Really Knowing Someone
“The first day of December every year, my mother posts four folded sheets of lined notebook paper on the refrigerator door, with our names written on top. MOM. DAD. SUSAN. ELEANOR. We’re supposed to list the things we really really want for Christmas so the gift giving will be correct and efficient. I always found that odd. In my view, the point of choosing presents is to get to know the other person so well that you don’t have to be told what she really really wants for Christmas. You just know it. If somebody gives you something you don’t like, like a puce sweater or a Nehru jacket with gold trim well, that just tells you something, doesn’t it?”
Excerpted from My Mother’s Wish by Jerry Camery-Hoggatt
Daily Reflection: Do you know those around you well enough that you could figure out gifts they really, really want without having to ask? What can you do to know them better?