Damn. I'll have to give mine to my mom. She'll hang on to it, 'cause I might die or something and then she'll feel really bad.;):p

I think it's great that your mom loves you enough to want to make you things.

Maybe you should have a game plan to always let her know what you want beforehand? Book? DVD? Amazon gift card?

I'm lucky, my Mom always asks what I want, and I try to think of something.

The dosconnect only persists in mistaking the object for only the object. It may also a symbol of love, respect, and family. In which case, you're not lying at all unless you reject the good wishes of your mother and have no desire to reciprocate through the object's display. It's the magic and meaning behind the object that makes it so difficult to discard, not the object itself.

Awesome post - I think you nailed it.

Quickly, I gotta go - we've made it our policy to tell them what we want and it works some of the time.
I just wanted to see what you guys thought. Didn't mean to come off as saying "you're wrong", sorry if I miffed anyone. :) I get frustrated with my mom's awful tastes.

I think you should post pics of these gifts. How bad can they really be?

Thankfully, my mother no longer has time for handmade items. What she does do though is almost as bad, but at least I have no difficulty disgarding the items. I tend to admire things and mention "hey that's kinda cool." It's rarely something I would actually want or use, just something random that amused me. Well instead of listening to my multiple hints at the things I actually do want or need, my mother will pick up on the most random "cool" thing and get me that.

Ok, here's the deal with posting:

If I get around to it (I don't have much home time these days without packing) I'll take pics and post them in the Parking LoT. I don't want them viewable by non-swankers. They've got names and pictures on them. I'm kinda worried one will end up on boners.com or something :rolleyes: I'll ask that no one copy the pics. Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid about it.

If I do so I'll let you know.

Many years ago, my mom decided she wanted to try and see if she could paint. She was a big fan of the hippie on cable tv that painted "happy little trees" and such. So she got her supplies and produced exactly one painting, before deciding that it was ugly and that she had no artistic talent. Actually, my dad and I thought she did ok for her first try but she would have none of it. The painting sat in the back of her closet, covered in old clothes.

When she died, it was one of a few things that I really wanted because, like others have mentioned, it was something that was created with her own hands. I didn't think I would ever display it, but I didn't want it thrown away. It sat in my closet for many years until one day when Matthew saw it and asked me about it. I told him the story and a few days later, he bought me a frame for it and for the first time ever, it was displayed for others to see. Surprisingly, there have been some positive comments about it over the years from people who have no idea who it was painted by. I can't help but smile when that happens.

But realistically, to anyone who knows art, it is probably seen as a piece of crap. Still, it is priceless to me and I will continue to display it regardless of its artistic merit. It could have so easily been discarded and within a short time, I probably would have forgotten about it completely. Instead, it is one of the few tangible reminders that I have of her existence and I'm pretty thankful that I kept it.

Now, as far as you are concerned, CP, you may never want to display any these items as I've done. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. I would ask you to consider the underlying value of them however. Some day, you might just get a little joy from digging one of these out of a box and taking a trip down memory lane. At that time, I suspect that they might even look a little less ugly to you. :)