Handmade Gifts

When I was a child, I always wanted to have enough money to buy expensive gifts for my mother. As Christmas or birthdays approached, I would take my meager allowance down to the Navy Exchange and gaze through the jewelry case, hoping for something wonderful, glittery and affordable for a woman who I knew loved jewelry.

There was never anything affordable and, truth be told, she didn't need anything from the Exchange, as she already had heirloom jewelry from her grandmother and my Dad added on a regular basis to her collection of sparkly things. But, I always wished for enough money to buy her a really impressive gift, as if that would somehow prove my love for her. When I would wish for that aloud, she would always say, "Give me something you have made yourself; handmade gifts are the best." I'd nod and pretend to agree, still secretly and stubbornly convinced that store-bought was better.

Sometime over the years I absorbed her philosophy and, as I grew wiser as well as taller, I learned to value homemade gifts the most. Fast forward to yesterday, when I opened my pantry door looking for something to go with my cottage cheese and found a jar of homemade apple butter that Molly had given me more than a year ago. I have posted about this strange combination before, but had to mention it again, both because of Molly's generosity and because of the excellence of her apple butter.

Molly's is a lighter, spicier apple butter than I have had before, a little runny so just a spoonful decorates a satisfyingly large scoop of cottage cheese. She uses either different spices or nicer combinations that most - this stuff is highly addictive! Sitting down to a bowlful, I could hear my mother's voice extolling the virtues of handmade gifts, and was grateful.