When my daughter was twelve years old, she made fun of a gift I had received and told me it was the stupidest present she had ever seen. The gift was a star shaped, multi colored pot holder. It had been handmade out of old scraps of cloth, it was a bit tattered  and worn looking. The giver had told me it was hand made by her Mother of eighty seven years old, who didn't have much but wanted to show her appreciation.

     The next morning as I arose for work, I noticed the pot holder near the trash? Bending down to pick it up, an idea came to my mind. I quickly ran upstairs, re wrapped the gift in a lovely box with a beautiful ribbon, adding a card that simply read, Merry Christmas forever!

    Back downstairs, we were busy with the hustle and bustle of getting ready for school. Breakfast of oatmeal, toast, oranges and hot chocolate. Lunches, prepared and put in lunch boxes, backpacks packed and teeth brushed.  We were finally ready to go! Sending the children to the car, I ran upstairs to retrieve the gift I had wrapped earlier. Before locking the door behind me, I placed the gift on the table beside the door.  My daughter would notice it when she arrived home from school that day.

School was out, my twelve year old opened the door and there was the present. Picking it up she gave it a shake and ran to the phone to ask if she could open it. Why yes, I replied, go ahead, then call me after it's opened. Excitement nearly overcame her but she did settle down long enough to open the gift.

I never got a phone call till some time later that day. When the call did come in, she seemed ecstatic.  Hurry and come home, I have a surprise for you Mommy!

    When I arrived home, the kitchen was clean and sitting on the table was a fresh batch of cookies and my favorite tea. Nothing was mentioned about the gift as we sat and chatted about the day. In my mind I secretly wondered if she had forgotten?

    That night when I went to my room, on my pillow sat a beautiful gift. I knew by the writ ting my daughter had done it. On the card were the words, the same simple words I had used, Merry Christmas Forever! I opened the gift to see the same star shaped, mu ti colored, tattered and worn. funny looking pot holder.  A smile came to my face knowing my daughter had learned a very valuable lesson about giving.

Year after year, we never knew when but that special gift would end up being passed back and forth at Christmas. There is one thing for sure, that we both know now, that we didn't know then, it's not the price of the gift but the giving.