Cutting Boards are a Love Language
As a whole, my immediate family is not big on giving gifts. We pretty consistently do gifts for birthdays and Hanukkah, and those are rarely very costly. My wish lists, largely prepared as gift suggestions for my family, now trend very heavily toward art (books, music) or things I have an actual need to use. This is further driven by all of us being financially capable of buying our own stuff when we want it. We've all further demonstrated philosophical opposition to acquiring stuff for the sake of having stuff. Whether it's my parents offering my sister and I almost everything they had in the house when they got ready for retirement or my consistent focus on decluttering, my family has largely adopted a minimalist approach toward stuff.
The major exception to this gift giving strategy comes from my mother. At least three times in the last decade she has turned up at my house with a big package of plastic flexible cutting boards. They are an eminently practical gift, since
- I cook all the time.
- I frequently use multiple cutting boards in the preparation of a single meal.
- Unlike solid cutting boards, you can easily flex them into pouring food from the board into a pot or bowl.
- They wear out over time as sharp knives slice into them.
She apparently often buys them at Menards, which was a home improvement store in the upper Midwest where I grew up and has in recent years spread to Ohio. My sister also has received them from time to time.
It's possible that the family bias toward gifts being only for major events and for owning less stuff in general is why the cutting boards stand out in my memory. It's equally possible that because I use the cutting boards on a daily basis, I am reminded of them on a daily basis. Either way, I love you too Mom!
The major exception to this gift giving strategy comes from my mother. At least three times in the last decade she has turned up at my house with a big package of plastic flexible cutting boards. They are an eminently practical gift, since
- I cook all the time.
- I frequently use multiple cutting boards in the preparation of a single meal.
- Unlike solid cutting boards, you can easily flex them into pouring food from the board into a pot or bowl.
- They wear out over time as sharp knives slice into them.
She apparently often buys them at Menards, which was a home improvement store in the upper Midwest where I grew up and has in recent years spread to Ohio. My sister also has received them from time to time.
It's possible that the family bias toward gifts being only for major events and for owning less stuff in general is why the cutting boards stand out in my memory. It's equally possible that because I use the cutting boards on a daily basis, I am reminded of them on a daily basis. Either way, I love you too Mom!