Welcome to day 10! Are you hanging in there? We couldn't give away pedicures for a whole year without making you work for it, now could we? Oh yes, this is a marathon, not a sprint!
We loved the idea of Andrea wishing for happiness, not just at Christmas, but at every opportunity, and not just for herself but for all people. She picks herself up a $25 gift certificate. We will be in touch Andrea!
Day Ten Challenge
What's the best or most meaningful gift you've ever received?
Comments
This has made my day. I wish all psiontgs were this good.
my grandma was in the process of dying over christmas a few years ago. she still managed to get us presents. it tore me up that I had something from her, and couldn’t see her because I’d come down with bronchitis. she ended up passing away on boxing day. the present was candles, which I still have, and will never, ever burn.
A Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time. Just kidding. The first thing that popped to mind was a birthday several years ago. My parents had asked me if I needed a cake (I was throwing my own birthday party). I said no, I had 2 cakes already. They asked if I was sure. I said I was. They asked if I wanted an ice cream cake and I said I didn’t need anymore cakes. When they showed up they had an ice cream cake. I said “I told you I didn’t need an ice cream cake!” Then they showed it to me. It was an ice cream cake they had made up with a picture of me and the singer of one of my favourite bands. This was back before doing all this cool computer stuff was so common. I mean, the photo came off a camera with film! Hahahaha! I totally started to cry!
I would have to say that my husband getting to start his chemotherapy on December 23rd last year was the best Christmas present ever! :)
Especially when the constant 24/7 cough that his tumor had caused for the 4 months prior had almost completely gone after just the first treatment!
http://lymphomania.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/today-i-am-a-walking-pharmacy/
Man I guess I didnt hit enter yesterday when I posted oh well. I guess I am not getting my iphone:( or pedicures for a year:( I guess i should have wished for an extra chance. My best gift was my barbie camper that I got when I was 7. I still have it I just can’t part with it.
When I was 4, all I wanted in the world was a bike. I woke up Christmas morning to find that there was no bike under the tree. I tried not to be upset… Then, my Dad walked into the kitchen to get something. When he came back, he was pushing a bike!! It was bright red, and had glitter embedded in the paint! In my mind, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I skipped around the house, and then proceeded to ride the bike around the kitchen for a nice chunk of the day…. Now that I think about it, the bike was the same colour as my bright, shiny, red Kitchenaid mixer that I love. It’s no wonder I’m drawn to it!!
One of the best gifts that I was given was my cricut. It is not a bug, but it is a perfect cutting machien for card making/ scrapbooking. I had been wanting it for about 5 years (since it first came out), but the starting price was $400. I knew it was expensive, but it would solve all my scrapbooking needs! So instead of straight up asking for it (unless I was joking/ not really joking about getting it), I would leave my card making magazines around the house with its page open to the cricut’s advertisement. So fast forward doing this for about 5 years. So we go over to my aunts after the Christmas Eve servise at church like we do every year, and I’m eating good food when my aunt turns to me and asks if there is something wrong in my head (teasing in my family = love). I say I don’t think so, and she asks me why I haven’t realized that the big box under the tree is for me, and why am I not opening it. Of course Im excited because there is still that little girl inside me thinking “big box under the tree for me! open, open, open!”. This is the year that we had decided to not get pressants for everyone in our family and have a gift exchange instead, so I was a little dissapointed until this point. So I take off the wrapping, and there lies the beautiful creation of the cricut I’ve been waiting for so long for. I was spazing out! Not only did she get me the cricut, but she also got me super cool cricut cartridges (you need different cartridges to make different shapes). I was so excited, so the sensible thing to do was to open it up right then and there and play with it. But my amazement did not stop there, but I found out that there were about 24 different buttons, and each button could do 14 different things! Just in one button! I was so so so much more excited. Anyways, what I can say now is, that I have had my cricut (also named Tracy, because she traces) for 3 years this Christmas Eve, and we have had many card making adventures together, and I love her soooooo much! I also love my aunty so much for getting it for me, and I was so happy that she did a years worth of holiday gifts in one! This was also the year that I got a new bed from my parents with memory fome, let me just tell you, I would have stayed in bed with my cricut for the rest of my life if my mom hadn’t have given me the look to get out of my room and go for a walk with her…
A ring my Mom had made for me the Christmas after my Dad died with a sapphire that belonged to him. That was almost eight years ago, and I have worn it every day since. It always puts a smile on my face and makes me think of him. In fact, I’m looking at it and smiling right now :)
My sewing machine. My carpenter husband went out behind my back 16 years ago and researched which one was the best, then bought it. I love my sewing machine sooo much! There are some stiches on it that I still haven’t used because it is so crazy awesome and resouresful!
