Tis the season for stressing thinking about another gift-giving opportunity, so I bring you…
Some moms could just really use some time to recharge by being alone. That means no one else is around.
Oh yes, you can be awesome and give her an entire Saturday, but you could also arrange to give her an hour or two every Saturday through the year, couldn’t you? Winter seems to be a particularly challenging time for me (mentally and physically), but the opportunity to be alone every week can be a truly wonderful gift whenever it comes.
Make this gift really shine by involving Eucharistic Adoration somehow.
Every mom deserves a friend…and while you might not be able to give the mom in your life a friend, you can carve out time to make it possible for her to go and spend time with Jesus, can’t you? Whether it’s making it possible for her to attend daily Mass or allowing her to escape to Adoration, Jesus is the best Person she can spend time with, don’t you agree?
Does your mom have a list longer than her arm? Or maybe more than one list, each longer than a child’s limb? It’s possible she’s bad at planning or that she’s bitten off more than she can chew. It’s also possible that she’s just in that season of life where things are busy. So why not offer her your help–your actual, physical, full-attention self for a few hours every week?
Now, mind you, you might have to be a little sneaky about this. She might nod and thank you and expect you to forget. There’s some accountability you’re going to have to take on to really give this as a gift of yourself to this mom. But wrapping a virtual ribbon around yourself and offering to fold laundry, do dishes, juggle schedules, or any number of other things will be something she won’t ever forget.
If she loves to read then…yes, BOOKS! A gift certificate might be appropriate, but it’s more fun to have something wrapped under the tree, don’t you agree? How about A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms: 52 Companions for Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul, by Lisa Hendey, or Stealing Jenny, by Ellen Gable? Or, if you’re looking for something new, I posted a list over at CatholicMom.com of 7 new books that are perfect for any of the women in your life. (Link goes live at Noon Eastern.)
If she’s tech-savvy, download the Kindle app to her computer, phone, or tablet and hook her up with some of the many free books that are available? (Here’s a site I found with free books available online.)
Perhaps the mom you know has a bit of a technology impediment. Can you offer to be tech support for her? To take care of all the annoying little things that come up with her computer, her phone, or her other devices? Can you program her TV, make the remote work with the DVD player, or set up the computer to leave her alone about the anti-virus controls?
Does the mom in your life just never stop doing laundry? Here’s an idea: give her a day off every month.
Now, to do this successfully, you have to be able to do that laundry she would have done that day. And “doing” laundry doesn’t just mean washing and drying it. It means folding it and putting it away. And I don’t mean “putting it away eventually,” I mean “putting it away before she gets home.” The idea is that she has a day (or, in the cases of smaller families, maybe a whole week) free from laundry. This is especially good for those moms who hate laundry.
How about a donation to a charity in their name? You make up a little card (or just tell them, if you’re extremely time-pressed) and it’s a win-win–they are honored, others are helped.
Feel free to chime in with YOUR ideas! 🙂
And don’t forget that Jen at Conversion Diary is Quick Takes HQ!
On the subject of lists, one of the things we’ve done for our parents is to put their Christmas card lists on our computer. Then, when the Advent/Christmas season is upon us, all we have to do is take their list from last year, make changes, print out a new list and print out the labels from the new list for them. This really, really helps them at a time when they love getting the cards and letters from folks but don’t have the energy to address envelopes. One could do it now, as a Mother’s Day present and get it ready for them.
That is such a great suggestion, Liz! Thanks so much!
You’re quite welcome, Sarah. One more thing, since these lists are on our computer, they came in very handy a number of years ago for a 50th anniversary surprise for my parents and an 80th birthday surprise for my mother-in-law. It made these events so much easier to do…and easier to keep the secrets, too!