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What is the best Christmas (or Hanukkah) gift you've ever given?
Well, aside from all the gifts I've given to my husband and children, which usually bring lots of happy smiles and jumping up and down and squealing (my kids ), there is one gift that I gave one year that stands out in my mind. It was back in 1992, before we had any children. I was working full-time for a printing company, and I hated it. A few weeks before Christmas, my mother was taking down her decorations. When she went to put up her village (her favorite part of decorating for the holidays), she noticed that her ancient plastic village was falling apart. She was very upset and started looking for a new one. She couldn't find one that she liked within her price range, so she patched up the old one and did the best she could with it.
I've always enjoyed crafts of one type or another. During this time, I was into dollhouse miniatures. I decided to buy a village kit, put it together from scratch, and paint it. Every night, I would come home and work on the village houses. It was a great stress reliever for me.
When I gave it to her, she was so happy that she cried. So did I. So did everyone else. She still uses that village to this day. OK, I'm getting teary-eyed. Who's next?
I think one of the nicest gifts I have ever given will be to one of my stamping friends this Christmas. I ordered the new Slice Elite in Pink and will be giving my very gently used original Slice and all the goodies to a lady who has been a friend for several years. She does not have any electronic cutter and she has no money to buy one. She will be tickled to death. I will share my cards with her too.
blessings.
Sometimes when people meet me, they'll say 'oh...you're married to a goose hunter!' - from the tag page on my blog header. My husband was an avid outdoorsman straight from his mother's womb, I assure you.
The 3rd Christmas that I was married, I scrimped and saved to buy my husband a very special gift. He had mentioned it once many months before Christmas, but it was something that he would never buy for himself. I had a friend help me make sure I was getting just the right thing. I even bought a diversion/decoy gift for him to open so that he wouldn't think I hadn't done anything for him when we did our traditional exchange on Christmas Eve. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree early Christmas morning. He was speechless when he opened it, and he still loves to tell the story to friends when they ask about it. That Christmas is an amazing memory for me....worth every single penny and moment invested ten-fold.
My brother is a Marine and was stationed in San Diego at the time. My folks and I still live in our home state of Ohio. My brother and his wife had had their first baby in October, and my parents were there for that. But they had no idea when they'd be able to afford to go back, and that really depressed my mom (this was the first grandkid for both sides of the family, but my sis-in-law was from San Diego so her family was all there already).
So for Christmas, I arranged a trip to San Diego for them. I checked their schedules (Dad's a teacher, so I picked his spring break trip). They're both church musicians (different churches) and I checked with their pastors to be sure they could miss a Sunday/Wednesday. I bought their plane tickets and arranged for my brother to pick them up. The only thing they had to do was find a hotel (I left that to them because they're so bloomin' picky about where they stay!).
Then I made them a little accordion booklet. The family joke is asking mom what she wants for Christmas because she always answers "peace, love & joy." So that was the theme of the booklet, titled "what I want for Christmas." Each page had one of those words and a picture of someone from our San Diego family. Then they turned the page and it said "but a couple of plane tickets to California would be nice" and when they flipped that page, their flight info was listed.
They didn't believe me at first, until I mentioned clearing it with their pastors to be gone over that Sunday and dad noticed the dates were his spring break from school.
So yeah. That was a good Christmas. That was almost 9 years ago and we still talk about it.
Many years ago, my two best friends were sisters. Their mother was "Mummy" to me, and always said I was her daughter, just born to another woman. Both girls were almost phobic about having their pictures taken. Both girls had new babies at the time, too. So, I took many photos of the girls, using the babies as an excuse, bought collage frames, and did a frame of each girl for Mummy. She was so overwhelmed, she cried and cried. She said it was the best present she'd ever gotten.
Sometimes when people meet me, they'll say 'oh...you're married to a goose hunter!' - from the tag page on my blog header. My husband was an avid outdoorsman straight from his mother's womb, I assure you.
The 3rd Christmas that I was married, I scrimped and saved to buy my husband a very special gift. He had mentioned it once many months before Christmas, but it was something that he would never buy for himself. I had a friend help me make sure I was getting just the right thing. I even bought a diversion/decoy gift for him to open so that he wouldn't think I hadn't done anything for him when we did our traditional exchange on Christmas Eve. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree early Christmas morning. He was speechless when he opened it, and he still loves to tell the story to friends when they ask about it. That Christmas is an amazing memory for me....worth every single penny and moment invested ten-fold.
