Gift season

A necklace for an August birthday, pearls and crystal beads

When we were kids, it was hard to buy gifts for my parents  whose taste was far beyond the budget of small girls with a small allowance. At some point, my parents let us know that the preferred gift was something made, rather than something purchased.  In theory, this was great. A poem, a song, a clever card a hand made gift are all lovely to produce ( and to receive). The difficulty is, that in my family, the celebrations were all bunched up together.  Beginning in May with mother's day ( and my birthday ) it was  a constant line up of events to celebrate. June was a terror. Both of our parents were born in June.  They got married in June. Father's day is in June. My father liked to celebrate not only his birthday on the secular calendar, he also like to have his Hebrew birthday marked, as well as the anniversary of his bar mitzvah which had both a Shabbat as well as falling on the second day o Shavuot.  Despite our best efforts, we never quite got all of his birthdays celebrated.  June was my aunt's birthday as well the rest of the summer buzzed along with birthdays dotting the calendar until the end of September and the last family birthday.

For a September birthday

Earrings for yet another September birthday

I realize now, that his forced burst of creativity and all of those bunched birthdays has actually been helpful to me in my work. I have learned to balance multiple deadlines. I have learned how to be creative on a deadline. I also learned that the value of a gift isn't on the money spent on it, but rather, on the thought and effort put into it.