I remember one year, my boyfriend asking me what I wanted for Christmas and all I wanted was to be home in Canada cause at the time I lived in the UK. He was so understanding that it was hard for me being away from my family so he set up a little tiny tree in our small flat and decorated so that it made me feel somewhat at home….that thoughtfulness was a wonderful gift!
I think I was born loving horses, and one year when I was quite little I got my very own rocking horse for Christmas….I still remember being so so excited when I ripped open the paper and couldn’t believe my luck!!!
The most meaningful ones have to be those my children pour their hearts into-my 7 year old this Christmas has literally spent hours closed in her room preparing gifts and wrapping them with such care-the look on her face as she place them carefully under the tree:)
For me it is just getting to spend time with my family. We have spent Christmas in some odd places together including Australia, Hawaii, and Mexico (warm Christmases), Tofino, Munich, and Vancouver (cool and rainy Christmases), and even one on a plane once! We are lucky enough to get to travel, but even luckier that we all make an effort to spend it together, wherever we may be in the world during the time leading up. I’m a very spoiled girl to get my family the way I do!
The best gift I ever received was rollerskates when I was 10 years old. I pined over them for months and circled and tagged the page in the Sears catalogue. Every day I stared at them in the catalogue, trying to manifest them into existence. On Christmas morning, there they were under the tree next to a Cabbage Patch Doll. I was beside myself with excitement. They even had yellow wheels instead of the usual red which made them that much cooler! The joy I felt that day was immeasureable.
One of the best gifts I ever received was upon returning from Australia in 2005 to find our yard landscaped.
My daughter was born in April of 2005 and we flew to Manitoba with her when she was 56 HOURS old as my father was very ill and passed away shortly after we arrived.
Six weeks later we got news that my Father-in-law had passed away suddenly in Australia so we got a passport for our little baby and flew down under for his funeral and to see my husband’s family.
When we arrived back home, a group of very dear friends had not only taken up a collection to buy a bunch of plants for our front and back yard but they also planted everything according to our landscape designer’s plan.
It was such a thoughtful and sweet gesture and a gift that has kept on giving for so many years as we’ve watched all the plants and trees mature. The garden always reminds me of these two great men that left the world far too early.
It took me a while but then I remembered; it was my first Christmas with my husband and I was really homesick. We got married at 19 and I moved up to Canada from the states. it was my first Christmas away from home and my husband (and his family) isn’t Christian so Christmas wasn’t big with them. Christmas Eve day was especially gloomy. We had no money for a tree or presents so I was really down. When my husband came home from work he told me he had something for me. It was a giant bag and inside was a big fake tree (which is a Windsor Christmas tradition; to put the tree together) some lights and some beads. We had such a wonderful time putting the tree together, stringing it with lights and then going through the house for any little toys, stuffies and knick knacks that we could find to put in the tree.
That one is easy for me. Has to be my twin daughters!! We struggled with infertility to get pregnant both times (I have a son as well). Got pregnant and blessed (all be it a bit scared at first!) to find out it was twins. Pregnancy was rough and I went into preterm labour at 29 weeks. None of the drugs were able to stop the labour, given steroid shots to mature the lungs and the dreaded talk about their survival and nicu stuff. Then came the second blow… No nicu beds available! I was medevaced to kamloops with a team who could deliver in the air if needed as I was contracting every 3 min. Made it there without delivering, strict bed rest (couldn’t eat/shower/anything sitting up) for 4 days up there, got transferred down to women’s, lasted another 4 weeks on hospitalized bed rest and then my body decided that was it… On Christmas Eve I delivered my preemie twins naturally. Survived a 3 week NICU stay and on Saturday my little miracles turn 3!!
