GIFT CARDS

Last Christmas I made homemade gifts for my family. I remember working to the wee hours of the morning to finish the last two and wrap them and have them ready to be picked up by my Aunt who was passing through town. This saved me a ton on shipping cost. The whole process took a lot of time, energy, and thought, but they liked their gifts.



This year I didn't have much time, I had even less energy and no ability left to think about what to do for Christmas, so I decided to take the easy way out and give them all gift cards. For a mere 41 cents I could ship a gift that everyone loves and can enjoy.



EASY AS PIE RIGHT



WRONG!!!!!!!





First we had to determine where to purchase the gift cards. Every merchant from McDonald's to Macy's has gift cards to sell. The fact that my family lives in a small town limits where they can spend them. But we finally decided that they travel to Spokane often enough to enjoy a Target card. So I loaded my girls into the Bobmobil and headed for Target.



Who knew there were so many different gift cards including ones that light up, and have holographic images. It took my girls forty minutes to pick out just the right gift cards for their cousins. We proceed to the checkout and returned home with our purchases feeling proud of our accomplishments, Christmas gift giving was as good as done and everyone would be happy.



NOT!!!!



That night I tucked my girls in and cleaned up the house and went to bed. I awoke at about one in the morning and was thinking about the gift cards. What had we done with them, when we came home. The rest of the purchases had been put away and the bags taken out with the trash after dinner. But where were the cards I had bought. I could no longer sleep, so I got up and checked the counter, the table and the desk. NO Cards. I woke Heidi and asked her, to which she said they must be in your coat pocket. so I looked there but no cards.



It is about this time I began to panic, because we had lost a large amount of money in the form of evil little plastic devils. I pulled on my coat and moccasins and headed to the van, surely they would be there. Nope No Cards there. As I turned back from the van I saw the trash at the road awaiting removal. Nooooooooooooo.



The naughty things were laughing at me, taunting me and making me freeze, in the night air. So in pjs and a coat, with no gloves I headed for the road and the first can. They weren't in can one, which was filled with questionable looking bathroom garbage.



About halfway through the 2nd can a car drove by, slowed down and watched, then proceeded on it's way. "What are they doing out driving at 2 am anyway", I thought. The 2nd car to go by asked if I was okay, to which I snapped back, stating it was my garbage and I could do what I wanted with it.



Did I mention it was cold and dark and with no flashlight I was basically looking by sense of smell and touch. After the 2nd can I decided I needed light and a few less spectators, so I opened the garage and proceeded to carry all four cans into the garage for a better inspection of their contents. The third can was the winner, it had to be because their was the Arby's sacks from dinner. After much digging and a little swearing I found the Target bag and inside the nasty little gift cards I had spent half the night freezing my buns for. I was so over joyed that I almost kissed them, but quickly remember that I had just extracted them from the inner bowels of our garbage cans.

I examined the cards and returned them to the safety of the house. Again I ventured into the cold night to drag all the cans back to the street. Later, while lying in bed trying to warm up I came to the conclusion that gift cards are NOT in any way easier or better than a well thought out gift.