My mom is spectacular gift giver. She’s given me amazing things over the years like:

• An opal ring I pined for but thought was completely out of my reach.
• A beautiful pair of opal earrings I’m afraid to wear because if I lost one, it would break my heart.
• Tickets to Miss Saigon that she promptly took from me for safe keeping only to lose, ironically (but she worked it out with the theater because my mom can talk people into almost anything – it’s her superpower).
• Clothes, boots, shoes, etc. that I’ve barely hinted at liking and then was thrilled to receive.

I mean, I could go on and on and on, but you get the point.

What makes her a spectacular gift giver is that she:

1. Pays attention. I’ll make an off-hand remark about something and she’ll remember it, use it, and shock me with her follow-through – sometimes months later.
2. Loves to make people happy. I think truly good gift givers delight in finding that perfect something for their loved ones.

Before Christmas 2012 I’d mentioned that I was looking for a very simple silver necklace, but that I was having a hard time finding the perfect thing. Bam. My mom nailed it. And I wore that necklace almost daily for nine months.

Then, during the hub-bub of packing up my place while the St. Vrain River was rising behind my house this fall threatening to flood my home, the necklace fell on the floor, became a tangled mess and got a knot I just couldn’t get out. I was pretty bummed about it. Honestly, I have a ton of jewelry and wear about five percent of it. I become attached to a few things and they become my signature pieces.

So, on Christmas Eve, after everyone else had left or gone to bed, my mom, as excited as a little kid, says, “Hey! Want to open a present early? I get to pick it, though,” and hands me a little box from a very clever source…

Get it? As in the St. Vrain River making up for the situation. She’s pretty great, my mom.