My son…my Christmas baby!
For my birthday my new boyfriend totally spoiled me with a $500 gift certificate to Bloom! He knew I loved going there and pulled out all the stops since he was trying to woo me…good thing! We’ve been married for 11 years and I still love going there.
When I was little, my dad took me downtown to look at toys at The Bay. I fell in love with this blue dollhouse they had. My dad (while I was distracted) went and bought the dollhouse and then we took it home together on the bus. I had NO IDEA that the dollhouse was in the big box my dad had bought. I was just a little kid (maybe 4 years old) and somehow he convinced me it was something else. To this day, he still talks about how I had no idea. I think this is my favorite gift as it really represents the innocence of being 4.
I have 3 brothers and 1 sister and I am the youngest and we are quite spread out (16 years). The gift I most remember was the ping pong table that my brothers received one year. Because I was the baby and a girl, my brothers would rarely play with me but when they got that ping pong table, everything changed. I used to sit quietly on the basement stairs and watch them play with each other and all their friends and hope they would invite me to play, but they never did. One time my brother was playing with a friend and had to go answer take a phone call, leaving me alone with his friend. The friend asked me if I wanted to play while he waited for my brother to return. Well, it turned out that I was pretty good and from that point on was allowed to join in their ‘tournaments’. I really felt like one of the gang.
My husband got installed an automatic starter in
my car so I wouldn’t have to remove the ice off the windshield in the mornings and at night. I still appreciate that gift every winter!
I remember one Christmas when I was about 11 or 12, all I wanted was a boom box for Christmas. After all the gifts had been opened I was so disappointed because there was no boom box to be found :( Then as my mom was tidying up all the wrapping paper around the tree she found a small envelope with my name on it. She said that Santa must have left it for me! I opened the envelope to find a card with a clue on it sending me to another spot in the house. When I got there, there was another card with another clue….I was sent to about 10 or 12 different places in the house until I finally was sent to the bathtub where my brand new BOOM BOX sit waiting for me!!
The best gift(s) I’ve received are the gifts of time I give myself. Time to work out, time to rest, time to heal (i.e., physio, rmt), time to read, time to craft, etc. I’m always a happier and often, healthier person for it.
when I think best Xmas present, I think about that little print shop I received when I was about 7 or 8 years old. With all its little stamps, ink pads, bits of papers, cardboard counter. Needless to say, that was a real old-fashion print shop, but every year the memory of receiving it comes back as such a happy moment, a happy, happy surprise and the pleasure of discovering something fun and new to do :)
It appears that I am not alone – I must admit, it was the year of the cabbage patch kids. My sister and I so wanted a cabbage patch kid, and when we woke up the next morning and saw those 2 boxes wrapped in front of the tree – we knew exactly what was in them. We were so excited – Constantina was her name and I still have her! At the time – we had no idea that there were fights taking place in Zellers by Moms and Dads to get their hands on these things!
The best gift I’ve ever received is from my Mom and my brother. They gave me a beautiful necklace as a wedding present and it’s to symbolize our family and I can keep them in mind as I start my own family. As well, it’s something I can pass on to my daughter. Start of a family tradition!
When I was 8 or 9 my parents got me a toy, but working, sewing machine. With it came a huge bag of small pieces of velvet, satin, silk…my lifelong love of gorgeous fabric may have started there.
Snow tires & a ‘new-to-me’ vehicle. In 2000, my dad was nearing the end of a 10-year long battle with cancer & we didn’t have a great highway vehicle. Though we tried to make the 9 hour drive as often as we could, it was difficult in the wintertime. My husband surprised me on Valentines Day with a red mini van so that the kids & I could make the long trek to the Kootenays safely several times in his last few weeks & have memories to treasure.
Often kids ask for something for Christmas and when they get it and are super excited that Santa brought what they asked for. This particular year I don’t recall what I asked for but whatever it was got trumped by a brand new baby blue bike. Because I never could have imagined I would get such a beautiful bike I didn’t bother asking for it so I didn’t know for certain that the bike was for me. I remember asking “is this for me?” when a voice behind me said “no, its for me!”. I turned around and there was my grandma and grandpa! I’m not sure if I was told they were coming or if it was a surprise but either way I was so happy to see them that they trumped my bike!
