Our bounty of talents is the best gift

There were probably many procrastinators in Central Virginia who had that very same wish as they watched the shopping days dwindle as the snow piled up outside their windows.

The record-setting December snowfall turned from oohs and aahs into a whitemare as people were stranded for days in their homes and cars and places in between.

There are those who couldn’t get home for Christmas. There are those who couldn’t get gifts for all their loved ones. There were shop owners who felt the pinch of an already troubled economy.

Yes, Virginia, 2009 has been a rough year.

We have lost jobs. We have lost homes. We have lost loved ones.

Now we have topped it off with a white icing that has strained many a holiday spirit.

If your tree — if you were able to get a tree this year — looks a little bare this morning, don’t despair. There is one store that is still open.

It’s inside your heart. Give a gift of you.

Sure, everyone likes new clothes and jewelry and toys and the latest doodads. But clothes fade, jewelry loses its luster, toys break and doodads do what doodads do. Today’s fads become tomorrow’s dust collectors.

Acts of kindness never go out of fashion.

If you are reading this early enough, you can fix a breakfast for those who still may be slumbering under your roof.

Tote the paper up to your neighbor’s door, help shovel off a path or car or mailbox.

And if there are friends or family who you just couldn’t buy for this year … offer them community coupons, starring you. Make use of what this town has to offer.

Promise your friend a trip to the bookstore or library, where together you can explore for the writings of local authors. We have Pulitzer-winning poets with Rita Dove and Charles Wright. We have best-selling authors, like John Grisham, Jan Karon and Rita Mae Brown. Maybe a book club friend would enjoy looking over the new writers’ works at shops like New Dominion Bookshop that have sections devoted to local authors.

You can offer to take your favorite sports fan

to a game at the University of Virginia or his to her local high school, or even attend his or her recreation league game. If you need a keepsake, take him to a card shop and look for local talent, like NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long or boxing legend Muhammed Ali or UVa’s famous twins Tiki and Ronde Barber.

Make a promissory note to go see a concert with the music lovers in your life. We are blessed with a variety of musical venues, from the brand-new Jefferson to the stately Paramount to the huge John Paul Jones Arena. Ticket prices can be hefty or they can be free. The Charlottesville Municipal Band offers free concerts several times a year. The Paramount just opened its doors to the community for a series of free local fairs.

Plan a trip to Plan 9 to search for new or used CDs by local musicians. We have a ton from Grammy winners like the Dave Matthews Band to “American Idol” superstar Chris Daughtry. There are albums by nationally known stars like Mary Chapin Carpenter and Maxine Jones (of En Vogue fame).

There are CD by our stars that we know should be better known nationally, like Corey Harris, Kathryn Caine and Terri Allard. There are young talents like the Sons of Bill, Ann Marie Calhoun, Jay Pun and Morwenna Lasko who could be tomorrow’s big stars.

You just have to promise to go out and hear them play.

Search for our future stars. Support our local venues, before they too feel the pinch. Fridays After Five always is a good starting point in the warmer months, but many of the small local clubs host extremely talented musicians. I remember going to Zipper’s one New Year’s Eve for free to hear a young band. Now it costs a pretty penny to listen to a live performance by Dave, Boyd, Stefan and Carter.

The same holds true for our local theaters — Live Arts — and our plethora of art galleries. We have to go if we want them to go on. Live Arts even has a pay-what-you-can night. And it doesn’t cost a thing to see the talents at McGuffey Art Center. First Fridays is a monthly treat that can introduce you and your friends to a variety of painters from here and beyond.

Movies, too, are always a good option. Tell your big-screen fan that you will go to the next flick that stars local talent. And we have some of the biggest in the business — from Oscar winner Sissy Spacek to the big-in-stature Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Maybe you might want to invite a bunch of friends to your house to have a Spacek marathon and rent a weekend full of Sissy’s best. I still love “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

While you are at the TV, just switch the channel over to catch reruns of “WKRP in Cincinnati” or “Frank’s Place” to watch Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid. Another UVa grad who is hot on today’s TV lineup is Tina Fey of “30 Rock” fame. You could make that a weekly date night. A free gift that keeps on giving

And maybe, just maybe, spending time with you is all anyone really wanted.