Ginger the GGG

I'm just going to jump right in. 

No lengthy and over-thought intro today. Just a little blog post about Ginger (my MIL) aka, the Generous Gift Giver (GGG).

Allow me to explain:

Back in 2000, when Woody and I had been dating barely a year (Peace Corps-style no less) Ginger, Bart & Elee came to Guatemala for Christmas. 

(Ginger, Elee, Woody, & me @ a coffee finca outside Antigua; December 2000)

I asked Woody to ask her to bring me a 20 oz. bottle of diet Dr. Pepper.

She brought me two* 2-Liter bottles of diet DP, a supply of Aveda products, and had emailed my BFF to see what other things I might like and brought me a Martha Stewart cookbook!

This was the FIRST time we had ever met. AND, she was flying international and even back then it was pricey for extra poundage in the baggage.

She also stocked up @ Costco and brought Woody a stockpile of Power Bars & Beef Jerky which we (happily) lugged w/ us on multiple chicken bus rides to Honduras where we spent New Year's learning to scuba dive.

(Woody and me, Honduras 2001)

Next, Christmas of 2001. 

Woody and I were spending Christmas alone (but together) in our new home of Oregon (we moved in late September from California). 

I'd gotten a better sense of her generosity at this point but was still shocked at my gift. 

In fact, this one still goes down as the best gift ever. 

So, I open my gift to find a gift card (and a catalog) to Le Cordon Bleu (formerly known as Western Culinary Institute) with a list of non-professional cooking classes where I could "learn first-hand foundational techniques from Le Cordon Bleu chefs."

I stared at it for ~30 minutes teary-eyed and lost for words.

I'd still only been back in the USA for 8 months (minus a lovely 3 week trip to Asia) and didn't realize such things existed. Plus, I was just Woody's lowly girlfriend. I should have received an ornament or something. Not a full day experience in a culinary school kitchen, learning from the best and enjoying a exquisitely prepared lunch. 

She obviously laid down the big bucks but the thoughtfulness and time spent to arrange it just kill me. 

I felt so understood.

Man Ginger, good one!

(Ginger & Maya, Christmas 2009)

OK - I could go year-by-year but I'm not.

I'm going to FF to Christmas 2010, just two short months ago.

I had told Woody two million and three times that I wanted a rice cooker for Christmas. So when Ginger pushed a large box toward me (& Woody and I had already exchanged gifts) I figured it was a RC (the cadillac of RC's due to the largeness of the box but a RC nonetheless). 

I was wrong.

And I should have known better than to assume she got me something I told people I wanted. 

That's not how she rolls. 

She buys you things you would never ask for...and yet, if you're paying attention (and she does) than it's something you've somehow implied interest in/desire for/ love of, etc.

This is what she got me:

(Singer Serger, 2010)

It's a serger!!!!! 

You may be wondering...What does a Serger do?

Well, a serger trims the seam and encloses the seam allowance, making the seams stronger:

(I found this image somewhere in google images...can't credit it)

And it can make seams look cute on the outside:

(image from MADE by Dana)

Again, I stared @ it in amazement and the tears started flowing...so incredibly thoughtful.

So, of course I didn't know I wanted it. But, of course, I did want it.

 I love it so and am very happy to have it though, I have to admit, I am absolutely terrified of it. This baby is complicado. And glorious. 

Ginger, thank you! 

Happy Birthday! 

We hope you got some uber-thoughtful gifts today:)

(photo by Maya, December 2010)

*the more I think about it, there were three 2-Liter bottles, possibly four!