I don't know about you, but personally, I find Father's Day to be the most difficult holidays to celebrate. Not because it's obscure or commercialized or even controversial. Far from it, actually. Father's Day is difficult because I can't seem to grasp exactly what Father's Day is all about. Well, perhaps we can get some hints when we take a look back at the origins of this holiday.



Fathers were originally honored on St. Joseph's feast day, on March 19. However, a woman named Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, inspired by Anna Jarvis? campaign to have mothers celebrated on an official 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. Sonora wanted to acknowledge the courage, selflessness, protectiveness, and love that her father had shown his family. The first Father's Day was celebrated in June of 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, what in the world do you do for Father's Day?

Yes, I know there is a plethora of gifts in 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 the shelf or mantelpiece, clutter up his desk or his closet even more, and won't become a grayed-out shadow of its former self in the basement or garage? What can you give your dad that will actually be appreciated the day after it has been given, right? And more importantly, what can you give that isn't something Dad hasn't already bought for himself?

Moms are so much easier. 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 hosting duties. If you want, you can 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, for there are always alternatives to everything. Likewise, you can easily find other great gift ideas for your father, like plants and flowers. Not something that one usually associates with Father's Day, right? How many people give flowers and plants to their dads on Father's Day, or for any other special occasion, for that matter? The fact that these types of gifts are not the ones you'd usually think of on Father's Day makes them even more special.

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. They have long been connected to the qualities of fidelity, trust, sacrifice and devotion. Now those are gifts that a father would like.