Friday Fives - belated.

5 favorite gifts that you have ever gotten or given

1. BICYCLE. Every year, every birthday, every falling star, every wishing well or fountain since I was about 5, I wished a SECRET wish that I could have my own bike. When I was 5 I vividly remember teaching myself to ride a bike with my sisters banana seated, light purple, chopper handle barred bike in the driveway of our Mulholland Drive home. Since that moment of pride, I wanted my own bike. In the mean time my brothers got many bikes each and still, I had to use my sisters purple one. Finally, I didn't need one, I turned 16 in February (7th for those of you wanting to celebrate it) but you better believe I was wishing up until then folks. I didn't go for my drivers licence till October or so. I finally gave up on the bike (mildly bitter about it) dream so I revealed my secret wish all these years to my Mom I think, secure now that I would have a car to drive and no longer needed a bike. I GOT A BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS!! It was hilarious but so fun and for at least one day, I enjoyed my new mountain bike riding it around, bunny hopping, basking in the glow of my very first bike ... AND THEN ... my brothers Bennett and Jesse (who let me remind you, owned many bikes each through the years) took it for a 'test ride' and BROKE THE GEARS! So there you go, I'm pretty sure it lasted less than 24 hours. Awesome. :)

 

2. SURPRISED MY MOM FOR HER 60th BIRTHDAY. I don't know why I decided to do it but I told my sister Katrina and or my dad first of my desire that we should throw a surprise party for my mom. I asked my dad for a $200.00 party fund and my sister Katrina worked on the guest list which included finding some addresses of my moms friends from childhood that she found. My mom never needs anything so I mentioned on the invite 'no gifts' but still people brought some (which was nice). In lieu of a gift, I included an index card and asked them, whether they came or not to write a note, favorite memory with my mom or a favorite scripture/poem for my mom and bring it or send it back to my brother Carl's address. I found some old slides of my Grandfathers (mom's dad) of which he always developed his pictures to be a slide and planned sort of a movie theme. We ordered a cake with my mom and her twin brothers childhood nick names on it. The menu would be (i think?) Nachos and popcorn for when the 'movie/slide show' began and lastly we organized for a big Mylar 6 and 0 balloon set to be there (3 feet high each?). Ok, so how we 'fooled' her at her own house... My birthday is Feb 7th, Mom's is the 8th, we lived at the same house and I was planning to move back to Tennessee soon with Michael. I asked her if I could have a game night with some friends at her house on her birthday before I moved and even asked her to help me clean. lol. ;) She said yes and asked how many I was having over. I told her no more than 10. he he he. We sent over 100 invites! I arranged with my dad to make sure they went to dinner while we set up and people arrived so as time came closer we pushed her out the door. I was a little bummed cause she was so busy helping me clean, she was still wearing her clothes from cleaning instead of getting make up on and dressed for a date on her birthday. opps! Luckily she always looks adorable :). As soon as they were down the driveway, we got to work setting up decor and food! Guests started arriving... and arriving... and arriving and arriving! There ended up (including our humongous family, childhood friends, new friends and old friends) being about 80 people there! (and their cars parked all around our house and driveway! ha ha ha - so much for 'no more than 10 friends') My dad wisely 'stalled' my mom after eating by insisting that they go pick up something from Kmart or something then I think called us to 'see if we needed anything'= code for we're on our way is it all clear to return. ;) It was and we all anxiously waited for them to come home. My sister Jenalyn and then boyfriend waited outside with a walkie talkie to tell us when they were to the door cause the crowd couldn't be quieted to hear their approach. The lights were off and they opened the door. SURPRISE! we yelled as the lights came on and started singing Happy Birthday dear Karla... mean while, my moms face was priceless. We were singing and she still had NO IDEA the party was for her!!! ha ha ha. She's still thinking this is my/Lila's friends and party and later said she asked my dad while walking from the garage to the door, "I thought she was only having a few friends?" Isn't that a riot!? ha ha ha. Anyway as she is smiling ignorant to the fact that SHE is the guest of honor that we are singing to, she is gazing happily around the room at the crowd... suddenly you see on her face that she is recognizing people that shouldn't be there for me and starts naming them out loud, like "there's Diana, hey, that's Anne! THAT'S MY BROTHER!" Finally it clicks as we yell to her again that "the party is for YOU mom! SURPRISE!" ha ha ha She FINALLY got it and was stunned (this is an example of her humble heart, not ever expecting such a thing). She was so happy to see her Twin brother Butch who always calls and meets her for their birthday but hadn't and as she mingled around the room, she got happier and excited to see all her variety of friends. I was also great to watch my dad who seemed to glow that we were celebrating his cute wife who has done so much for so many outside our home. He also loved visiting with everyone and it might be the most animated I've ever seen my dad, kinda like we took him back to 1959 for a night. As it quieted down for a bit, we passed out popcorn and  showed the slides of my mom's and our families lives from the 1940's-80's when my Grandfather took the pictures, while the carpenters played in the back ground (my choice cause my mom always listened to them in the car when we were driving all over town). She did a great job telling us about the pictures we were seeing even though she hadn't seen them for over 30 years! Everyone loved it. One friend that came I don't think my mom had seen since they were in a social club at Hamilton H.S. in Los Angeles in the late 50's but she said she was at my mom's 5th birthday party and that they lived on the same block. CUTE! In the end we brought her cake out and asked my Uncle Butch to come over as it was his birthday too. He seemed shocked to find out that the cake was 'addressed' to "PUTSIE and BUTCH", (their childhood nick names) and I think it really touched him as we sang to both of them at the end of the night. It was complete. I loved doing the party for my mom and loved her innocence that such a thing was done for her. She has and does touch many and I thought it would be great to do a "This Is Your Life" (look it up) moment for her. People complimented us for weeks on what a great time they had going down memory lane etc and that was the real success. That was almost 9 years ago and I still glow about my mommy and the thought of that party for her.

 

3. THE MUG. On Mike and my first Christmas married I got a design your own mug for Michael that I wrote and drew on all our 'pet' names and sayings for each other. "You are my world", "Cat's Pajama's" "pookie face" (a joke one) and etc were included. When he opened it and saw it, he actually cried! He was so touched by a homemade gift and the sentiment that he didn't know why but it made him cry. I will never forget it and now either will any of his buddies who I'm sure after reading this will all buy him 'personalized mugs' for Christmas. lol. Sorry honey, for all of it. I love you!

 

4. CHILDHOOD GIFTS. Favorites: Easy Bake oven hands down! hours and hours of baking enjoyment. I literally used mine for YEARS. Crystal Barbie, the only one I owned after the one I did have before it, my brother Vincent shaved a Mohawk on her head and threw her off the balcony :(. Meany.

 

5. SERVICE. I have found as an adult that I really don't need anything for Christmas as far as a gift goes cause I can get it throughout the year. I like it best for my kids in the future (once they understand what all the fuss is about). I do love to get angel tree child at Christmas time and/or feed a family through a local grocery store sponsorship. In the future Michael has wanted our family to get more involved with the needy for Christmas instead of the gift exchange we do now with our CA family and many have expressed an interest in that as well starting next year even so I'm hoping we can plan a great project that makes someone else's Holiday wonderful, that would make mine even better!