Five Reasons The Hattie Became The Only Present I Give

A note from a reader who drew a name for the Kris Kringle at the girls from the branch Christmas lunch, and found the present that came in five cents under the limit.

By Elaine • Hervey Bay, Queensland

Posted November 2026 • 6 min read

I am 62, and every December the girls from the branch have a long Christmas lunch at a table on the water in Hervey Bay, and a Kris Kringle with a forty dollar limit. This is my second one as a retiree, and I drew Marg, who sat next to me for nineteen years and has never once liked a present. At the top of the Portsea Boutique website, a small Australian boutique I already buy my dresses from, was a little heart on a plain cord for A$39.95. Five cents under the limit. I took that as a sign.

Then I did something I have not done in a long time. I bought one for Marg, wore my own for a week to be sure, and by the end of the week the same bracelet was on the list next to four more names. It is called the Hattie, and here is why it is the only present I am giving this Christmas.

Two on the bench, one for Marg and one for Di, with a little brown box from the newsagent and the cuppa I was meant to be drinking.

What it is

One small flat heart in a soft, worn silver colour, matte rather than shiny, with a tan double cord threaded through a slot in the middle. No clasp. Two sliding knots let it out to go over the hand and pull it in to sit on the wrist, and it opens up to 22.8 centimetres.

The five reasons

1. Marg: no clasp, and five cents under the limit.Marg has worn the same gold chain to every Christmas lunch since 2007 because, she says, she is not doing up another one in this life. The Hattie slides over the hand and pulls snug with the knots. And it is A$39.95, which in a Kris Kringle with a forty dollar limit is the kind of maths a bank woman enjoys. What I worked out in the first week: I put mine on at the lights on Boat Harbour Drive, one handed, without my glasses.
2. Emma: quiet enough for a city office.My daughter Emma works in Brisbane in a building full of grey, and she does not wear anything that jingles on a keyboard. The heart is matte, not shiny, and it sits under a shirt cuff. Hers is ordered, and so is Kerry's, so that is two of the five already. Emma, on the phone, when I described it: "Mum, that is the first time you have bought me jewellery I would actually wear."
3. Helen: the tan goes with every colour.Helen is 71 and owns more colour than the Botanic Gardens. Coral, cobalt, a green you can see from the Esplanade. A gold bracelet would fight half her wardrobe. The tan double cord sits against all of it as if it had been there first. What I noticed on my own wrist: the coral top, the orange sundress, the teal. It has not clashed with one of them.
4. Di: it looks like it has a story.Di and I have been in the same book club for nine years and she reads everything into everything. A little heart on a cord looks like it means something, and a present that looks like it means something is the whole job at Christmas. I will let her decide what the story is. Lily, my granddaughter, when she saw the two on the bench: "Is one of them mine?" Not this year, darling.
5. Everyone: one size, and nothing to send back.I have never known a single wrist size on my list, and I never will. The Hattie opens to 22.8 centimetres and pulls in to sit snug, so there is no guessing and nobody posting anything back in January. Five bracelets came to less than one good pair of earrings, with the stack discount off in the cart. Peter, watching me wrap: "That is the quickest Christmas you have ever done." It is the quickest one I have ever enjoyed.

Marg's, done. The bracelet tied on the outside of the parcel, because that is the bit I wanted her to see first.

Side by side, honestly

Di's, in brown paper and red twine, with a sprig of gum leaves from the tree by the back steps tucked under it.

About the price

A$39.95 at the moment, from A$84.95. Take two or more and the stack discount comes off in the cart, which is how five of them came in under what I spent on Kerry alone last year. Free tracked delivery, usually seven to ten business days, and thirty days to change your mind. I emailed to ask whether they could come in one parcel to me so I could wrap them myself, and Mel from the boutique wrote back the same day to say they would.

The honest bit

It is small, and it is quiet. If the woman on your list likes something that catches the light across a room, this is not that piece. And the cord only comes in tan, so if you were hoping for black, you will not find it here.

Order by Friday 4 December

If it is for Christmas, order by Friday 4 December. Delivery usually takes seven to ten business days, and the branch lunch is on the twelfth, so I ordered early and I am glad I did.

What I would tell you if we were friends

Count the women on your list you have never known a size for. Buy that many, plus one for you, because you will put yours on at the lights and forget it is there. Then stop buying scarves.

If you have ever stood in a shop in December holding a scarf and thinking "she will not wear this," this is the present she will.

— Elaine