.
Do You Know What Gift to Get?
I try to listen throughout the year, too. It does make you feel great to see the look on their face after they open it, like, “How did you know?” This happened to me recently. My youngest son sent me yellow roses. Well, I love yellow roses, but I didn’t know he knew. When I approached him about yellow being a favorite of mine, he just grinned. I enjoyed your post.
Thanks, Mary! So glad you stopped by.
I don’t think I’ve ever purchased clothing for someone who actually appreciated or liked my choices. I always thought they were perfect, but they never did 😉 Thanks for sharing!