2025 OneThing #43 - Benjamin Birthday Gift

My grandson turned three yesterday. I thought of a pretty neat gift idea that was very personalized . . . and realized that I could not bring it to fruition this past week without a lot of stress and / or a disappointing result. I had been turning ideas over in my mind for quite a few months. We are all so blessed, my grandsons included! We have so many things. 

When I realized that I wanted to follow through on my idea but that it was not realistic to have it ready for today's celebration, I decided to work on it for Christmas. I will blog about that at a later date. It was a good call because I've had plenty of other things to occupy my time lately!

I decided to get my grandson a Fisher-Price record player. I realize record players are pretty anachronistic in 2025, but I think it will be a fun thing for him anyhow. I don't care for battery-operated toys, but I love music. I hope he enjoys opening it and playing with it! I sewed the gift bag from some novelty fabric I have.

I love my family so much. I'm glad I get to see some of them this evening!

Difference Between Sisters and Brothers!

Every once in a while, I'll give one of my siblings the "gift of time" for a birthday gift. I've primarily done it for Ann and Louise (only one person at a time, though!). My sisters are always more than happy to have me help them with projects - cleaning, sorting, organizing, etc. This is a gift I enjoy giving and they enjoy receiving. I'm not always timely in my once-a-month intentions, but I usually get it all done in one calendar year.

For Tom's July 2018 birthday, I gave him this gift. It was the first time I've ever done this for my brother. Wow, was it hard. It has taken me 19 months to finally give / do something for the one year I intended! When I kept bringing this up, he kept saying I didn't need to do anything else. "That's not the point! What do you want?" He mostly wanted just to spend time with his little sister . . . he is such an incredibly sweet guy.

I'm not sure how I should try to do something like this for him in the future . . . but I know that my sisters have a much easier time bossing me around! (Just kidding. They're lovely, but are happy to have me help with projects.)

Here's my copy of the "coupon" for Tom: