The Gift of Time

This was supposed to be about the heartwarming day I watched my daughter teach my niece how to make challah. But last week, as I was in my car listening to the radio, an old Jim Croce song came on that got me thinking. And when I sat down to write, I realized that some things are more important even than challah.

Every holiday, I try to think of what would make the perfect gift for each person on my list. Often there are homemade gifts (vanilla extract, mason jars of homemade granola, dehydrated herbs from my garden, and this year a bottle of dried astragalus root for my mom – shhh….). But as I think about the gifts I gave and received this past year, what I remember more than anything else is the time – the time shared gathered around the dining room table celebrating birthdays, the time in the kitchen kneading sourdough with friends, the cheering on the sidelines, the clapping in the audience, the hikes, the skiing, the laughter, and even the crying. Time is the gift that leaves the biggest imprint on my heart. Time is the gift I want to figure out how to package this year and give to everyone I love.

So thank you Jim Croce for reminding me. Because as a child, I knew all the lyrics and sang about time in a bottle without giving it another thought. But today, when I realized what I wanted to give to those I love this holiday season and always, I was reminded that I had been singing it all along.

 

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I’d like to do

Is to save every day

‘Til eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

 

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I’d save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you

 

 

These are among my most treasured gifts of 2016, and it’s the promise of more time shared and more memories created in the year ahead that I already cherish.

 

If I had a box just for wishes

And dreams that had never come true

The box would be empty

Except for the memory

Of how they were answered by you.

 

With thanks to all for helping to make clean food memories together.

 

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