I often use a line from an old episode of The Flintstones, the one where Fred said that he always remembered his wedding anniversary because it fell on Trash Day. It’s a running joke I use with Sally as our anniversary approaches each year. Well, this coming Thursday, we will celebrate our 38th Wedding Anniversary, and Thursday just happens to be the day that our trash is picked up by the city. Go figure, huh?

Throughout the years of our anniversary celebrations, I managed to get Sally two gifts that went along with the list of either Modern, Traditional, or Alternate gifts that are designated to be the ones marked for each year of marriage. I have to admit that I didn’t know many of the Modern, Traditional, and/or Alternate Designated gifts for each anniversary, so of the two I did get for her, I had to look up one.

As our current anniversary approached, I wondered what this year’s designated gift idea was, so I decided to do some research and find out what all the designated gifts were that matched all the years of our marriage.

The list below includes the Modern, the Traditional, and the Alternate gift ideas (not necessarily in the order listed). Some of the anniversary ideas didn’t include Traditional or Alternate ideas, so I’m passing along just what I found out in my research, in case you wanted to start giving someone ideas for gifts to give to loved ones and friends. Please note that I have transferred the information I found, just as I found it. Also, note the commas, the plus signs, and the “or”s. Not sure how to interpret them all, but this is what I found and how they were written.

Here is a year by year listing:

1.) Paper, Plastic, Clocks (If I had known I would have grocery shopped before our first anniversary and been a real romantic by asking for both Paper and Plastic.)

2.) Cotton, Calico, China

3.) Leather, Crystal, Glass

4.) Fruit or Flowers, Linen, Silk or Nylon

5.) Wood and Silverware

6.) Candy, Iron, Wood

7.) Copper or Wool, Brass, Desk Sets

8.) Bronze, Pottery & Linen

9.) Pottery, Willow & Leather

10.) Tin, Aluminum & Diamond

11.) Steel, Steel & Fashion Jewelry

12.) Silk, Linen & Pearl

13.) Lace, Textiles or Furs

14.) Ivory, Ivory & Gold

15.) Crystal, Glass & Watches

16.) Silver Holloware

17.) Furniture

18.) Porcelain

19.) Bronze

20.) China, China & Platinum

21.) Brass or Nickel

22.) Copper

23.) Silver Plate

24.) Musical Instruments

25.) Silver, Silver, Silver

26.) Pictures

27.) Sculptures

28.) Orchids

29.) Furniture (Must be the stuff from 12 years ago has worn thin)

30.) Pearl, Pearl, Pearl

31.) Timepieces

32.) Transportation (Do model train sets count?)

33.) Amethyst

34.) Opal

35.) Coral, Coral or Jade, Jade

36.) Bone China

37.) Alabaster

38.) Beryl or Tourmaline

I stopped at 38 in honor of our upcoming 38th anniversary, and because I had to go back and Google Beryl and Tourmaline to see what I have to run out and get quickly. Hopefully, I will be around for the future two gift idea years that I already know without having to look up (40-Ruby, and 50-Gold).

Kind of a unique gift idea list. Some great answers to the dilemma of “What do you give the person who has everything?” I am sure there are some people who try to stick to this list and get something related for each anniversary, which would be kind of cool. I venture that, like me, many have heard of this list but probably can’t tell you the suggested ideas for each year.

I can see the simpleness of the gifts in the early years of marriage, as early in most marriages, money is tight and gifts have to be simple, especially regarding cost, but it is all part of the process.

Looking back at the early days of our marriage, and what our budget was, we had to be creative in what we could buy, what we could do, and what we needed to live. As I’ve mentioned before in this forum, we often ate chicken five or six times a week because it sold for about $.39 per pound. Sally’s talent in the kitchen, though, allowed us to eat it differently for weeks at a time, so we never got bored with our meals being repetitive. (The girls did have a problem with the breaded veal patties which we usually had once every two weeks, as they were very inexpensive as well. They say if you eat something often enough, you acquire a taste for it. Don’t believe it! Just ask Chasy and Chrissy if they acquired the taste for breaded veal patties.) Anyway, the simplicity of the early anniversary gift themes, is understandable.

The references to time in the list makes sense to me as well. An anniversary marks time and after a while, we need to be reminded of the time we have spent together as a married couple and soulmates.

The household items, furniture, dishware, silverware, glassware all represent time spent making a house, or an apartment, a home. There are also themes that symbolize the beauty that couples hope to decorate their homes, and lives, with throughout their time spent as married couples.

There are themes for items that emphasize the Arts, artistic things like musical instruments and sculptures. We all need a little of The Arts in our marriages. Pictures symbolize the memories you build as a married couple, and the precious metals and jewels might represent the preciousness of the relationship and how precious each partner means to each other.

So as I looked at the first 38 themes/items on the anniversary list, I could see a lot of meaning in it and many comparisons to my and Sally’s life together these past 38 year we’ve spent as husband and wife.

So, here’s to you Sally, my wife and best friend. We made it to another one. I remembered our special day again, and not just because it falls on Trash Day this year. I can give you a heads up right now regarding what I am giving you this year (or better yet, what you won’t be getting). You probably won’t be receiving anything containing Beryl or Tourmaline on Thursday, mainly because I wouldn’t know where to start looking for something made out of these materials. But I do look forward to acknowledging our 38 years together, maybe over a dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, or Breaded Veal Parmesan, with a warm fake fire coming from our fake fireplace and a bottle of that special Wilcox Winery, Hunter Red, we’ve come to enjoy over the years. There was a saying I heard once that I’d settle for regardless of what we eat or drink on Thursday. I believe it read, “A Loaf of Bread, A Bottle of Wine, and Thou.” That will make it a very special celebration.

Happy Anniversary, Sally!