Well, when we were teenagers, my dad decided that he wanted to buy us a special gift every Christmas, just from him. It became the funniest part of Christmas for a few years! We got ring watches, leggings (way before they were cool), velvet track suits, make up bags the size of luggage, etc. We found out he was hitting the malls a few minutes before closing on the 24th, and this was the result of some pretty interesting gifts. Then the year before I went off to University, he promised that he had found the perfect gifts that year. We all laughed and waited in anticipation for what hilarious gift was gonna come. Well, I opened up that year a beautiful square diamond pendant necklace. I have worn this necklace for many years, and it always reminds me of him and has been something special that I carry around with me.
Well my most memorable Christmas was when I was 7 and it was the year of the Cabbage Patch Kid. I remember waking up on Christmas morning and there were two boxes under the tree. I tore them open as fast as I could and there they were, the two most perfect cabbage patch kids I had ever seen. Years later my mom retold her story from that Christmas, how these dolls were in such high demand that people were actually having fist fights in the aisles of the toy store just to get their hands on one of theses highly sought after toys. Well needless to say I still have my two cabbage patch kids and they mean more to me now then they did back when I was little. Thanks mom!
During one of my earlier entries I talked about getting my Sony ghetto blaster from my parents and how that was the best present ever, but I think the best present I’ve received as an adult was actually last year, from my partner. He gave me a big, beautiful, heavy silver ring with two bands. I love big, bold pieces of jewelry and love that he was able to pick the perfect ring for my style. I wear it almost all of the time and get so many lovely comments on it. It pleases me so much because every time I look at it, it reminds me of my love.
I would think mine is when my husband bought me a xmas tree. We could not afford a tree for many years so we would always have a small table top tree that really resembled a “Charlie Brown Tree” One year when I came home from work there it was a great big tree filled with lights and ready for me to decorate. I still have the same tree to this day.
My fav and most memorable gift I received was when I was about 7. I got a red bike! I was so excited to go outside and take it for a spin, only to discover it had snowed! Now, I grew up in Richmond, so it was kind of a big deal for it to snow on Christmas day, but I remember being sad that I couldn’t go for a bike ride. My dad took my brother and I out anyways, but only to the end of our street. I have a picture of us riding in the snow!
Many years ago my husband and our then 4 year old daughter and I went on a winter vacation to Lake Chelan and Leavenworth in Washington. It was quite an adventure since we were driving a propane powered vehicle a the time and began the drive after work so were in the mountains quite late at night. The problem with that was that, despite what our handy, dandy guide book said, no stations that supplied propane were actually open. It should not have been possible but we made it to Lake Chelan on fumes. The next morning my husband walked around to find propane (were the truck to run out completely it would need to be towed). He came across a jewelry store on the main street and in the window was a gold star pendant with a diamond in the centre. The pendant was more money than you could take out of an ATM per day (can’t recall how much that was but nothing like today) so the jeweler held the pendant and over the couple of days we were in town my husband accumulated enough cash to purchase the pendant for me for Christmas. Now the problem was to get it home without me finding out. He hid it under the seat of the truck and did not mention it at the border (he mentions everything at the border!). On Christmas Eve he lifted our daughter up and she hung the pendant on the angel on top of our tree. Christmas morning I opened a bunch of hints until I finally guessed to look up at the angel. It is the most beautiful pendant, one of a kind, and I have rarely taken it off for 18 years!
My grandmother’s charm bracelet. She gave it to me when I turned 18 for Christmas. It is amazing. Charms from all over Europe as my grandfather was in the Air Force and stationed all over Europe in the 1940’s & 1950’s. When I was growing up I used to beg to look at it or hold it. All the stories my imagination would make up when I looked at all her miniature pieces of adventure. A VW Beetle from Germany, Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower, A Dutch Windmill, The Coliseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, a Gondola, Cuckoo Clock, Chianti bottle, maracas, mountain goat, jet plane, tennis racket, Reine boat, Luxemborg coat of arms. It’s truly magical and definitely more detail than any charms you can buy these days. When she gave it to me I was moved to tears. It’s so special to me.
