What can I give my grandmother for Christmas?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Or: What does one get for a person whose hobby is cleaning?

Yeah, I know it’s obnoxiously early.:stuck_out_tongue: My excuse/reasoning is that I live on the other side of the country from my family and will be going home on December 4, and I like to bring home presents with me - it feels like I’m giving them something they couldn’t get themselves (even though last year I got my father’s present from Mountain Equipment Co-op, whose Toronto branch is a 10-minute walk from his office!).

Anyway, my grandmother. Every year the entire family struggles with this, and every year we fail. My grandmother is 86 years old, and she doesn’t speak much English. I speak no Polish. Actually, being rather deaf and not having been in Poland since about 1942, my grandmother doesn’t speak much either - the only person she can really communicate with is my father, as their family seems to have developed its own dialect over the years. I love her, but I have very little relationship with her, even though she’s lived with my parents for about five years now.

Babcia’s interests are cleaning the house. She has a serious heart condition, but she will nearly give herself strokes on a weekly basis when she leans over for hours on end scrubbing the floor, for example. She also likes to watch the Weather Network. I don’t think she has many other interests. She’s very shy, and she doesn’t really like to leave the house - she always declines invitations to visit family, for example.

Oh, and the last thing - she returns any presents to the giver that might be even slightly useful to them. So we give her the kinds of chocolates that we ourselves like (although she did keep one box one year that my father gave her - we all laughed at him when he realized he wasn’t going to be able to eat the whole thing.) I once gave her a set of very practical hand lotions and stuff - guess what’s in my bathroom right now?

So, while I know that I’m the only person who knows my grandmother, what would you get a person like this? What do you normally get for elderly relatives? What should I buy her for her to return to me? :wink:

(I asked my father just now, and he said I should get her another scarf like the last one I got her, which did go down quite well. The problem is that I bought it in Poland. Bit far for a shopping trip.)

2

Any way you can buy her some books in Polish? It seems this site has a lot of Polish items
http://www.polandbymail.com/

3

I LOVE the karaoke CD on that site. Not to buy, because we’re not exactly a karaoke family, but just the idea of it. If my grandmother wasn’t nearly deaf, I’d get her one of the Christmas CDs.

I think she doesn’t see well enough to read, and she’s never been interested in it. (To be fair, she went to school until she was about 12.) I certainly could get a book, but my father, who is also not a reader, will flip through it, and then it’ll stay on the coffee table for a year or so. See what I mean? She’s impossible to buy for! (But also considers Christmas gifts to be very symbolically important, so I want to get her something.)

4

For this year maybe a nice throw or quilt to put over herself when she’s watching the weather channel. You can find really soft ones and even embroider her initials on it.

Next year you could start way ahead of time and make her something by hand. I did my parents’ house in needlepoint and that went over big! Or you could have her name crocheted into a doilley(?) and have it framed. How about her very own weather system? A picture book of Poland? Needlework that she could do – like crosstitch? Ultra huggable and microwavable scented stuffed animals? (I’m a grammy and just love these.) Real or silk flower arrangements?

Call her often. Write or come to see her twice as much. Pay for maid service once a week.

As the song says, “Love her, love her, love her.”

5

Zoe has a great idea with the quilt. You could also try some warm flannel pajamas and warm slippers.

6

Do you have family photos or could a family member send you some photos? Several years ago I had a calendar made for my grandmother. Along with the normal holidays, they put birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions from our family. For each month, I selected a picture or pictures of people who had something special during that month.

She LOVED it. I was able to select a size with a font that was rather big and very readable for her.

Just an idea

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Something strange- A Tin Can Robot kit:! http://www.sciencestoreforthestars.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=102

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I like the calendar idea. My ideas: a monthly flower delivery. Or a Polish delicacy that she remembers from childhood that she hasn’t enjoyed for years and years?

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Is religion important to her? If it is, and assuming she is Roman Catholic, have some Masses celebrated for her parents or siblings.

Try an amaryllis flower that will grow from a bud. Give her a pretty card telling her it will be delivered after Christmas if you think she may give it back.

10

SHe sounds like a perfect candidate for the Swiffer Wet Jet

(If you need one, that is)

11

Does she enjoy keeping her lawn/garden likes she enjoys keeping house? If so, I’d like to recommend a bird feeder. That was a big hit with my grandmother, whose interests were her flowers and her yard.

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Thanks everyone! My grandmother is truly an odd person, and some suggestions were all too, well, normal :wink: (we have more than enough cleaning materials in the house that she has no need to get down on her hands and knees, but she insists on doing it like in the old days - I think she really enjoys the hard work). My mother is constantly worried about the neighbours calling the authorities on us for “making” her work, when in reality my father has to yell at her to stop working. Maid service would be her worst nightmare (and probably that of the poor maid too!).

I like the idea of a quilt. Calendar and birdfeeder are other possibilties. Thanks!

I like the

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When I asked this question, someone here told me to get some custom-made US postage stamps with a photo of her cat on it. She loved it. There are signs at the post office telling you how to do it.

14

I was thinking maybe some Polish music? Along the lines of a traditional/folk music CD. She can listen while she scrubs. :smiley: My grandma is 89 and a pistol - and she does love old-timey music. I picked up a huge carton of 78s from the 30s/40s at a farm auction and she went nuts!

Another gift that went over kind of huge was when I made her a rag rug using some of her old cast-off clothing. My great-grandma knew the craft but my mom & grandma don’t so I taught myself how. True, that gift was like a year in the making (between the learning how, etc) but she uses it infront of her sink every day. And that doesn’t happen too often. :slight_smile: