Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

The holiday season is, of course, about a lot more than shopping. That doesn’t mean that we don’t all enjoy giving, and getting, presents. After all, seeing someone’s eyes light up when you’ve found the perfect thing for them can really make your day.

That’s got me thinking quite a lot about the giving of gifts. We do it all the time. Hostess gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, plus all those holidays that come with their own gift-giving opportunities. Those of you that know me well, might have just realized I switched from presents to gifts. That’s because you know that I’m a little warped, so the gifts that have been on my mind aren’t the kind you typically find wrapped up in shiny paper and topped with a bow.

Nope.

I’ve been thinking about what would happen if you or I had the ability, just for one special day, to endow the people we love each with a single gift.

You’d have to choose carefully, because each gift could only be given a single time. No returns allowed, so whatever choice you made, they would have it for the rest of their lives.

Not neckties, or bowling balls, I’m talking about the other kind of gifts. Telekinesis, speaking to the dead, flight, healing, predicting the future, fire starting, mind reading. You know, those kinds of gifts.

Talk about bringing home the joy and excitement for Christmas!

As fun as it would be to wake up Christmas morning and suddenly find myself able to control the weather or raise zombies, there would certainly be a downside. There’s always a downside. For one thing, I hate the cold, so if I controlled the weather, the temptation to simply do away with winter would be huge, much to the annoyance of skiers and Mother Nature herself. As for the zombies, I fear the neighbors might eventually complain about the smell.

Anyone who has ever done holiday shopping knows that nothing ever comes for free, sooner or later you always end up paying for it, or someone does. Perhaps it isn’t a coincidence, then, that the word gift means poison in German.

Strangely, though, poison isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The same warfarin that kills rats, or humans, carefully given, can also keep a stroke patient alive, or even prevent the stroke in the first place.

Carefully given may be the key here.

I can’t actually give powers, so please stop writing me to ask for x-ray vision. It isn’t going to happen. I do think it is a fun game, though, and a question I plan on asking my family on Christmas Eve. If you could give each person here a single, very special kind of gift, what would you give them and why? Remember you can’t duplicate gifts, and that what you give has to match the person as snugly as possible.

Tradition has it that my grown children will try to talk me into letting them open presents on Christmas eve, even though they don’t actually want to miss the thrill of Christmas morning. Then we have to bargain for what time they get to wake me up for the festivities. The usual first offer is somewhere around 2 AM…when we finally have those details hammered out, it’s time to eat, play games, and ask strange questions till we all have to take that Christmas Eve nap. My shopping may not be complete yet, but at least I’ve found my bizarre question for the year.

Cheers,

Michelle