Traditional Mother's Day Gifts (And Why I Hate Them!)

I’m going to admit that I’m ridiculously hard to buy presents for. (I blogged about my reluctance to graciously accept technological gifts earlier in the week over at Harperteen.) But when it comes to traditional Mother’s Day gifts, I’m the worst. For one, I hate getting flowers. It’s not that I’m opposed to flowers. I love them, actually, in gardens and planters and even blooming on cacti. But I hate getting them as a gift.

As any crazy cat owner like myself might tell you, flowers are ridiculously attractive to cats. Thus, finding any spot in my house where my cats won’t jump up, eat them and/or drink the water out of the vase presents a challenge, which will consequently turn into an annoyance, as I attempt to move them/hide them from the kitties.

Then there’s the part where the flowers die, which always happens within a week of the gift (usually sooner in my case thanks to crazy flower-eating kitties). I hate having to throw them away – something that was once beautiful, now dead and ugly. And finally, there’s the thrifty part of me that thinks that spending money for something that I’m going to have to hide, that will thereafter soon die, seems like a complete waste.

I do love jewelry, but admittedly, I’m very picky, so I think I’ve scared my husband off in this category after I made him return/exchange a few prior gifts. Candy? Of course I love candy (who doesn’t?), but I hate getting it as a Mother’s Day gift. It seems like most of the years since I’ve become a mother myself, I’ve been in some stage of trying to lose baby weight, so candy just feels like sabotage.

In my defense, I’m pretty sure this is genetic, something I inherited from my own mother, who also hates getting flowers, jewelry, and candy as a gift. One year, for Mother’s Day, back when I was in middle school, we got my mother a kitten, and that was one of the only times I remember her actually loving any gift. Ever. She spent the entire day smiling and holding on to the kitty, and plus, she hadn’t been expecting it, so it was great to see her surprised. (Hint to my husband: I will gladly accept a new kitten for Mother’s Day!).

Okay, so I’m hard to shop for. But I’m also completely happy not receiving any material gifts for Mother’s Day. Because Mother’s Day, for me, is all about spending time with my husband and my kids, relaxing. And if you throw a good brunch in there, I’ll be blissfully happy!