The Greatest Gift I've Received

Beneath my tree this year, were a variety of wonderful, thoughtful gifts from a wonderful hairy man, who likes to joke about and (to some extent) has a hard time shopping for me. Among my plethora of gifts was a hand carved wooden elephant and turtle from his trip to the Dominican Republic, beautiful wool fingerless gloves/mittens, tasty treats, the brand new set of tavern mouselings from Reaper Miniatures and a gorgeous deck of playing cards from the Ukraine (from whence my paternal grandfather came).

And while these gifts are all wonderful and thoughtful the greatest gifts I received were the ones he was most nervous about giving me. The first, a large box filled to bursting with shredded paper held a partial doe skull (he was nervous that I would be upset that she was jaw-less, I was not.) and a wild card, a complete (and beautiful) badger skull:

He was, again, a bit nervous about this one because he had no reason for choosing a badger, he just did. He felt better when I unwrapped it, squealed in delight and proceeded to go badger, badger, badger at it. What can I say? Sometimes I'm a silly witch. I've never worked with badger before, but this little fellow sent massive voltage up my arm and makes me tingle (in a not unpleasant way) when I hold it so I'll be looking further into the medicine of Badger. I'll post more on this wee skull and the critter inside in the future.

The gift he was most nervous about, and in fact even warned me that it was lame, was the final gift he presented me on Christmas morning. I unwrapped it with my newly mitted hands and was a wee bit confused at first, as it was a box made from corrugated cardboard and duct tape. But then I saw there was a note inside and proceeded to read:

I wanted to get you a very special present but I had some difficulties because it is so personal. So let me tell you what it is not... --->

I picked up the note and behind it, was a second note and this:

It is not a whimsical broom. --->

I picked up the second note:

It is not a fancy knife. --->

I picked up the third note to reveal the final one:
But it could be. It could be whatever you want it to be, just point it out when you find it. This is a promise, not a gift card.

I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around this man who loves every single aspect of me, accepts it all and actually encourages me to be who and what I am. Never before have I had a gift move me to tears. The wee broom that he made with fallen birch branch and twine that he unwound to make the head is sitting on my altar, a beautiful tool for cleansing my space or my head. The knife, while not sharp, is in my cabinet awaiting a use. It turns out, that the gift he thought was the lamest, was actually the best - and one of the best ever. A reminder that no matter what others may say or do, there will always be one bright, shining star of acceptance in my horizons. And that, is the greatest gift I could ever ask to receive.