Last spring my 84 year old dad and I drove around the city and he showed me all of his childhood spots, things like where he was a patrol, where he played soccer etc. I photographed and journaled the whole day and gave it to him for Father's day.
He passed away August 2nd. and now I have this amazing journey as a keepsake.
The best gift I ever gave was last year to my Father. I researched and wrote his direct line family history and scrapped all the documents and pictures I could find. It's the first thing they show anyone when they walk through the door.
BUT, now Mom wants one, and they want to expand it. That took 6 solid months of work.
The best gift I ever gave was last year to my Father. I researched and wrote his direct line family history and scrapped all the documents and pictures I could find. It's the first thing they show anyone when they walk through the door.
BUT, now Mom wants one, and they want to expand it. That took 6 solid months of work.
I think the best gift I ever gave was I paid for the plane fair for my mom so she could go to my sister's wedding. You have to understand that, in Canada, its actually cheaper to fly to anywhere in Europe than it is to fly somewhere within our own country a lot of times. My sister lives on the east coast, and my mom lives right in the middle of Canada in Manitoba. Plus the fact that my mom is on her own with only her little pension, there was no way she could have afforded to pay the airfare herself. There was no way in H3LL that my mom was not going to go to my sister's wedding. So I paid for it for her.
I think for me it would have been the year I gave my mother flowers every month. I had great fun choosing different flowers every time - luckily there was a good speciality florist nearby at the time.
Based on feedback, the little accordion album I made my brother as the card for his 40th got a great reception, he regarded it as a present in its own right.
And non-crafting, the year I gave my best friend's young son a ring-tailed lemur backpack - well, literally his whole face lit up. You don't often see that, so I still remember it.
Sometimes when people meet me, they'll say 'oh...you're married to a goose hunter!' - from the tag page on my blog header. My husband was an avid outdoorsman straight from his mother's womb, I assure you.
The 3rd Christmas that I was married, I scrimped and saved to buy my husband a very special gift. He had mentioned it once many months before Christmas, but it was something that he would never buy for himself. I had a friend help me make sure I was getting just the right thing. I even bought a diversion/decoy gift for him to open so that he wouldn't think I hadn't done anything for him when we did our traditional exchange on Christmas Eve. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree early Christmas morning. He was speechless when he opened it, and he still loves to tell the story to friends when they ask about it. That Christmas is an amazing memory for me....worth every single penny and moment invested ten-fold.
Count me with the others who are curious! What was it? Should we start a pool? I bet it was a goose-huntin' gun! Anyone else wanna guess b4 she tells us?
Y'all's thoughtfulness is bringing tears to my eyes. YOU'RE SO SWEET!!!!
This year for Christmas, we're sending my parents on an Alaskan cruise (cruise is in June) It'll feel good b/c we're long overdue doing something nice like this for them. They're wonderful parents.
Next time I visit this thread, I'm coming with hot chocolate and the carols blaring! It's so Christmasy. Thanks for sharing everyone.
The nicest gift was for my husband. I had a pastel portrait artist do a picture of my husband, myself, and our black and white cocker spaniel, Emma. She did it all from photographs. It came out beautiful. When he opened it, he cried, and my husband NEVER cries. He was very touched. We don't have children, and Emma was our child. After 12 years, we had to have her put her to sleep. When we got another dog, Molly, the red cocker. I found another artist, since the original person had moved, and had another picture done of my husband, myself, and Molly. Once again, he cried. It made me cry too...
LOVE this thread. It's really brining out the true spirit of the holidays.
My grandparents raised 11 children in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house and those 11 children produced lots and lots of grandchildren. My grandpa, who is an tireless worker and always was involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren is greatly admired by everyone in our family - especially the little kids. For lots of years, he's written in various journals - mostly during their travels, visiting kids / grandkids, business trips, etc.
One year, during a special family trip to Vermont, my grandpa took all the kids on a walk to a beautiful waterfall and I was lucky enough to have captured the moment that all the little kids saw the waterfall for the first time. It's a beautiful photo with all the kids in awe and my Grandpa with an amazing look of pride on his face.
I uploaded the photo to an online photo printing company and had a journal printed with that photo on the front. I was able to have a very touching message printed on the inside.
