megram - Index

megram - 55NovOttawa - Index

Gifts that
Keep on Giving
Service and time more valued than baubles
By Iris Winston
In the spring,summer and fall,my neighbours’Christmas
gift was hard at work in their yard.In the winter,the gift
was back to clear the snow.
The elderly couple’s adult children had provided them
with yard care and snow removal for the year and the team
of workers returned each season to keep the place in great
shape.This was no small gift as it meant caring for a manicured
two-acre lot full of trees and flowerbeds for most of
the year, dealing with spring and fall cleanups and then
removing mountains of snow.(Remember the never-ending
snowfalls last year?)
But that was not the main point.They were delighted
with the thoughtful gift for a number of reasons, not just
because of its generosity and the regular reminder that
their children were thinking about them but also because
of its great practical value. Now having to deal with some
of the physical challenges that accompany advancing years,
they found relief as well as pleasure in this gift of yearround
help.
“It means that we can stay in our house longer,” they
say.“Looking after the property was becoming such a chore
that we were thinking of selling. Now we don’t have to.”
And seeing how delighted their parents were with
being presented with a year of lawn maintenance, landscaping
and snow clearing has convinced their children to
repeat the gift. For the younger people, it answers the
perennial gift-choice riddle. From the older couple’s point
of view, they will be happy to have this gift made into a
family tradition.
At this time in their lives, most people are thinking of
November/December 2008 • Ottawa 24 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine