I don't know about you, but personally, I find Father's Day is probably the most difficult holiday in the calendar. Not because it's controversial or obscure or too commercialized. Far from it, actually. Father's Day is difficult because I can't seem to grasp exactly what Father's Day is all about. We can go back to the original Father of Father's day for a clue.



Fathers were originally honored on St. Joseph's feast day, on March 19. However, Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, inspired by Anna Jarvis? campaign to establish Mother's Day, decided that in honor of her own father, she wanted to establish a corresponding holiday to commemorate fathers. Her father, William Jackson Smart was a veteran of the American Civil War, and had to raise their family single-handedly when her mother died while giving birth to their sixth child. She wanted to acknowledge the courage, protectiveness, and selflessness that her father showed when he raised his family as a single parent. Thus, the first official Father's Day celebration occurred in June 1910.

Now, the redefining of the father's role in today's shifting family dynamic is difficult enough. This, in itself, is tough enough to handle and adapt to. But there is a glaring problem that's even more challenging. Particularly, how in tarnation do you celebrate Father's Day?

There is an abundance of gifts for fathers everywhere you go, easily found at every shopping mall and gift shop, locally available or through the Internet. But that's just the problem, you see. All of these gifts are becoming commonplace and boring, frankly speaking. I mean, let me ask you this: What can you give your father as a gift on his special day that won't collect dust on a shelf or clutter up a dresser, and won't become a grayed-out shadow of its former self in the basement or garage? You want to give him something that will actually be appreciated or used the day after it's given? And more importantly, what can you give that isn't something Dad hasn't already bought for himself?

Celebrating Mother's Day is so much simpler. Just invite the whole family over for a 5 course meal, do all the cooking and all the cleaning and let her sit back and enjoy the company without having to do any of the work. Send her out for a day at the spa. You can easily find something or someplace to pamper her and make her feel like a queen.

Fathers can be relatively easy to find gifts for. If your dad is a techno-geek, an outdoorsman, a sports fanatic, or a home theater nut, there are countless gift ideas readily available at your nearest shopping mall. Just get him a car for his train set, a new computer gadget, a couple of tickets to the game, or the latest DVD. You can also plunk yourself down in front of your computer and find several gifts for him on the Internet. Even so, do any of these really show our fathers that we appreciate their sacrifices and heroism, their strengths and their weaknesses?

Fear not, there are alternatives to those types of gifts. Likewise, you can easily find other great gift ideas for your father, like plants and flowers. Now, stop raising your eyebrows and give it some thought. How many people give flowers and plants to their dads on Father's Day, or for any other special occasion, for that matter? But maybe for that reason, flowers would be an ideal gift for that Dad who has everything else.

There are flowers and plants that can symbolize masculinity and paternal qualities, believe it or not. You want an example? How about the sunflower, which's big and strong, with a bright face like a shining symbol of hope in a dark and gloomy place. Violets are great, also. Violets have long been associated with fidelity and trust as well as with sacrifice and devotion. Now those are gifts that a father would like.