Hand painted cards and pictures from my beautiful niece and nephew, I have saved every single one of them! I also received a gorgeous knit scarf made by my friend Laura which I have worn every day, way better than something bought from the store!
Christmas cards made by all my students while I was teaching abroad, ages ranging from 3-18 years old.
I’ve received a lot of great gifts over the years, from just the thought that counted (some kid gifts are quite interesting :D) to large, wow gifts! I think the best one for me though, was when my husband gave me a card saying he would take me to New York! It was the thought, the fact that he knew it was one of my bucket list items, and the fact that we got 5 days away without children and had so much fun together!
This is a bit ridiculous, but is the truth: The year the cabbage patch kids came out I wanted one so badly, but my mom and dad said they didn’t agree with the idea of adopting a doll. I was so sad. In preparation for Christmas I helped my mom pick- out 2 cabbage patch kids one for charity and one for " my mom’s friends’ kid", how hard was that! turns out Christmas morning the 2 Nd doll was for me ( not mom’s friend) along with 2 other cabbage patch dolls! I cried and cried, I was so happy. I still remember their names Candice, Abigail, and Alberta.
As a child, my best gift was a brass 4 poster bed.
As an adult, the most meaningful gift I’ve received is not a physical gift. Friends I have not seen in 12 years asked me to spend Christmas with them in Edmonton, so I wouldn’t be alone this year. To invite an extra person into your home for one of the busiest/stressful holidays of the year and to do so less than a month before is a wonderful gift.
Many Christmas ago, a friend gave me a gold Buddha pendant on a chain. At the time, we were having a long distance relationship and it was meant to protect me while he wasn’t around. We have since lost touch. Despite that, I tried to hang on to it really hard. 10 years ago, I lost the chain and last year, I lost the pendant. To keep mindful and remind myself that things don’t protect a memory nor make one happy, It was the hardest thing to get over.
My most memorable and meaningful gift is each year at Christmas when I was a kid my grandparents would give me $50 and it was a running joke. In Cantonese a $50 bill could be called a “salmon” because it was that colour. So my grandpa would try to take me to the grocery store to get me a salmon. As a kid I would be upset because I didn’t want a salmon. But in the end I’d still end up with my $50 bill. Now that I’m working and an adult I give them a “salmon”.
I was just learning to cook, so my mom ( she was very ill fighting a brain tumor and struggled to write for periods of time ) got my sister to write out a recipe book with all her best recipes in it for me, it was the best gift ever ! She may be gone now , but I still have that special book and it always makes me feel close to her <3
Every Christmas is brilliant and it’s not because of presents – it’s the only time of the year that our family get together (we’re dotted across Canada, US, UK etc) and has a ridiculously good time; eating, drinking and laughing our butts off!
But… if I had to choose one specific gift, it would have to be the engagement ring I got in my stocking last Christmas.
After 14 years of dating I finally met my now-husband who is the love of my life and my best friend. So when we got up, put the coffee on and sat down to do stockings….I was so happy, surprised, elated, and down-right excited when I pulled out a ring box and he asked me to marry him. It wasn’t just the ring, it was the sentiment behind it and everything it means to me to be married and knowing he loves me SO much that he wants to spend his life with me. I can’t think of a better gift than that.
That’s easy- Christmas 2006 my (now) husband proposed. It was so much more then the ring itself. And, actually, it was also the fact that he purposely waited until we were back home (Ottawa) so that we could celebrate with all our family (they were ALL out East) and high school friends. I’m so grateful to have such a wonderful, thoughtful man in my life! His love is definitely my most treasured gift ever.
I think I’m going to have to say the best gift I can think of was getting my bike from my husband. We weren’t married yet and I didn’t even ask for a bike so I was really surprised when he got me a cruiser for my birthday one year. I hadn’t even ridden a bike in years and that bike changed things. I ended up getting him a bike for fathers day and we went on many memorable bike rides together. Years later I’ve added various child carriers to the bike and I still love going for rides on my cool bike :)
I’ve been thinking hard, trying to come up with an answer that wasn’t my initial thought because it seemed too cliche, but just nothing matched up. It’s about my children. Specifically: Oliver at his first Christmas saying ‘papa’ and then a year later ‘I love you papa’.