The Special Gifts is the tenth episode of the series George and Martha that aired on April 25, 1999. It's sister episode is The Mirror.
Summary[]
Oscar and Wilde seek George sneaking around town, for today is the annual game of "hippo hide and seek", or in other words, it is George and Martha's birthday, both on the same day. The two sneak around town trying to get presents for each other undercover, which makes Oscar and Wilde question it as they know that both of them are aware that they are buying gifts for each other anyway.
George makes his way to a stand with cuckoo clocks. He is sure that Martha would like one of those clocks, so he asks the goat working at the stand to wrap one up. Martha finds George, so she hides in a photo booth. Martha decides to get many pictures of herself taken, ultimately hogging up the booth until it runs out of film, much to the dismay of the people in line. Martha goes inside Oscar and Wilde's bookstore after done. They give Martha a "G is for Gratitude" book, apart of George's favorite book series. They claim it is funny, and touching after Martha asks, as Wilde cried just reading the dust cover. George and Martha see each other while walking, hiding the presents behind their backs. Although, while Martha sings and walks, her book present falls out her basket.
Later, George and Martha have their birthday party at the former's house. The two and their friends all have fun together, with dancing, noisemakers, and a food table. Duke and Penny bite at a pickle at once, but a distraction with Dainty, an elephant, drinking all the drink, makes Duke lose and Penny swallows it. After George and Martha do some dancing, it is time for the two birthday friends to blow the candles off their big birthday cake that Wilde rolls in. The two hippos blow together, blowing the candles and the icing off. Oscar rolls the cake away to cut it, so in the meantime the two decide to open their presents. George gives his present to Martha, the cuckoo clock. Martha finds it a bit rowdy looking, but still considers it thoughtful. Martha gets her gift, but it is nowhere to be found in her basket. She empties it all out and one of the goofy pictures she took at the booth falls to the floor. Duke has a laugh at it, and so does George, he calls it the best present he's ever received.
The next morning, Martha places the clock in her kitchen, but the random cuckoos startle her, causing her to throw her pie in the ceiling. No matter where she places it, it is disrupting. George comes to her house to show her the great portrait, and wonders where the clock is. George hears it in the bathroom in the trash, in which Martha lies that it must've fallen by mistake. Martha tells him that he can have the clock. In exchange, George gives her the portrait. Later on, George paints Martha a picture using his art kit. He tells George that art is like eating a pie - it can't be rushed. When he finishes, Martha says that he didn't paint all of her, but George says that he only painted the best part of Martha, her face.