Only the Best

Friend recently gave me a book: Only the Best – A Celebration of Gift Giving in America by Stuart E. Jacobson. It is 213 pages of celebration of thoughtful and memorable gifts.  Like Richard Burton’s gift to Elizabeth Taylor of a diamond  bracelet entwined in 10 d0zen Sterling roses, lavender to match her eyes, which were delivered at 8:30 in the morning, when he knew she would answer the door herself.

In the Preface Jacobson states that “The great giver is a breed apart, sometime angel, sometime fool, at once in and out of control, but always operating from the heart.”

Take for example the gift Vilmos Gabor gave his daughter Zsa Zsa Gabor.

She declares this her favorite gift of all.  It was the last time she saw her father.  He had come from Budapest to see Zsa Zsa, her mother and sisters in Vienna.  As they said their goodbyes, he took her aside and pulled a diamond tiara out of his pocket and gave it to her, saying “I want you to have this.”

Vilmos was a jeweler and the communists had taken everything he had.  Somehow, and at great personal risk, he had saved that piece and gifted it to his daughter.

The monetary value isn’t the determining factor in great gift giving.  Some of the best are sentimental, like the gift Ronald Reagan gave Nancy on their 25th anniversary. In her autobiography she disclosed the proposal of her dreams “in which he would take me out on a lake in a canoe, play a ukelele, sing to me, and propose as I was reclining with my hand drifting in the water.”  On their 25th anniversary President Reagan made that dream come true.

Jacobson also states that “To be a great giver, a great receiver – each is an art.”  On our 50th Anniversary I wanted to give Ralph something special.  He is often cold so I decided on a mink-lined leather jacket.  That as a pricey gift and I feared he would not accept it.  But I bought it anyway.  I gave it to him at dinner on the anniversary evening.  He was very surprised.  Next morning when I came down, he was sitting at the kitchen table in his lovely new jacket, eating breakfast with a big smile on his face.  Now that is a great receiver.

There are so many other great stories in the book that I could go on forever.  But if you would like to experience the great giver/great receiver ritual yourself, go to a restaurant like Bob Evans this holiday season with a pocket full of $20 bills and pass them out to as many of the waitstaff as you can afford.  We did that on a whim.  The surprise and smiles on their faces filled our hearts with joy.  “The great giver is…always operating from the heart.”