Remember when you were little, and you spent all day working so hard at making that perfect gift for mom for Mother’s Day? It took hours of preparation and focused energy, which was, let’s be honest here, a bonus gift for mom that you were so happily–and quietly– working on your masterpiece… You poured your little heart and soul into it- a painting, a new ruler made from a stick, a sculpture of her favorite pet made from clay - Sometimes the end product resulted in that fateful question that helped decipher its meaning, “Oh..honey…it’s delightful! Tell me more about this ‘creation’!” But regardless of what you were making,  it was always going to be awesome because it was from the heart.

I remember one Mother’s Day, my little sister and I had the brilliant idea to create a photo album full of pictures of none other than her darling little angels. We were probably 7 & 5 years old at the time. I remember thinking that we couldn’t use mere paper for the album, because that was too flimsy. We needed something sturdier that would withstand the true test of time, as we were sure this was going to be kept for centuries to come. We always had an abundance of leather around the house, as mom designed leather wallets at that time. Perfect. For hours on end we locked ourselves in the back rooms and searched through endless family photo albums, pulling out pictures that we thought she would like. After making our selections, we glued them onto the leather “sheets” of the album pages, cut from her leather inventory. We bound the pages with small strips of leather from the same source. This present was going to be the end-all of amazing gifts.

As an adult looking back, I can just about imagine the absolute shock in her eyes as she unwrapped her homemade gift to find that her most favorite family pictures and portraits had been ripped from their resting places and glued, yes glued, onto soft leather album pages, captioned with our names in silver permanent marker, just in case anyone forgot. And as a bonus, this was done in the 80′s, before the age of digital cameras, and I’m certain those were the only copies of the prints. Just for you, Mom, and we did it all by ourselves.

Now, I’m sure that like all homemade gifts that children make for their parents, she did treasure it in the special way that only mothers can. To us, her smiling face and hugs in return were satisfaction enough that we had yet again brilliantly displayed how much we loved her on Mother’s Day (even though I never saw that album ever again…)

For the safety of household family portraits everywhere, kids grow up. As an adult, my ability to put gifts together has changed with my upgrade from the “50 cents-per-household-chore” budget.  But that same feeling remains – the desire to WOW mom with perfect gift that shows her that her little angel still loves her dearly.  Because of this, I was delighted to see the selections that Gold Medal Wine Club is offering for Mother’s Day this year. Check them out! Choose from gift baskets, gift packs or FREE items with purchase of a membership. My favorites are the gift baskets — such attention to detail. Plus, what mom can resist a basket that’s full of goodies designed especially for her?!

Gift Baskets, Gift Packs & FREE Gifts with Memberships!

Mother’s Day is May 9, just around the corner…. Give the gift of award-winning, hard-to-find wines this year,  and show her how much you love her without spending six hours terrorizing the family portraits with a gluestick!