My daughter is a master gift giver and this little painting proves it

 

I'm a month and a half late with this post, but with all the gift giving happening five days from now, it's probably still relevant.

Back in October, I posted here about the list of "50 Things Every Guy Should Own" as compiled by the staff at CoolMaterial.com. I made note of the fact that I personally owned maybe half the items on the list.

My birthday occurred a week after that post, and it inspired my daughter Elissa and her boyfriend Mark to give me a few items off the list.

Elissa is, without a doubt, the most thoughtful gift giver I know. When you get something from her, whether it's for your birthday or Christmas, you can be sure it's going to be personal and relevant.

In fact, thanks to their mother, all of my kids are really good with gifts. From her they learned to put thought and effort into a present, and it shows on every family holiday.

Elissa is likely the best at it among all of us, and that's saying something. When I opened the three small packages from her and Mark, they were:

• The painting you see above, which Elissa created herself. It's my view from the press box when I serve as the public address announcer for events held at Wickliffe Memorial Stadium. It checks off the list entry "a piece of art that means something to you."
  
  
• A beautiful Scriveiner pen, fulfilling CoolMaterial.com's directive to own "a good pen."
  
  
• A pair of saxophone cufflinks, since I play the sax and the list calls for guys to own a pair of cufflinks. I ordered a French cuff shirt that week just for the chance to show them off.
  
  

One key to successful gift giving, I find, is being observant. Elissa saw that blog post and reacted to it.

I am not a particularly observant person. I don't always pay attention to my surroundings, so I miss even less-than-subtle hints and clues about what a person might want or need. 

Thus, I am probably the worst gift giver in our family. It's my little cross to bear, and I work every year to overcome it.

For what it's worth, though, I'm an outstanding gift receiver. I am excited about anything you want to give me and will make you feel proud of your choice in presents.

And I think that's worth something.