Gifts

I went out for a few moments yesterday evening to buy some gifts for my grandchildren, for the holiday. I usually buy books, nice laminated ones, an item my sons may not be able to afford. And even though most of these grandchildren speak Yiddish, I insist on buying Hebrew books. I want to push them to be fully bi-lingual, for two reasons. First, I myself do not know Yiddish, and two, being literate in the country’s language is a “must” as far as I am concerned.
One son didn’t like my intended choice of book… he wanted a Yiddish book with a cassette attached, probably the better to keep his daughter occupied. Well, thankfully I didn’t see any, so I got a classic “concepts” book instead. (Not the one he vetoed a different one.) I suspect that I will always view any and all gift purchases for educational value. That has been ingrained by years of buying books and toys for Ricki.(I have virtually amassed a toy/book store at home for her.) And since this book is laminated, and I hope it will last for all of his family, as it grows, so I think that my thinking is not so far off. Thus in the end, I got what I thought was best, not necessarily what the child wanted.
How about you? Do you buy practical or what the child desires?
I wish I had something better to write today, more interesting…. But I will have to stop here, as the day is short and the work is long….
PS. Above is a picture of our Succoth-booth. It is the least decorated we have had in years, partially because of a prediction of rain, and probably a sign as well of my 16 year old’s addiction to computer. His heart was simply not into creating a fancy succah. A pity. Hopefully today I will get him to spruce it up a bit.

One Step Forward, One Step Back? Maybe Two Forward….

Gee, a lot of little interesting things have happened lately. At least it will give me what to write about!
Today, coming home after dance class, I went to the supermarket to get (cheaper) diet ice cream sticks. (An essential in the hot, humid summers we have here…..) Unfortunately they were all out…..
BUT Ricki acted very good in the store. One step forward.
One step back:
But then, when we got on the bus to go home, she went to the back and was either given, or she asked for, someone’s almost-finished bag of potato chips. I of course did NOT put up with this. In no uncertain terms, Ricki was told that “We do not accept gifts from strangers”. So she quickly acquiesced.

Two forward?:
The nice thing was that for once, no one piped up that she is cute and sweet. That I should let her have it, etc. One reason may be because the lady who gave her the bag was way to far away to protest. But I saw a few faint smiles as I told Ricki that she is not a charity taker, and I think people understood. Also, I spoke without raising my voice, which of course is good in any case

Gifts

Ricki showed me some loose small change that she has, and told me that she already has a lot of money. Considering that the money is mostly 10 agorot pieces (each worth about 3 cents), she has saved up a remarkable sum.
-“What do you want to do with it”, I quizzed her.
-“Buy gifts.”
-“So what would you buy?”
-“For you, something big. A puzzle….. No, a newspaper. “ (And she named a magazine I often buy. “For Moshe,” (her nephew) “I want to buy a book.” And for her nieces plastic baby dishes, and a pacifier for her youngest niece.

She was very excited about the idea. Maybe I’ll even help her carry the plan out. It is so nice to see her thinking about someone else. And best is that she had thought of appropriate things for each of us.