Skip to content

Cart

Your cart is empty

Article: The Gift

The Gift - Laywine's

The Gift

Now that Halloween is behind us (my least favourite holiday—but that is for a sidebar conversation), I feel the pull towards the intensity of the December holidays. The changes over the last two Decembers have been monumental. December 2020 was unprecedented and was followed by December 2021 (pivoting), and now we are heading to December 2022 (hybrid). This might be the first time since the Great Pandemic began that we will physically gather with friends and family. And so this prompts me to ponder gift-giving. ⁠

 



Humans attach a lot of significance to the act, from offerings of worship and tribute to tokens of appreciation. Gifts were the manifestation of sacrifice – since one would give something of existential value, like food or property. Now, they are infused with affection and embody feelings. I think of this when I look at the old pocket watch my grandmother gave my grandfather as a wedding gift. When it comes to buying a gift for the ‘person who has everything,’ I think that thing must bring joy and remind that person of how you feel about them.


I have always loved pens and paper, so I think we have something in the shop for everybody. A good writing instrument can become a companion that spurs us on to introspection or consoles us on our travails. We write with ink on paper and leave proof that we are here! ⁠

Leave a comment

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

All comments are moderated before being published.

Read more

Pen and Paper - Laywine's

Pen and Paper

“Wow, you use a fountain pen!?”⁠⁠In our writing community, there is a shared understanding of why we love pens and paper so much. The combination of the beautiful and the haptic: the colour of ink...

Read more
December Business (And Busyness) - Laywine's

December Business (And Busyness)

  Over the past 35 years, December has been, for me, a month of intense business and busyness. The intensity of activity in the shop is at once invigorating and exhausting, great fun and hard wo...

Read more