Christmas is literally days away now. It always seems like we have so long to plan and then WHAM, the big day sneaks up on us (at least that’s how it happens for me).
The kids in our house are all taken care of. They each get one gift from Dad & Mom, one from their siblings and one from the Jolly Old Man (Because, yes, the Polka Dot Family believes in Santa). I try to bust those out relatively early because my kids are my priority and if everyone else has to wait, so be it!
When we get to the rest of my family, things get a wee bit complicated. My Mother is one person I really enjoy giving gifts to. She has ALS and may not have many more holidays with us. She is in a wheelchair, with no motor function, no ability to speak (or eat) and now has a tracheostomy. As you can imagine, it isn’t easy getting a gift for her. My plan was simple (or so I thought). I was going to have the kids each do artwork with fabric paint on some thick white cotton fabric. I was then going to use pretty fabrics in between the artwork and make a quilt backed in some really soft, cozy fabric. Mom always has a blanket covering her and I thought this would be a nice (sentimental) gift.
Then reality hit… I’ve got FIVE kids who keep me hopping. I haven’t had time to tackle this project. This week would have been perfect because the kids were out of school due to snow and ice… but I didn’t have the supplies and I was snowed in as well.
So, tonight I am left to ponder what on earth shall I get for my Mama… One of my favorite people on earth. I’d thought about an Audible subscription, this way she could download two books a month and listen to them on her computer. She always loved to read and that’s just one of the many things she can’t do anymore. I considered a Netflix subscription so she could watch movies instantly on her wheelchair mounted computer. Then my little brother who is helping to take care of Mom said they canceled the internet because she can no longer use her thumb clicker to type.
In light of all this information, we’ve decided to go back to the basics. Hubs is working on our iMac creating a wonderful DVD slide show of our children, her grandchildren. We are also burning some CD’s from our iTunes. When all this is completed, I will wrap it up with a pretty ribbon with a card saying we have made a donation to the ALS Association in her name and I know she will be thrilled.
What last minute gifts have you come up with? I’d love to hear, please share in the comments!
For more information on ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) visit the ALS Association.
Photo From Dreamstime under RF-LL License.
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Awww, your mom will love the DVD of the grandkids and the CD’s. Much more so than any of the other things you were going to get her, I think! She will love it.