For Catholics, May is traditionally dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But, in May, we also celebrate our own earthly mothers, on Mother’s Day.  Across the world, this holiday traditionally involves Mother’s Day Gifts given in love as a generous offering of gratitude and appreciation. And, while that is a beautiful sentiment, as with anything that involves the buying and giving of gifts, Mother’s Day has been reduced to a commodity, with business both big and small competing for a piece of the pie.

Mother’s Day began, innocently enough, as a shout out to motherhood, a vocation filled with love, blessings and opportunities to accept and share love. An expansive vocation that knows no boundaries in its joy and suffering. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Jarvis would later denounce the holiday’s commercialization and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar.

Mother’s Day Gifts

Understandable, for sure. But I personally believe it’s fun for kids to secretively make crafts and surprise mom with their hard work and creativity on Mother’s Day. My youngest kids this year made me coupons for jobs around the house, even including massages as little acts of service. They also made me beautiful sunflowers (my favorite flower) out of construction paper. I love them so much, I am hanging them on my wall.

Older kids can surprise mom with breakfast in bed, like Maddy did for me, with all our favorite breakfast foods. Or maybe spend some quality time with mom, doing one of her favorite activities. Or maybe, clean!

Bottom line, mom’s ought not be making dinner and cleaning up all day.

 

Love Language

Gary Chapman, PhD. is famous for his book, The Five Love Languages in it her describes, in detail, the different ways each of us receive love.

1. Words of Affirmation
2. Quality Time
3. Physical Touch
4. Acts of Service
5. Gifts

I’m decidedly Acts of Service. Words of Affirmation mean nothing to me. You can tell me you love me until you are blue in the face, I won’t believe you unless you act on that love. Each of us is different and knowing how your mom feels loved can help you decide what to do for her, not just on Mother’s Day, but all year round.

Mother’s Day Ideas

Words of Affirmation

This love language is easy. It’s the easiest of all. Simply take a moment and with heartfelt sincerity, tell her how much you appreciate her, how much you love her. Maybe point out a few instances where she was a great role model or a strong advocate or selfless.

Quality Time

Plan a special day at the river, the beach, a hike, a bike ride, or a day of window shopping. Join her in something she loves. Maybe it’s as simple as going out back and gardening with her? Or reading.

Physical Touch

A hug or a wrestling match? You know your mom best. Would she rather you put your arm around her or play some contact sport? Maybe a shoulder rub or a head massage? If her love language is physical touch, it’s important you continue with physical affection throughout your life.

Acts of Service

Clean the kitchen, her car, the bathroom, bake a cake, make dinner, her favorite breakfast, clean up after all the meals … anything. Do anything for her and it will be appreciated!

Gifts

This is exactly what it sounds like, so whether it be a beautiful flower from your local nursery or something more extravagant, purchasing something for your mom shows her that you put some forethought into her special day and that makes her feel loved.

Bonus Ideas

 

Create

Video

Mom’s are emotional saps, we love handmade gifts from our preschoolers as much as from our teens as these are often from the heart and take much more thought and work than a gift bought with money.  I’m not knocking the gifts, trust me, I’m just saying the most memorable and beloved gift I’ve ever received was a video compilation of the year 2010.

Grady slaved over this video, he put his heart and soul into it as he had to sort through an entire year of video clips!  It’s the most amazing video I’ve ever seen, I cry every time I see it and it is ingrained in my heart forever.  Those are my children, my memories, my trips … my heart.

It may seem daunting and close to impossible, but it’s not.  It can actually be fun to edit and produce videos!  In fact, most of the software on the market these days is crazy easy to learn and is totally user friendly.  Check out Sony Vegas or iMovie and get cracking, you don’t have much time to create mom’s favorite gift of all time.

Scrapbook

How about a scrapbook or photo album of the years past travels or main events?  A photo album or a scrapbook made from your heart will really move any mom.

Music Playlist

Does your mom love music? How about you gather all the songs that remind you of her and put them in a special playlist that she can listen to.

Bottom Line

Literally the options are endless. Bottom line, don’t be a schmuck and text your mom, Happy Mother’s Day and go on with your day. While every day is Mother’s Day, it’s nice to feel special. Mom’s spend their days and nights serving their children, it’s nice to feel like something was planned around you, or a little extra effort was made.

But, most of these “ideas” listed above should be incorporated into daily life with your mom, she loves you more than you could ever imagine … show her you appreciate and love her back.