My grandpa, the forever pillar of strength and "mountain man" emotions - bawled like a baby.
This year, I am giving him a journal box with this note:
"Your legacy remains in the wonderful memories you've made wit usall. Throughout the years, you've preserved that egacy by writing in journals that some have had the good fortune and honor to read. Enclosed is a box filled with writing prompts and a journal to get you started again.
This package may be a gift to you this Christmas but it's actually the infinate gift of your legacy for generations to come."
I hope that this years gift will top the first journal.
Oh yeah, and we got my Grandma a Kindle...which she's been hinting about ALL YEAR ROUND. lol
__________________ Sophia I got a reality check but it bounced.
LOVE this thread. It's really brining out the true spirit of the holidays.
My grandparents raised 11 children in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house and those 11 children produced lots and lots of grandchildren. My grandpa, who is an tireless worker and always was involved in the lives of his children and grandchildren is greatly admired by everyone in our family - especially the little kids. For lots of years, he's written in various journals - mostly during their travels, visiting kids / grandkids, business trips, etc.
One year, during a special family trip to Vermont, my grandpa took all the kids on a walk to a beautiful waterfall and I was lucky enough to have captured the moment that all the little kids saw the waterfall for the first time. It's a beautiful photo with all the kids in awe and my Grandpa with an amazing look of pride on his face.
I uploaded the photo to an online photo printing company and had a journal printed with that photo on the front. I was able to have a very touching message printed on the inside.
My grandpa, the forever pillar of strength and "mountain man" emotions - bawled like a baby.
This year, I am giving him a journal box with this note:
"Your legacy remains in the wonderful memories you've made wit usall. Throughout the years, you've preserved that egacy by writing in journals that some have had the good fortune and honor to read. Enclosed is a box filled with writing prompts and a journal to get you started again.
This package may be a gift to you this Christmas but it's actually the infinate gift of your legacy for generations to come."
I hope that this years gift will top the first journal.
Oh yeah, and we got my Grandma a Kindle...which she's been hinting about ALL YEAR ROUND. lol
One year, I got ahold of an old magazine with directions for crocheted snowflakes. I�d always wanted to try thread crochet, so I made a couple and really enjoyed it. I knew my mother had been saying that some year she was going to do a Christmas tree in all crochet, so I decided to make a few for her.
I found some more instruction books for other types of ornaments (this was pre-internet) and that �few� snowflakes kind of multiplied. There were snowflakes and puffy hearts and round balls and antiquey looking fans, most embellished with small roses and ribbons and pearls. I had a stack of 6 shirt boxes when I was done, which made a most impressive stack when wrapped and tied together with a big old ribbon. I gave it to her for her birthday.
She loved it! That was almost 20 years ago and she still uses mostly those ornaments on her tree (along with a few more that I�ve added and she�s purchased).
Location: Madison WI (lived in MN when I chose the name)
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I didn't make it for a Christmas gift, but I made a scrapbook for my grandma before she died - it was a "tribute" album full of family pictures, and many of my relatives contributed photos for it. She had terminal cancer, and I wanted her to know how much she meant to her family before she died. I gave it to her at Easter, and she died a few weeks later. My grandpa had it displayed at her visitation. I was touched later that year when he told me he spent Christmas Eve looking at that album.
What an incredible thread. You all are true gift elves!
27+ years ago my husband and I bought an inexpensive Grandma brag book - little miniature photo album. I wrote a poem that appeared on the first page. We hid it until all the other presents were opened and presented it to my Mom. When she read the poem out loud, she realized she (and the rest of the family) would get the present in August - their first grandchild. I think Dad was the most excited - he had just ordered and received the instructions to make a baby cradle. He stared working on it that night. It was a very special Christmas for all of us.
I think it's going to be this year when my FIL opens a digital picture frame pre-loaded with photos of his family (esp. the ones of his 5 great-grandchildren)!
I think it's going to be this year when my FIL opens a digital picture frame pre-loaded with photos of his family (esp. the ones of his 5 great-grandchildren)!
I think it's going to be this year when my FIL opens a digital picture frame pre-loaded with photos of his family (esp. the ones of his 5 great-grandchildren)!
