Bringing Gifts Home
I Share My Travels and My Thanks Through Giving
My illustration of gift boxes decked with bows represents
the joy I have from sharing gifts.
“I am sure you have a grateful heart that could never
receive kindness without wishing to return it. I do not know any better
qualifications for a friend and companion.”
Jane Austen, "Mansfield Park"
By Anna Krejci
There are many ways to be kind, and some forms are very
great – the genuinely selfless gestures. I love giving gifts as a form of showing consideration. I love it to return favors and to express appreciation
for a relationship. When I travel, my
thoughts still center on those who await me at home. I am content to find the smallest gifts in
faraway places; I then return home to give them to my friends and family. The following “good finds” might be forever
housed in my memory since purchasing treasures on a journey is so much fun, too.
One September at the Yankee Peddler Festival near Canal
Fulton, Ohio, I found homey, plush Christmas tree ornaments made from
repurposed coat fabric. I gave them to
my family. Round in design, some with plaid patterns, the ornaments clothed
that year’s Christmas tree in a warm manner.
The tree, once wild and stiff against the cold outdoors, had been
brought inside to be pampered and adorned.
That December tree with the bowing branches then stood next to a pliant,
cushioned couch and atop a soft, gentle carpet.
I have nice memories of sharing those ornaments with friends and family.
Farther north in Holland, Mich., I found barrettes. They were unique hairpieces fashioned from
sturdy material but enwrapped in yarn; they felt like sweaters to the
touch. They reminded me of something a
grandmotherly figure would perhaps make, who would be sitting and crocheting
away. I found two barrettes set off with
a pattern of garden vegetables. They
weren’t what I expected but were a perfect match for someone I had in
mind. The barrettes were adequately
small to fit inside my suitcase, of course.
All the better to transport them home.
They made a nice Christmas stocking stuffer for one of my loved ones who
is a purpose-driven gardener.
Over to the East Coast, in Portland, Maine, one September, I
rode a tour boat on Casco Bay. Our boat
captain led us, weaving us in and out and around some of the Calendar Islands,
until we saw the wildlife of the coast, lighthouses and felt the bracing wind
against us as passengers. The generous
wind brimmed full the sails of the surrounding boats. After such an experience, I wanted to share
part of it with several young ladies waiting for me back home. In one of the
stores, I found small, attractive wrist bags cleverly constructed from reused
sail cloth. I was eager to give them
away. I felt like I was taking some of
the seascape home to share.
Back this way, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, I found a card game
of Memory that presented couples from Jane Austen’s novels. The game included cards cleanly illustrated
with detailed representation of the characters’ facial expressions and 19th
century garments. I shared that game
with my spouse! The card games I often
find while traveling add fun surprises to my vacations, and my spouse and I end
sight-seeing days in the evenings by playing quiet games together.
These things are some of the most unique gifts I found while
on my journeys. They represent my own
likes, and at the same time demonstrate the favorite things I have in common
with the people in my life. Parting ways
from loved ones to go on a trip is bittersweet.
My adventurous side beckons – a journey awaits. It is easier to part, knowing that I will return. For me as a traveler,
bringing gifts from afar reconciles the differences between home and away. It also is a way for me to answer to the many
deeply heartfelt kindnesses that have been shown to me. I think Jane Austen’s writing from the 1800s,
like in the quote above from her novel “Mansfield Park,” captures emotion that
has been known throughout time. It is a
beautiful thing to have my familiars and to show thanks to them.
