Creativity is at the Bottom of Your Flour Canister

My mom's birthday is next week. Now, I'm not saying how old she'll be, but it's going to be a good one - she'll get lots of presents. But what to give her - that's the question. Her and dad are finally downsizing to a cute-as-a-button bungalow. So, they've just sorted through 35 years of possessions; this goes to charity; that must be tossed. So not only must be something meaningful and personal, it must be something useable or compact.

To me, 'personal' and 'meaningful' are synonymous with something creative - that's just who I am. My first instinct was to paint a new canvas for them. But it just wouldn't work. Mom and dad were some of my most avid art collectors. They certainly didn't need another one of my paintings.

But then I remembered. I'm always telling folks who admire my paintings and muse out loud how much they wish they were creative - that there's heaps of ways to be creative, without touching a paint brush. It was time to put my money where my mouth is.

So, I started cooking. For the last week, every night, I've baked cookies, assembled casseroles, roasted chickens, and made a mighty mess of our kitchen. And I'll keep going until I have to hit the highway. Either that or until I can't get the door closed on my freezer anymore.

Yes there were messes. The burnt stuff got chucked. But on each successful recipe, I wrote a little note about who gave it to me, why I decided to include it, and just about how I was feeling that night - little notes that might help connect me to my much-loved mom who lives hundreds of miles away. And to make it pretty, I'll buy a cute little notebook to put all the notes and recipes in.

I think it will be a success. It's personal, it's creative, and although not terribly compact, it will be well received for many months to come. When the prairie blizzards are howling, and the thermometer is dipping down towards fourty below, I know Mom might open up one of their homemade suppers (that she'll hopefully share with Dad!) think of me, and feel a little warmer.

Can't get more personal than that. I'll let you know how she likes it when I return.
All my best,
Cheryl

Note - Now, some may ask - aren't I afraid my secret will be blown by announcing it to the world, here on the web?! The world's information super-highway? Nope! Their computer's safely packed away in some box somewhere . . . hope they don't turn it on until I get there!