My Favorite Gifts (Part I)

I'm kind of funny about Christmas.

I don't care for the commercialism of it all. As a result, I like to give homemade gifts.

When my brother and sister were teenagers, they would ask "Lisa, what you want for Christmas?"

This would irritate me something awful. "Just go find a nice rock and paint and glitter it up and paint my name on it."

My sister Kentucky would roll her eyes. My brother Milk and Cookies would offer the *blank stare*

Likewise, I like to give homemade gifts. And my budget for Christmas is a mere $100. Gotta get creative when I'm dealing with that amount.

So I have gotten some interesting gifts from folks at work. I got lotion from Lady M, and oranges from Sushi.

You see the lotion bottle in the picture. That's not what I am talking about. Well, Lady M gave it to me a couple of years ago. I remember her saying one day, "Girl, you're ashy," and handing me the bottle of lotion on her desk. She then left it to me when she left for Africa for a year. And as you can see, she placed "No Ash" on the bottle.

It is rare to hear of Caucasians who know what "ashy" is. She is quite passionate about it. It is hilarious, but I am glad for it.

But what is of interest here is the lovely creme flower in the palm of my hand. Lady M made those and gave those to her coworkers. They are her special concoction of cocoa butter, coconut oil and beeswax, and I tell you, a little goes a long way and they smell sooooo good.

Lady M is my "African American" friend. She lived over in The Motherland for over a year, so she gets a pass.

Now to the oranges. Sushi gave me those. She is the youngster our group. There was some fundraiser downstairs in another department, and this is the second year she's bought a bunch of oranges.

I peer at her curiously over all this. "Why they don't sell chocolate candy like everybody else?"

But they are her oranges. And she gave me a couple.

"Christmas Oranges!"

Long ago, one of my late coworkers told me that as a child, he and siblings received oranges for Christmas.

"And if there was more money, we also received nuts."

I laughed at this. You give a child a piece of fruit for Christmas, and you might get it thrown back at you.

I also read that the slaves got oranges for Christmas from their Masters.

I thought about all that as I grabbed a couple of oranges out of Sushi's box of oranges.

And I thought about how far we have come.

And how far we still have to go.

Because, you know, life just won't be right if you don't get that new iPhone or 60 inch TV for Christmas. Your Christmas just won't be right.

And we all will have to hear you complain about how horrible your Christmas was.

Just terrible. Horrible!

Sigh.

Just give me my nice homemade gifts. Made by hands with love.

Just give me some fruit. Something to give me the vitamins and hydration I need.

As long as it's from the heart.

That's all that matters to me.