In the spirit of giving....

My grandma is 80 years old. She is the mother of 8 children, all living. Those children all have children, and some even have grandchildren. She has a big family. She loves her big family. She buys Christmas presents for her big family - totalling 53 people and counting.

My grandma's lungs don't work very well.  She's on oxygen all the time.  She's lost close to 80 pounds this year and has become so much smaller than the grandma of my childhood.  Her legs don't work so hot and neither do her ears.  She still though has an amazing spirit and light about her.  She's tired and in pain nearly every single day.  She passes out a lot and just a week ago fell so hard that she bruised her entire leg.  She could win an award for that bruise.  She's a fighter.  She's got amazing faith.  She watches "All my Children" every single day.

I love my grandma dearly.  She has taken care of me my entire life.  My sister and I, when we were younger could count on my grandma for everything.  One phone call and she'd be wherever we needed her, whenever we needed her.  She was my official chauffeur all through school, even picking me up as a senior in high school.  In fact, the first time I ever ditched a class was the last week of my senior year and grandma was the one who came to pick me up, take me to the 7-11 for a coke, and let me hang out at her house all afternoon.

Anyway, back to the presents.  Like I said, she buys presents for about 53 people.  She has a book, her gift bible, that lists everything she has purchased.  She has another book, even bigger, with receipts, catalog order numbers and everything else she needs.  She's organized and thoughtful and does her best to give everyone gifts that they will love.

We all know that every Christmas we'll get socks.  It's important for my Grandma make sure we have socks.  As a kid, she had to darn her own socks or go with out and shove cardboard in her shoes to help keep her feet dry. - the great depression can do that to a kid.

I've talked about it on this blog before, but it is my designated task, for the last many years (I really cannot remember how many) to help wrap presents.  Last year I wrapped most of them by myself and it took me several days and over 15 hours to get it all done.  This year, my sister, cousin and I got it knocked out in two nights - in about 10 hours.  My back is still sore a couple days later.

Think about it.  53 people.  Each person has at least 3 packages to wrap.  For the little kids, every present is wrapped individually so the kiddies have more to open.  That's over 200 presents to wrap and we did it in 10 hours - and I wrapped a few that I picked up yesterday to even things out at my house this morning.

My grandma is amazing.  How she does this every year I don't know.  I love her so much.  I love wrapping presents for her.  I love spending time at her house.  I haven't been the best visitor lately - I let life get in the way - but I hope that my grandma knows how much I love and appreciate her and all she does for our family.