Awwww thanx just what i have done for my MIL.can't wait to see her face !
anyway hope your FIL likes it ...he will love it for sure! xx jo xx
Awwww thanx just what i have done for my MIL.can't wait to see her face !
anyway hope your FIL likes it ...he will love it for sure! xx jo xx
We think he will ... the "magic" of computers amazes him and of course he'll love seeing the gorgeous faces of the little ones.
I had hoped to make a flip-type scrapbook but never got started ... the digital frame is a much better idea because he won't have to do anything to see different photos.
My best Christmas gift was for my son when he was stationed in Korea for a year. I typed journaling questions - 6 sets: one for each set of grandparents and a set for his Dad and me. I started early because I wanted everyone to have ample time to say what they wanted to say. Everyone answered the questions in their own handwriting which I think made it even more special. It was a work of love on everybody's part. I combined everything into an album, sent it on it's way with love and a prayer for my son's safety.
When I talked to my son on Christmas Day, he said he hadn't been able to read everything yet because he would always get teary-eyed and homesick when going through it.
It's even more of a treasure now because 2 of the six are no longer with us. Next time I visit my son, I'm going to ask to see it. I'm sure I'll be looking at it through tears, but also with smiles on my face.
__________________ Linda E
Caution: You are entering an artistic zone. This is not clutter - this is creating. These are not pajamas - it's my work uniform.
Two years ago, I gave my husband a flying lesson. He had always talked about learning to fly someday, so I bought him one lesson to see if it was something he'd really like doing. He loved it. We're hoping that maybe this next summer we'll be able to afford for him to take more lessons and get his sports license.
For our kids, I think it was the year we got them their own computers. They were so surprised and ecstatic.
My DH and I are NASCAR fans from way back. My DH was an Alan Kulwicki fan, who at that time did not have a sponsor. I gave my DH a plain white T-shirt, and said it was an Alan Kulwicki shirt.
Not sweet and touching like your stories, but he still talks about it, and I think it was pretty funny!
Sometimes when people meet me, they'll say 'oh...you're married to a goose hunter!' - from the tag page on my blog header. My husband was an avid outdoorsman straight from his mother's womb, I assure you.
The 3rd Christmas that I was married, I scrimped and saved to buy my husband a very special gift. He had mentioned it once many months before Christmas, but it was something that he would never buy for himself. I had a friend help me make sure I was getting just the right thing. I even bought a diversion/decoy gift for him to open so that he wouldn't think I hadn't done anything for him when we did our traditional exchange on Christmas Eve. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree early Christmas morning. He was speechless when he opened it, and he still loves to tell the story to friends when they ask about it. That Christmas is an amazing memory for me....worth every single penny and moment invested ten-fold.
Gee willikers, aren't you ever going to tell us what that special gift was?!
My brother, my only sibling, died 7 years ago. After he passed away, I took all of my mom's old photos from her house - she was so grief-stricken, she didn't even notice. I scrapbooked all of our baby pics, all the old pics of her and my dad growing up -- everything.
I'll never forget the look on her face when she opened it. My mom is very stoic - doesn't show emotion. That day, she couldn't speak because she was crying... it was very touching
My brother, my only sibling, died 7 years ago. After he passed away, I took all of my mom's old photos from her house - she was so grief-stricken, she didn't even notice. I scrapbooked all of our baby pics, all the old pics of her and my dad growing up -- everything.
I'll never forget the look on her face when she opened it. My mom is very stoic - doesn't show emotion. That day, she couldn't speak because she was crying... it was very touching
Mom passed away and, as the keeper of the albums, her pictures would never leave my sister's house for us to look at. One weekend my hubby and I went for a visit and I took my scanner with me. I sat there on the floor and scanned every single picture of my brothers that I could find.
I spent hours and hours making digital scrapbooks (didn't know what it was called at that time) for each of them. It was called "Legacy" and it was in three sections...the "Beginning" was all kinds of pictures of our mom as a baby and growing up...the "Middle" was all the pics of my brothers as babies and growing up through to photos of mom towards the end. I left the "End" as "...unwritten as the end is not here (or something like that) and for them to put things in if they wanted. Then I burned them onto CD's for their safety deposit boxes in case they ever lost the albums they could be replaced.
Funny thing about it...I got a phone call from one of my brothers laughing ....it seemed my oldest brother opened his gift early and called my other brother....to find out why the CD would not play in the stereo!
The Best Gift You've Ever Given
