Which is a better holiday, Mother's Day or Father's
Day? Let's compare the behavior of the typical mom
and the typical dad on these two holidays. Well, it's
typical in my home, anyway. We are Martha Stewart
married to Ray Romano.
Cards
I have purchased my husband's cards ten days in
advance. I've gotten him cards from the children, the
pets, and from me. I also bought cards for my father,
step-father, my ex-husband, and some homeless guy
everybody calls "daddy". Okay, not the homeless guy,
but you get the picture. In addition, I spent 20
minutes analyzing the content of each card so that it
expresses just the right sentiment. "Well, the baby
is only 7 months old, so she really can't say she
LOVES him."
My husband, on the other hand, didn't have as much
foresight. The morning before Mother's Day, I
suspected he had not yet gotten me a card. Rather
than risk his embarrassment and my bitter
disappointment, I gently reminded him. It was a good
thing I did.
"Honey, can you think of anything else we need while
you are at the drugstore today after work?"
"I'm going to the drugstore today after work?"
"Well, tomorrow is Mother's Day and I'll bet you $5
that you haven't gotten my card yet."
"Uhhhhh, no I can't think of anything else we need
while I'm at the drugstore today after work."
My beloved found himself wandering the aisles of the
24 hour drugstore at 1:00 am Mother's Day morning
looking for the "perfect card". Later he revealed to
me that he was by no means the only man in the card
aisle that night.
Gifts
As Father's day approached, I began to review gift
possibilities. "I could make some baby hand prints
out of clay. Or I could take her to one of those
photo studios and get professional photos of her with
some cute props. Yeah, and I could give it to him in
a handmade frame with her little hand prints in paint
all around it."
I decided that I would be more likely to capture the
true essence of the baby on film, and chose to take
the pictures myself. I bought two rolls of black and
white film and proceeded to have my own "photo shoot"
complete with props, costume changes, and different
backdrops. I also bought a cute frame so that daddy
can have a cute picture of his baby for his desk at
work. I scrapped the homemade frame idea after
watching the baby eat cereal with her hands.
Needless to say, my husband wasn't considering
crafting me a homemade Mother's Day gift out of wood.
A few weeks before Mother's Day I received a
subscription offer from Martha Stewart Living
magazine. Now, I love this magazine dearly, but it is
too expensive for me to buy monthly. I find it
interesting, but not practical, to learn how to make
my own Revolutionary Flag for the 4th of July. The
subscription offer was a great deal, so I left it on
my husband's desk with a note attached: "Mother's Day
is coming!!"
When he saw it he asked, "Mother's Day? When is that?
You want a gift?" I must admit, this was our first
Mother's Day as parents together, so he gets to slide
on this one.
"Yes, dear. It is traditional to give the woman who
endured 9 months of pain and 14 hours of agony to
bring forth your child into the world a small token of
your appreciation."
"Oh. You want this magazine?"
Presentation
In all likelihood, I will let my husband sleep in on
Father's Day. I will then prepare his favorite
breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, fruit,
orange juice (freshly squeezed, of course), and fresh
ground coffee. When he wakes up I will bring the kids
to him and we will present him with the gift, and the
cards. Knowing my husband, he will probably still
spend the day doing yard work, but this day his wife
will wait on him hand and foot. "Can I get you
another beer, honey?"
I am also planning to make him a delicious dinner, and
let him control the TV all night long.
Mother's Day was actually rather cute. My husband, my
daughter, and the baby all went into the kitchen to
make me breakfast. He taught my eight year old how to
operate the coffee maker, and together they fried a
couple of eggs for me and served it with toast. The
baby was babbling instructions the whole time, while I
sat with my cat on my lap in the easy chair providing
consultation.
"Honey, where are the spoons?"
"In the drawer below the cabinet where we keep the
coffee cups."
"Honey, where are the coffee cups?"
During the breakfast (which was quite good, actually)
my family presented me with my cards, and the gift my
daughter made at school. The card my husband got me
was for "A woman who means so much to this family."
"Well, it's true isn't it?" he said. Something
tells me the pickings were quite slim at 1:00 am. At
least it wasn't for "The woman who cleans our house".
After breakfast I said, "The dishwasher is empty so
you can put the dishes right in it."
"Oh, right. The dishes." My family struggled to do
the dishes without me for the first time since we've
been together. I loved every minute of it.
So the question remains. Which is better, Mother's
Day or Father's Day? For me, it's a toss-up. I love
Father's Day because I get to use all my creative
Martha Stewart ideas to produce a wonderful experience
for the man I love. I love Mother's Day because I get
to sit back and watch my family do my jobs because
they love me enough to do them.
They say it's better to give than to receive. I think
it's true. Especially when you are giving hints about
what you'd like to receive.
**
Traci Vujicich (pronounced Voo-i-chich) is the author of Motherhood, Apple Pie and Other Fattening Things:
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-20723-5
She is also a Life Coach, and a wife and mother. She lives in Redondo Beach, California with her husband Dan, daughters Madison and Lea, and her cats Maggie and Sofia. Traci produces a weekly internet magazine, writes content for several websites, and is the webmaster of Ask the Life Coach.com and Lead the Field
Coaching.com. Since 1993, Traci has been providing management consulting services to clients such as Johnson & Johnson, Sun Microsystems, Texaco, Nortel, Kodak, Bell South,
Weyerhauser, Lockheed Martin, Union Pacific and Exxon. In addition, she conducts internet seminars on a variety of subjects.
This article provided by the Family Content Archives at:
http://www.Family-Content.com
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