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Zack, another year around, 1st Advent and Christmas is just around the corner - for many a stressful time is beginning.
Instead of contemplative baking of cookies, sometimes headless, often hectic searches for gifts.
But giving presents is actually something wonderful – and I think it should be at least as much fun as receiving (good) presents.
When I choose something, I think of the other person, of course, but I should also like things that I don't want myself.
I didn't even know that I needed it until I got a noble knee pillow as a gift years ago.
Today I use it regularly, as regularly as the goutweed shows up again in spring, I don't want to be without it anymore and I thank the noble donor silently.
There are knee pillows in various designs, designs and price ranges.
My tip: washable is practical, but not a must.
A few patches of earth look good on such a work utensil.
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Katharina Stegelmann, Barbara Supp
The worm inside
SPIEGEL book: An honest book about gardening
Publisher: Ullstein
Number of pages: 272
SPIEGEL book: An honest book about gardening
Publisher: Ullstein
Number of pages: 272
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On the other hand, I found my favorite gloves for fine work like weeding long ago – and I would give them away immediately: foxgloves made of elastic textile, available from Ward Garden Supplies, for example.
The models are said to have been developed by an American woman after gardening with her evening gloves on and finding it so comfortable.
In winter you can also wear them under coarse leather gloves to keep warm, for example when stacking wood.
The search for the right gloves can take a gardener's entire life, so inspiration from outside (as a gift!) is very welcome.
A tool belt bag is incredibly practical.
I can just recommend her.
Someone who doesn't have a garden would find such an accessory under the Christmas tree odd at best.
Inappropriate gifts – or gifts that are perceived as inappropriate – can spoil the mood for a long time.
Maybe that's one of the reasons why some people get so stressed out when choosing gifts or put off buying gifts for a long time: the worry of disappointing, not meeting expectations, making mistakes.
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Bernd Bruner
Of the art of taming the fruit
Publisher: Knesebeck
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Knesebeck
Number of pages: 288
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Fortunately, when hands-on gifts aren't an option, books are available.
For the sister who always wanted to have a cherry tree or the uncle with a weakness for archeology, Bernd Brunner's "The Art of Taming Fruits," for example, is equally suitable.
This richly illustrated book about the cultural history of fruit growing is not only an aesthetic pleasure.
It also provides knowledgeable information about the development of the relationship between people and fruit - and provides plenty of facts with which you can shine at party talk.
For example, one learns that fruit was eaten 300,000 years ago or that humans belong to the so-called dry-nosed primates.
This book inspires people to see more in apples and co. than a healthy food: a cultural asset with a fascinating history.
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Zbigniew Herbert
The bitter scent of tulips
Translation: Klaus Staemmler
Publisher: Island
Number of pages: 64
Translation: Klaus Staemmler
Publisher: Island
Number of pages: 64
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The good thing about so-called gardening books, or even those only remotely related to subjects like botany, is that they are equally interesting for people with no discernible affinity to these subjects.
For example, when a particularly curious story is told in a particularly impressive way, as in »The Bitter Scent of Tulips«.
A slim, tastefully illustrated volume about the so-called tulip fever in the 17th century, which bankrupted some people because the bulbs of the popular flower were sold at fantastic prices.
After reading it, one is quite happy to have escaped this epidemic of a different kind.
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Edith Weber
garden artists
Published by Ebersbach & Simon
Number of pages: 144
Published by Ebersbach & Simon
Number of pages: 144
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The book »Garden Artists«, on the other hand, contains short biographies of three unconventional women.
The three British women portrayed – Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackvill-West, Constance Spry – were all born at the end of the 19th century.
The influence of these autodidacts on horticulture and aesthetics continues to this day.
What makes these paths of life so inspiring, regardless of the garden genre, is the passion that drove these women.
Wish lists, which one exchanges with one another in good time as adults, are of course a way of avoiding disappointment.
Except that then the surprise gets lost, an essential ingredient for fireworks of joy, I think.
In his poem »Schenken«, Joachim Ringelnatz describes how Christmas can be a success even without a wish list – or order lists on Amazon:
Give big or small,
but always dignified.
When the thoughtful weigh the gift,
be clear in your conscience.
Give heartily and freely.
Give
what lives in you in terms
of opinion, taste and humor,
so that your own joy
rewards you richly beforehand.
Give with spirit without cunning.
Remember
that your gift is -
yourself.
