Too many people equate love with the dollar. They expect flowers for birthdays, chocolates for Valentine’s Day, the latest gadget at Christmas and store-bought cards for every conceivable holiday in between. Not my family. My parents and grandparents showed their love by doing.

My mother demonstrated her love for me by designing and sewing clothes that never failed to get compliments from classmates who were limited to cookie-cutter choices from the same department store everyone else shopped at. She woke up early on Sundays to make us danish rolls or coffee cake. She crocheted afghans and baked cupcakes for me to share with my third grade class. She and my sister painstakingly fashioned tiny clothes for Barbie.

My father spent weeks lovingly hand-crafting furniture. He built us everything from stilts to full-sized sailboats, kites to an elaborate train set complete with mountains and tunnels that covered three-quarters of a bedroom. Carpentry wasn’t his profession, but it was his passion; a passion he shared with us in every handmade gift.

Apple butter, marionettes, knitted wool caps, homemade jellies, pickled okra, fishing trips, quilts, tatted doilies and elaborate Chinese dinners that took days to prepare; such are the labors of love I recall with gratitude and fondness.

So, forget the flowers that will soon wilt. If you aren’t a handyman, then build a snowman together and make memories instead. If you can’t sew, prepare a gourmet meal or put together a photo album. Your gifts don’t have to be elaborate to be cherished. They only need your love.