For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been bombarded by ads online, on the radio and on TV that are trying to sell us gifts to give to our mothers for Mother’s Day. Everything from flowers, candy and perfume to high-end spices and herbs, grills and jewelery has been hawked as “the” gift for mom.

What do moms really want for Mother’s Day? Beats me. We’re all very different women–not just the same generic “Mom.” What I want (nothing but peace, love, sleep and 2 Boston creme donuts, really) could be very different from what another Mom wants. And that’s OK. Like our birthdays and other gift-giving holidays, we are all very different women with different styles, tastes, wants and needs.

Unfortunately, I seem to cause quite the problem for my family. My birthday is in the middle of April, and I guess I’m not the easiest person to buy for. Once David and the kids solve the birthday dilemma, whammo! they get hit with Mother’s Day. I’m not the homemade gift kind of mom, which is probably some awful personality flaw. After all these years, and all those nursery school and early elementary school projects, I admit this hesitantly and guiltily.

Of course, while I dread those crafty Mother’s Day projects that come home from school, there are two crafts that dads of pre-school children should consider doing: the first is a “bouquet” made from colored construction paper cut outs of the kids’ hands, pasted or taped onto long popsicle sticks or straws. Priceless! The other project involved combining cement and handprints to create cute garden stepping stones. Both projects were a great deal of work, and I appreciate and treasure them. One year, Sam brought home a letter from school about what he liked about me. I was touched the most by his footnote, ad libbed below what they must have copied from the chalkboard: “I love you because you feed me.”