I’ve always associated flowers, chocolate, candy and cake with valentine. Each year I’d receive lots of cards and roses from friends and near ones.
But the first time I truly understood the meaning of valentine was after my engagement to my boyfriend. This was going to be my first true valentine where I could express my inmost feelings and share my thoughts with someone.
I’d heard Martina Mcbride sing ‘My Valentine’ a million times but did not understand its true essence till now.
This time I wanted my valentine gift to be unique and very personalized.
I searched through the web for fresh gift ideas but every site landed me on flowers, sweets, balloons, chocolate, perfumes, toiletries e-cards etc…. I wanted something very personal which I would not locate even after hours of net surfing.
I finally gave up and went to make myself a mug of hot chocolate. The kitchen was quite cold as I’d left the window open to vent the fumes from the cooking. Brushing my face, the icy breeze blew away my hair and sent a chill wave down my spine. I felt like a frozen snowman with only a scarf wrapped around its neck to keep it warm. Yes, only a ‘scarf’!
Wow, I know what my valentine gift is going to be. Its gonna be a scarf. A hand painted red silk scarf.
Some might think of it as a silly idea but I believe this is the most romantic valentine gift as it would be hand crafted by me for my love. I’ll paint a cupid and hearts on my scarf and make it my personal valentine’s gift. I’ll add a white chocolate bar and wrap both the chocolate and scarf in a plain white wrapping paper with a red ribbon on it.
Yes, this would be the best valentine gift ever!
I can never forget the first snow storm I ever saw. Coming from a tropical environment I was used to having thunder storms now and then but moving further north added a new experience of snow storms to my life. As the clocks were set an hour behind observing day-light-saving the day light hours started to shorten. The sun would shine only around noon and then disappear shortly after. The weather became cold and everyone had to wear thick warm wool clothing.
It was a lazy Saturday day with nothing much to do but stay indoors and watch TV. I lay sluggishly on the couch wearing my teddy bear pajamas and a pashmina shawl scarf thinking of Christmas gift ideas. The sky was gray and the visibility outside was becoming zero as the clouds thickened. All of a sudden a soft white cotton-like ball seemed to have fallen from the sky but disappeared in the cold mist. Following it more and more of these cotton balls seemed to be showered from the sky till everything outside was covered with white feather like fluff. My still heart started to throb with joy as I was witnessing my first snow fall ever. It was the prettiest sight of my life as everything outside including house tops, bare tree branches, the sidewalks and all were filled with snowflakes. Falling from the sky, the snowflakes lay thick and soft on the coats and hats of all the people outside. Wrapped in warm shawls and scarves all walked hurriedly towards their destinations as the fast gathering snow filled the air. Soon after it started to get dark and one could barely see through.
I wanted to freeze time and stop the darkness from blocking my view of the wonderful snow-land outside but could not control nature. This would be one of the most remembered days of my life as I had just experienced my first ever snowfall, something I had always read in books and seen in movies.
The smell of snow makes me think of sitting on top of the radiator and sipping mug after mug of warm coffee. I am looking forward to Christmas holidays where I would do nothing but make Christmas gifts for my entire family and enjoy my coffee.
I want my presents this year to be unique so the message of love I portray though them lasts all year round. My thinking-hat has advised me to make small silk scarves for everyone. I am thinking of using the color red for the men (bold and beautiful for the cold winter) and silver for the ladies (serene and sophisticated). Each red scarf would have a silver trim and the silver would have red trims. There would be wrapped with silk ribbon of the opposite colors with small bells tied around the knot.
Now that I have brainstormed my gift ideas I want the holidays to start so I get going with my silk scarf gift project while enjoying my coffee.