The spirit of giving

When she was younger watching Saturday morning cartoons with her was annoying. Not because of the goofy character or silly songs she insisted on watching. What drove me bonkers was the “I want that”, “I want one”, “I want want want” that came outta her mouth with every gawddamn commercial for whatever Elmo, Barbie or babydoll was the hot toy at the time.  

At first I cursed the advertisers. “bastards. Must
you have so many commercials that are clearly directed to children.
Children who will whine and want until their mothers are crazy!
Frickin jerks!”. But then I calmed down and thought “ah..yeah…they
do need that many commercials directed towards children who will whine
& want until their mothers are crazy…how else are they going to sell
toys?! DUH! Marketing genius!”.  

So wait, does that mean that every
Saturday morning I’m going to hear my child say “I want I want I want!!!” ?!?
Perhaps. Fine, we’re never watching cartoons ever again.  

Or….here’s an idea…I could be a parent and teach her to “want” in a much less
obnoxious way. And maybe I could even teach her the value of giving.
The next commercial came on and the PIT squealed “oo oo oo I want that
momma!”
 

“oh yes that is a nice dollhouse isn’t it?instead of saying ‘i want’ all the time let’s say ‘that’s going on my wishlist’ I said
 

The PIT looked at me like “ooookay crazy lady-what’s a wishlist’?”
 

“When you see something you really really like you write it down on
your wishlist and then when it’s your birthday and Christmas I’ll have
plenty of ideas because you’ll have made a wishlist” I explained.
  

The PIT crinkled her forehead at me the way she does when she’s not
quite sure if I’m bonkers or not and then pranced off to her bedroom.
She returned to the living room with a clipboard, blank paper and her
bucket of crayons. The girl was ready to make some lists!   

We watched
the rest of the cartoons together and I didn’t hear “I want”
anymore…instead I heard “momma, how do you spell penguin?” When she
finally got tired of making lists or had forgotten her paper she still
didn’t say “I want” she would say things like “ooo I reeeeeally like
that” or “I hope Santa brings me one of those” which is still
wanting…but far less obnoxious to my ears then “I want”
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
A few years later and my “I want” whiner has turned into quite the little giver.  

This Christmas, like all of our Christmas together, mommas broke. The PIT is aware of this.. 

she asked me “momma? Are you sure you’re not Santa?”.  

“oh yes I’m certain I’m not Santa” I replied.  

“good” said the PIT with a sigh of relief “cause you never have any money”.  

 (observant lil shit isn’t she?)  

 Although she knew we didn’t
have money…she still desperately wanted to get gifts for her little
friends. 

 Last week the PIT sat in the living room with every roll of
wrapping paper we had, tape, scissors and a stack of books that she
had already read. 

I watched my little girl wrap up each book and put a
card on each one. She wrapped up 9 books and made 9 cards and then
asked me if she could deliver them to all the kids in our apartment
complex “not just the kids I know either. There’s a new girl in 211
and what if she doesn’t have any presents?!” the PIT said to me.
 

I looked at the mess my living room had become…scraps of paper
everywhere, tape stuck all over the place and bows scattered across
the floor…I looked at my little girl with her big brown eyes full of
excitement with her stack of presents “yes. I think that would be very
nice of you to bring presents to all the kids” 

The PIT packed the
gifts into a bag and trotted off to make her deliveries. I kept my
distance (she NEVER needs any help so I sneak) and watched her knock
on the first door and when the door was answered I heard her say
“merry Christmas! These are for your kids” she handed 2 gifts over to
the woman at the door and the woman thanked her. 

 The PIT skipped down
the hall to where the next kids live. Noone answered this time…I
thought the PIT would just move on to the next door but she
didn’t…she left 2 more gifts right there by the door and then moved
on to the next door.  

 I watched her go to the rest of the apartments
where kids live and deliver the rest of her gifts. She had one gift
left in her hand so I ran back down to our apartment to act as if I’d
been there the whole time and not stalking my child.
 

“how’d it go babe?” I asked as she walked in. 

“great! M & C are at their dads but they’ll be home tonight and A & N
weren’t home but I left them presents anyways and the new girl wasn’t
home either but I left her one!!” the PIT said with excitement. (she
talks faster & louder when she’s excited and sometimes if she’s really
excited she stutters…it’s effin adorable) The rest of the day the
girl was giddy…she was so pleased with herself and her mother was
quite proud also. 

Late that evening the PIT and I were lounging around when the doorbell
rang “come in” the PIT hollered (yeah obviously we don’t get alot of
visitors or she would have known better than to just let anyone in) I
jumped up to answer the door not sure of who she had just let
in….there was a woman at my door that I hadn’t met before. She had
tears in her eyes. 

“hi. I’m ruby, I’m Sydney gramma…we just moved into 211.” the woman said
“did your little girl leave a present at our door?” 

“hi I’m CC…and yep…this lil thing did leave a present at your
door. She brought gifts for all the kids in the building.” I said 

“you must be so proud of her. Sydney is very shy and hadn’t made any friends
here yet and when she saw that gift with her name on it…it just
really means so much to us” she said “how thoughtful of your daughter” 

“thank you” I said beaming “I am very proud of her. She’s a lil giver!”

“kind hearted lil soul” ruby said

“that she is” I said “if Sydney would like to come over for a movie &
popcorn some afternoon we’d love to have her over. We have movie day
on Saturdays and some of the other kids in the building come over
too. Sydney is welcome to join us!”

“I think she would really enjoy that! Thank you!! It’s hard, we move
alot, she’s a quiet girl” ruby explained

“that’s understandable. This is the first place we’ve stayed for over
a year. We moved alot too. Lucci is a social butterfly everywhere we
go! She saw Sydney in the hall one day & got all excited that she was
going to get a new friend…she’s been dying to come over & introduce
herself!”

Ruby & I chatted for a bit longer. As we chatted Sydney peaked her
head out…slowly crept down the hallway…stood behind her gramma.

“hi!” the PIT said as she peaked behind ruby “do you like to color?”
she asked Sydney.

“yeah” Sydney replied quietly

“I’ve got my art set out. Would you like to color with me?” the PIT
asked “can she momma??” 

“sure! If she wants to & if ruby says it’s ok she certainly can” I said
Sydney looked at her gramma and then came into the house to color. 

The
2 girls colored and giggled and played dress up and giggled more. I
just watched proudly from a distance as the girls played and destroyed
my apartment….proud that all of this started with the PITs giving
spirit.