The ideal Mother’s Day gift

PETA KROST MAUNDER

Perhaps that is so, but there are few experiences more delectable than a show of love from one’s offspring or life partner. I agree that telling someone you love that you love them shouldn’t be specific to a certain day every year. I also agree that spending an untold fortune to celebrate these days seems a little silly.

However, I have great memories of spoiling my mom and dad on these days – going out for a special family lunch. And at the end of the day, it is all about memories and special moments.

So, the SA Jewish Report put out a request to the Facebook group, Joburg Jewish Mommies, to find out what people’s ideal Mothers’ Day gift would be and why.

Jade Kovacs Dracht says her ideal gift would be to spend the day with her mother, who passed away a year and a half ago. “Being a mommy myself, I find this day very bittersweet. It seems to get harder as each year passes.”

Janice Feigenbaum dreams of having her two children home with her on Mother’s Day. “They are 19 and 21 years old, and are both studying in London. They are still my babies. I won’t celebrate Mother’s Day this year,” she writes.

Ingrid Grunberg-Pollack says she would prefer to have the money to “spend on us versus me”. She says she would love to do something her family could enjoy as a unit. “A trip overseas would be a bonus,” she writes.

Karen Brooks, however, says: “As a single mom, anything my kid of 14 could rustle up without prompting would be so precious.”

Candice Jacqueline Shaer told of a precious gift she made for her mother. “The year my kids were born, I made an album with photos and reasons the kids loved their granny. It’s still one of her most treasured possessions 17 years later. I’ve made a few since then and even set them to music to make a digital version.”

Terri Simon says that while she doesn’t “keep stuff”, the things her children have made for her for Mother’s Day, she cannot throw out. “Magnetised picture frames, why they love me, how old they think I am. Just gratitude and appreciation. Recognition for existing,” she writes.

Gilla Anne Mac Gregor says: “I love the breakfast and tea in bed with the handmade things my girls make me. From pottery to cards, paper flowers and frames of pictures from them. I feel like I have bought up great girls.”

Ruth Gutman Lurie loves the homemade cards and the fun time spent with her children. “Things like being dropped off for a surprise massage and then going together for breakfast or lunch. In a nutshell, I appreciate the thought and time.”

Linda Lipschitz says: “My best pressies are the photos and handwritten letters or drawings from my grandchildren. Or alternatively, just a hug and maybe a handpicked ‘flower’ or a weed even from the garden. A special lunch, tea or something with my family and my mom, who is a great Bobba to eight great-grandchildren and four on the way.”

Timor Lifschitz believes the best kind of Mother’s Day gift is a canvas print of her and her daughter, Ella, because “memories should be seen around the house for everyone to delight in and make it a home”.

One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says she has never received a formal Mother’s Day gift, except when her eldest daughter made a painting for her five years ago. Having been a mother for 21 years, she says her family have never had the money to buy Mother’s or Father’s Day presents and she used to encourage her children to make cards for these days. “Now they are teenagers, all I want is for one of them to spontaneously remember and wish me Happy Mother’s Day.”

So it’s clear, it’s not about Hallmark holidays, but love and appreciation.