Positivity TM Power

What is the best present I can give him this year? What will make her shout, "This is what I really wanted!"? Our minds and pocketbooks are jiggling with these time-worn questions every December (or earlier if you are more organized than I!). Yet, the perfect gift is so easy, so simple, we don't see it. But my mama did...

I remember as a little girl Mom would tell me, "Don't buy me a present, just write me a poem or make a card and write how you feel inside. That's what I really want - it's the best present ever." It took me a couple of decades to realize that statement was not just a ploy to keep me from shaking the contents from my piggy bank. It really was what she wanted.

One year my financially-challenged college-age son scrawled three lines of sentiment on a homemade card. I have it today. Still. I treasure it. It was the best present ever. After reading literally thousands of true personal Chicken Soup stories these past years, I'm more convinced than ever that what people really desire to share and receive are gifts from the heart. That's why now, there is a blank page in the front of each of my Chicken Soup books, where I sign my name and message and the giver signs theirs. My mail tells me that these gifts are life's most precious.

So what do we give those we love the most? A present from Macy's? A package from Amazon? A parcel from Penny's? No, a piece of our hearts. That's living our priorities. If you feel better attaching your written sentiments to an expensive gift, go right ahead. But I promise, the real gift will be your heart-felt words. Everyone you love will love it. The same teenagers who refuse to be seen in the same movie theater as you may never admit it out loud, but your message is one they will treasure today and many tomorrows. "It's what I really wanted...the best present ever."

I want to write, but more than that I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried in my heart. - Anne Frank


To get personally signed copies of my books: Chicken Soup for the Grandma's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Father and Daughter Soul, Chicken Soup for the Christian Woman's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul, and Chicken Soup for the Caregiver's Soul ... click the link below ... but remember to add your written sentiments to make it the best present ever!