Christmas For My Dad

My dad is horribly hard to buy for.  He doesn't have a ton of little hobbies, he's not that into sports and he doesn't wear ties to work.  There goes he traditional golf balls, sports team gear and the generic tie gifts.  PLUS the buys whatever he wants as soon as he wants it.  So what's the one gift that he can't buy for himself?  Good health.  And it also happens to be something that he's always in need of, especially at this time of year.  So today I'm going to blog about my Christmas gift that I got my dad this year.  The theme was "Good Health and Good Cheer" since that's what all the holiday cards wish you.

First, my dad may or may not read my blog, but he only does it to support me.  He's not buying into all my green stuff.  That's my mom.  I talk her into trying all kinds of crazy stuff, but not my dad.  So when I bought him most of these things, I did it realizing that he was probably not going to use them, but it was worth a shot.

Second, my sister will attest that my gifts all come with directions. (My in-laws will tell you that my meals also come with directions- how are you supposed to know what everything is and what toppings go with what if I don't explain it!?!?) I like to think that the directions are my way of explaining that I put a lot of thought into the gift.  So much thought sometimes, that it needs a little explanation.  My dad's gift went a little beyond that.  Many of the gifts were actually wrapped with directions  and explanations attached.

Third, child on my lap is making this SO HARD TO WRITE!!!!!!

OK, so the actual gifts I gave.  They were all individually wrapped and then packaged in a large cardboard box.  I (very greenly, I may add) padded each layer of gifts with beach towels instead of tissue paper to reduce the amount of packaging we threw out.



1. Kale.  If you read my blog you know I'm a HUGE fan of kale.  It's my super food.  Whenever I feel blah from not eating well I saute up some kale and within a day I feel better.  I use it in smoothies, feed it to the kids as kale chips, saute it on its own (lunch today, in fact!) or add it to recipes.  LOVE IT!  I know that my dad would probably feel a ton better too if he would just give it a try.  However, I know that will never happen.  He'll never eat kale, or drink kale, but I thought he might swallow kale.  SO, I bought a bunch of kale, washed it, removed the stem, chopped it and baked it.  I then put the kale chips in a food processor and chopped it all up until it was as fine as I could get it.  I then proceeded to fill empty gel capsules (I got 150 for under a dollar at The Raisin Rack) with the kale powder.  I used a folded piece of paper and tapped it into each pill then closed it up, put them all in a small container and Voila! Kale for my dad that he doesn't have to eat or drink, but will hopefully be able to enjoy all the benefits of my favorite super food!

2. A lemon.  I attached the original article I talked about in yesterday's blog about the benefits of drinking lemon water.  If I had know how awesome the lemon oil was, I would have given him that, but he had to settle for a real lemon.  Organic though!

3. Wool socks.  I read in a few different sources a year or so ago about this congestion remedy in which you warm you feet, put on wet cotton socks, then dry wools socks then get into bed.  It's supposed to help congestion.  I always wanted to try it with the kids, but couldn't find all wool socks in little sizes.  I told my dad to let me know if it works.  If nothing else, he has a nice thick pair of socks for winter.  Who doesn't love socks as a gift!?  I should have included underwear in this stellar gift!

4. Oscillococcinum.  It's a homeopathic "medicine" to help reduce the symptoms of cold and flu.  I've used it with my kids and it really does seem to work.  Fast and easy to take and no measuring!  I like that!

5. DoTERRA.  I got Evan some lavender oil to help him sleep and while I was there I had her mix up something for my dad's gout.  He missed my sister and I crossing the finish line for the Frosty Frolic 5K we did in December because he wasn't able to walk from the car.  Jenna and I understood, but Jack was crushed.

6. Oreos and Chips Ahoy.  Neither of these are healthy.  In fact the crap in them will probably contribute to everything the rest of this gift is trying to fight, but the theme of the gift was health AND good cheer.  I knew that Oreos and Chips Ahoy would make my dad happy.

So there you have it.  My dad's Christmas gift.  I mostly wanted to share the bit about the kale because I'm so proud of myself for coming up with the idea.  I doubt he's used any of it, but it makes me feel good to know he at least has it in his arsenal to use when he starts to feel crumby.  He used to hold my head while I puked with the flu when I was a kid.  Socks, lemons and kale is the least I can do to repay that.

*As a side note, I tried to link more of these gifts to blogs I had written about them.  I wasn't coming up with anything when I used the search on blogger, so, sorry about that.  Also, there was a child waving a glue stick in my face, then demanding graham crackers and milk.  It was a rough post to type.