Everybody likes getting gifts and most people do a lot of gift giving and getting at Christmas time. I hope your gifts this year all made you smile, but what was your best gift ever? Just for fun that’s what I asked readers to tell me when they entered my last giveaway. Sometimes it’s good to remember Christmases past to help all of us more fully appreciate Christmas present. I’ve been enjoying the wonderful stories people have shared as they entered their names in my giveaway. Oh by the way, I haven’t drawn the winners yet so you still have time to pitch your name in if you want. Just leave a comment here or send me an e-mail before New Year’s day.
Today I’m sharing with you some of the Christmas memories you’ve shared with me. One lady wrote in that she’d have to pick this Christmas because she’d survived a heart attack. That certainly could make a person sit up and take notice of the most precious gift of life. Along that line, one person claimed her daughter as the best present she’d ever received. She must have been a Christmas baby. Another told me about the romantic gift of her husband proposing on Christmas morning but what made it perfect for her was that he wanted to include her children from a previous marriage and so a family was formed there under the Christmas tree.
I shared the story already in a previous blog psot about the family who had all their presents stolen on Christmas Eve and the one about the innovative grandmother who made all her grandkids nightgowns but made a game of wrapping them in unusual boxes that made their gift getting a special fun time. I got one of those boxes this year – a box of stool softeners. Inside was a dog Christmas tree ornament, but the box got a few laughs. My son-in-law said it was the only box he could find that was the right size.
Other gifts mentioned were rollersates, a Barbie townhouse, and a beautiful doll cradle that the reader said was instrumental in making her the good mom she is today. One reader got a phonograph player with a mom who made sure a record was playing when she walked into the room. That was a magical moment for her. You youngsters don’t realize that music wasn’t always so instantly available as it is now. Someone else got a puppy delivered by Santa after she was beginning to doubt old Santa.
A WV friend says her family had fallen on hard times and didn’t have any money for gifts, but then a neighbor asked her to come help her. When she got there, the neighbor had a little wagon loaded down with gifts for her and her family. It just goes to show what a difference a generous heart can make. Another reader mentioned a clarinet. She loved her clarinet and never felt lonely as long as she could make music. Then there was the reader who was blessed with a chest made by her grandmother. And I had to appreciate the reader who said her favorite Christmas gifts were those cookies and goodies she made to give to shut-ins. What a good ministry to have at Christmas time.
I may have already told you my own favorite Christmas gift was a fountain pen when I was maybe fourteen. I wrote dozens of journal entries and stories with that pen. Used up whole bottles of ink. With that pen I thought I could write anything and I happily headed down the writing road. And I have written about a zillion words since then, give or take a million here and there.
As I read through the messages of favorite Christmas gifts, what came through loud and clear was how so many of the favorite gifts represented love. So thanks for sharing your Christmas memories. We’ve got time for more if you’d like to share you best Christmas memory.