Don't Worry, I Washed It.
- Details
- Thursday, January 12, 2012
- Written by Nina Benneton
Some gifts are so perfect in their timing and their delivery, the memory of being the happy recipient stays and stays with you. Today, I want to share with you two such gifts I've received. And you'll get a chance to win a gift or two from me.
I was having my afternoon cup of coffee and reading emails when my son thrust something inches from my face. "Happy early Christmas."
I leaned back and eyed the wrapped package in his small chubby hand. I set my coffee cup down and closed the laptop. "For me? Thank you."
He pulled his hand and the gift back and frowned at me. "You're supposed to say 'thank you' after you open it, not before."
Palm up, I held out my hand and smiled a madonna-like smile at him. I'd learned, whenever it's feasible and possible, it's best to ignore his concreteness. "I'll make sure to say thank you after, too."
He hesitated. His lips rolled inward, then rolled out in an adorable protrusion a Botoxed actress would envy. He licked his lips, obviously beginning to regret his participation in this gifting business. After another moment, he placed the gift in my palm.
I studied the package. So that was where all the scotch tape in the house went. I could barely make out a blurry Santa on the wrapping paper underneath. Earlier that day, our family had gone to the Botanical Garden, and he had gone into the gift shop with his father and siblings to shop for me. From the size of the gift, I guessed it was either a Burt's Bee Lip Balm or a nail clipper with a leaf design; two small, specific, and affordable gifts I'd put on my list for the children to buy for me. My son wasn't the only person in the family who could be concrete. "You're sure you don't want me to wait to open this on Christmas?"
"No, now."
"I can't wait to see what it is," I said in that sing-song voice somehow all mothers tended to unwittingly affect at moments like these.
He frowned at me.
"All right, then." I dropped my falsetto tone. The darn kid was very astute at picking up any fakeness. Let's hope he'll maintain that when he starts dating. I peeled off layers and layers of tape and decided my nails needed the gift more than my lips.
When I finally reached the wrapping paper level, he said, "I wanted to keep it for myself, but it would look prettier on you."
About to tear Santa's head off, I paused. Surely he wasn't expecting me to wear a chapstick or a nail clipper? I ripped the wrapping paper.
A small, red, shiny, plastic chili pepper pendant.
It was gaudy and garish and absolutely beautiful. I loved it.
I breathed, "What a perfect gift!"
His face beamed.
"Did Daddy help you pick it out?" I said.
"No, I picked it out myself," he said, his voice proud, his shoulders squared.
I kissed the pendant. "You, my boy, have good taste."
His chest puffed even more. "Don't worry, I washed it."
"You didn't have to wash it." I really needed to get a handle on my germ-phobia if my poor son felt the need to wash a pendant before he wrapped it.
"I washed it when I washed my hands. I counted to ten twice." He held up his hands and spread his ten fingers. "I'd already peed on it before I saw it."
The coffee in my stomach roiled. I swallowed. "What do you mean you'd peed on it?"
His lowered lip disappeared under his bucked upper two-front teeth. Then, "I didn't steal it."
My eyes widened. "Where did you get this?"
At the hard edge in my voice, he took a step back. "In the toilet at the Botanical Garden. You don't think it's stealing, do you? Nobody was around...And I washed it really well."
<<<<>>>>>
The second gift I received came before Christmas this year. A review of my first novel from Publishers Weekly.
Benneton's contemporary debut rides the wave of Austen-mania as miscues and misunderstandings threaten to separate Fitzwilliam Darcy, an obsessive-compulsive millionaire, and Dr. Elizabeth Bennet, an infectious disease specialist working in Vietnam. Darcy travels to Da Nang to support wealthy friends who are adopting a trendy Vietnamese baby, but he's driven to distraction by imagined tropical perils and hides in his hotel room. Once he and Elizabeth meet, there is definite chemistry, but their courtship is doomed first by Darcy's shame about his disorder and second by Elizabeth's assumption that he and Charles Bingley are a couple. Worse, Darcy's manipulative Aunt Catherine and her conniving stepdaughter have their own ideas about the shape of his marital future. Die-hard fans of everything Austen will enjoy this update of her classic tale. Agent: Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. (Feb.)
As I embarked on this journey of being a published author in the weeks ahead, I know there will be chapped lips, nails-biting, frequent hand-washing days, but I'm prepared. Nothing can beat the happy memory of being the recipient of these gifts.
For a chance to win a signed copy of Compulsively Mr. Darcy, and your very own plastic chili pendant (new, not the treasured one my son gave me), leave a COMMENT and tell me the best gift, washed or unwashed, you've received from a child.
Please leave an email address so I'll know how to contact you. This offer ends 1/19/12 GMT.
Comments
There will be more giveaways through my blog tour starting 2/1... check back here for information. Good Luck!!!
Sorry about the late reply. Eye doctor ordered me off computer and reading for a while...
That is so precious! You must be a very special mother to have raised a child like that... the fact that you wanted nothing more than time together with young ones showed them you value time with them more than material things. I admire that.
Sorry for the late reply. My eye doctor ordered me off the computer/readin g for a while there.
My most memorable gift came from one of my little students. He gave me a brown paper lunch sack and said he'd brought me something from home. It weighed next to nothing, but I could feel something sliding around in the bottom. I thought it was a treat his mother had made me. Uh-uh, try again! It was a flattened, dried out frog which had been in their family drive way. The lovely little cherub thought I would just go ape over such a gift. He was right, in a way! I had stuck my hand in without looking. Froggie made one last leap as I startled with a squeak. I dusted off my hand and was reassured in the patient tones that adults usually utilized around kids that it couldn't hurt me because it was dead.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity.
sophiarose1816
WINNER is Stacy Kung!
Please contact me via my contact page and tell me where I can send the book & the chili pendant!
I'm glad the story gave you a laugh. [I laughed, I cried--okay, mostly the latter].
I have a big box of my kids' drawings...and I can't bear to throw them out.
Thank you for commenting.
Thank you for stopping by!
Heart stencils...Aren 't little boys the sweetest thing when they little and love their moms?
When they're grown and acting Mama's boy-like, not so much...
I have to say I didn't hug him right off, I laughed and cried, and then I went and brush my teeth--since I'd kissed the pendant.
A spontaneous from a child is worth its weight in chili pendants.
A spontaneous hug from a strange man...not so much!
Thanks for stopping by! You're the best!
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