The following is a true story…

It was late. Really late. After trekking through the new fallen snow and working a very long day, I was ready to relax. Somehow, I managed to work through dinner so I decided to oblige my snarling stomach and padded into the kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal, Isabelle at my heels checking to see if I put a tasty treat in her bowl.

I sat down on the couch and tucked my feet under me. Time to get comfy for a little Hulu watching. Ah, a new episode of Lie to Me. Perfect! I waited for the buffer to fill while I poured some milk on my “dinner”.

Because it was the holiday season with mere days to go until Christmas and Kwanzaa, I checked my e-mail one last time before settling back to enjoy my show. Phew! No new messages.

I pressed play and sat back with my cereal bowl to enjoy the show. Before the credits even began to roll, I heard the chime. A tad reluctantly, I paused the show. It had been a long day after all, but I love what I do so I decided to answer. A request for a present that needs to arrive by Wednesday…and it’s Sunday. Well, technically it’s already Monday. The good news, it’s an Amazon Prime customer – that will save us a bit of headache.

So, on to the detecting phase. I start off with some questions. Who is the gift for? What is the occasion? I learn that the recipient is a longtime friend and employee and it is her birthday. Ouch. A birthday a couple of days before Christmas? This is an important gift! It is hard for anybody to feel forgotten at their birthday, let alone for someone who has undoubtedly received a few too many “combo gifts” – no wonder my client was worried about nearly forgetting her birthday!

I began getting into more detailed questions and I started taking mental notes as I come across each clue – she seems to have a fun side, loves to entertain in her new home, though he just got her a housewarming gift specifically geared toward entertaining already. I immediately cross that off my list. No need to be repetitive!

“What colors did you see in her home?” I ask. “Did she paint the rooms herself or were they already those colors when she purchased the house?” Okay, now I have evidence of some of her favorite colors. Off to a good start.

Through a series of brief but pointed questions, I learn that she loves photography and she lights candles every evening. Oh, and she has a cat she adores that is pretty high strung, er, energy.

Knowing that I have to perform quickly I promise to get back to him within 20 minutes. Ten minutes later, I e-mail him a list of urls with a brief note letting him know I will call him to discuss the details.

I go over my suggestions with him, one-by-one. I warm up with the subject of candles. Clearly she likes them so I explain it is safe gift…but maybe a little too safe. He definitely likes a few of the options that I sent, and we even talk about the newest craze, candle warmers, but it doesn’t feel like the right gift to either of us, so I move on.

She has a creative side and a new home that she has already been stenciling so I included a book I’ve seen mentioned a number of times. “Nope, I think she done with decorating!” is his emphatic reply.

Now I move on to one of the two ideas that I think are the winners – she loves photography, but he didn’t notice that she had a way to print her own photos, besides a regular printer. She loves to take pictures of her nephew and at social events, of her friends when they visit her…not a serious photographer but one who enjoys making memories. “How about this photo printer?” I can hear the delight in his voice when he says he loves the idea and I know we’ve found the perfect gift. This is the part I love! Solving the mystery.

Canon Selphy


Just to be thorough, I mention a few other ideas that I had, a neat camera that is pretty beloved to many (which was my runner-up bet) and some fun 3D photography items but he has already made up his mind – the photo printer it was! I suspected as much and I smiled to myself. Now time to add a little extra something to her package – I suggested a gift for her cat as well, mentioning that I included a few suggestions in my e-mail, the last being the best bet, in my opinion. (hopefully the cat agrees!)

He’s a frequent Amazon shopper so he needs little help with the check-out process, but I stay on the line with him anyway. I make sure he’s sending it to her new home instead of her previous address and remind him to check the option for adding gift wrap and a personal note. Since he contacted me about thirty minutes ago, he’s gone from stressed out to confident that, with a little guidance, he has picked out the perfect present. Instead of feeling frazzled he is now excited to be giving her something that he is sure she is going to love. Now that he is relaxed, he has no problem writing her a lovely note, explaining why he thought she would love the photo printer, writing a brief story about how he loves one of the photographs she’s sent him. As he read me the note, I was really touched by why he chose the photo printer because, although I followed the evidence to be able to make some suggestions, he was the witness that told me what clues I (we) were looking for and came to me with the desire to give, not just a present but of himself.

Nearly done he adds the cat toy to his cart as well and balks when I remind him to add the gift wrap for that item as well. He insists that the cat doesn’t need the present wrapped so why spend the $4 to wrap a $6 present? Because it is a present, and she will be opening it, never mind it is a present for the cat. He is adding the cat toy because she loves her cat, and so they present for her cat will still be a present to her. The wrapping will make her feel remembered instead of feeling like her birthday is an afterthought.

I ended the call satisfied that she had gotten a nice gift. Because he was stressed out to begin with, he might have accidentally picked a token “I didn’t quite forget your birthday” gift. Instead, he was sending her a thoughtful, “I thought about what you liked and wanted to show you that I appreciate you, your friendship and all of your hard work!” gift.

After I hung up the phone, I made a note on my calendar so that I could offer my services next year and, at the very least remind him of the upcoming date. I wrote up some notes for my files and since I already had my creative juices flowing decided to save a few ideas that, if we had more time to work with, may be good options for other occasions.

It was too late to go back to my show so I wrote up my notes instead and, satisfied that I had helped find the perfect present, I hit ‘save’ and closed my computer.

Case closed!

Here are the actual suggestions I sent my client:

Do you have an upcoming holiday or occasion you need some help with? If you fill out a Sleuthing Sunday request form you might get free help from me!

Happy gifting!

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