From the Hearts of the Young

OK ... so let me start with a disclaimer that I do not understand the latest craze - Zhu Zhu Pet's - but I cannot help but smile as I listen to the 5 little girls that are playing with them upstairs as I type. You see I "lucked into" 4 Zhu Zhu pets. I bought them thinking that they would be cool gifts for those "a friend at school" birthday parties. I had no clue that they were "the new craze." They were $10 and reasonably cute. I bought four and put them away for a time when I could pull one out for a party and avoid going to a store looking for "just the right gift" with an 8 year old that can make looking for a gift an adventure that I have not the patience for. So, a month before Christmas, into the closet they went. My little secret.

My children had not yet caught the Zhu-Zhu fever. They didn't even talk about them. Then my dear friend Julie brought over a Christmas present for each of my kiddos from her kiddos. My youngest, who is eight, was gifted a Zhu-Zhu pet ... and the fever was born. Even my 12 year old thought that they were adorable and quickly hinted that she too would like a noisy, furry, little mechanical hamster to call her own. I just knew that there would be one under the tree for her Christmas morning. I still had 3 for quick presents ... count 1 Christmas wish come true.

A few weeks later my brother called to let us know that he was coming into town for Christmas. His kids had stumbled onto their presents, and he wanted to know if we still had some once offered items that they could use to give the kids some surprises from Santa on Christmas morning. We did, and included in the package a Zhu-Zhu pet. I still had 2 left for quick gifts ... count another Christmas wish come true.

Only now, there was a new twist to this story. Both of my kids now knew that mommy had a secret stash of Zhu-Zhu pets, but they did not ask if they could have them ... nor why I had them. They just knew.

Christmas morning came and went. Both Zhu-Zhu pet recipients were very happy with their new charges. But, I was about to be blessed more than they were. You see one of my daughter's friends, who is also 12, feel in love with the little creatures and my daughter pulled me aside and asked if we could give one of my two to her. She "just knew that it would make her happy." The next day, another proud Zhu-Zhu pet mommy was born ... and I still had 1 left for a quick gift.

That is until tonight. You see, tonight my daughters had 3 of their friends come over to spend the night. All but one of them brought with them their newly acquired Zhu-Zhu Pets. My youngest daughter came down a few hours ago and asked me if there was a way that we could give the last Zhu-Zhu pet in the closet to her dear friend so that they would all have one to play with and no one would feel left out. A few minutes later I called her friend down and extended to her my last "quick present" Zhu-Zhu Pet. The rest of the girls who were hanging over the stair well cheered as she broke into a huge smile, thanked me with a huge hug, and raced back upstairs to join the Zhu-Zhu fun.

So here I sit. I have no Zhu-Zhu pets left, but I have something better. You see, my kids who both decided that Zhu-Zhu pets were rightfully the top selling toy of Christmas 2009 knew I had more. At any time, they could have asked for themselves, but they never did. Instead, they saw opportunities to share them with others ... and did so joyfully. You see I watched both their faces as the gifts were given ... and they were smiling even bigger smiles than their friends. Somewhere along the line, my amazing daughters learned that giving and sharing is a gift that often blesses the giver more than the recipient.