The Best Gifts Are Wrapped in Love

A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

The stories some of you sent me of special Christmas memories has been a gift to me. Some of the stories made me smile. Some brought a tear. But the thing that connects many of the stories that live on in our memories is love. I hope you will enjoy these stories of special gifts given with love.

Robin shares a story of how she and her husband created a Christmas of love when they were far from home.

My husband and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary on December 21. One of my favorite Christmas memories was our 2nd Christmas as a married couple. He was in the Army at the time, and we lived in Germany. Far from home but together. We had a small, real Christmas tree and went out together to find ornaments at a local German Department store near the small town where we lived. Those German decorations are still around all these years later. The best part of Christmas that year was the memories we created–just the two of us. Now, many years later we have added five children to our family  memories and other family and friends have come and gone. And yet, through it all the reason for Christmas has never changed.

Happy anniversary, Robin. So good to hold onto the reason for Christmas through every year of celebration and change in our families.

Roxanne shares about a first Christmas with her husband who had never celebrated an American Christmas with gifts and more.

One of my fondest memories, especially now that my husband has passed away, is from our first Christmas together as a married couple. We were only 19 years old, and he had never celebrated Christmas as we do in USA because he was from a poor family in Puerto Rico. My best friend helped him shop for gifts for me since it was a totally new experience for him. She also helped him wrap those that were purchased in a store that did not provide gift-wrapping service.

I placed all the gifts under our decorated tree and expected that we would wait until Christmas morning to open our gifts from each other as was the tradition in my family. However, my husband had other ideas. He was so excited and expectant of my reaction to his presents to me that he wanted me to open them ahead of time and would hint at what was in a package or try to tell me outright what was in them. I’d put my hands over my ears and hum loudly to prevent hearing his words. I finally compromised and agreed that we could each open a gift or two before December 25. He chose one that he wanted me to open before Christmas morning. It was a beautiful ivory colored dress with lace and ribbon trim, exactly my style, and he had chosen it himself. I wore it to the family gathering at my parents’ house December 25.

Thanks for sharing your story, Roxanne. When I imagine his excitement, I have to smile. We all should have that joy in giving.

Angie has a story about a gift of love that might make you smile.

You asked for a Christmas story, so here’s mine.  My husband, then boyfriend, proposed to me on Christmas Eve, 1992. On Christmas Day, it was tradition in his family to go to ALL the relatives’ houses. We had been to my parent’s house (so he could ask for my dad’s permission) and his parent’s house…we hadn’t been to any of his siblings’ houses when we stopped at his grandma’s house. There were lots of aunts and uncles and cousins there, so he told me not to let anyone see my ring yet. The only way I figured I could do that without raising suspicion was to leave my coat and gloves on and say that I was cold. That worked for a little bit, as his grandma was concerned about me not being warm enough, so she kept turning up her thermostat…plus, it had snowed quite a bit, and a group of the guys, including my new fiance, had left to help someone get out of a ditch. They were gone awhile, and I was starting to get really hot in my coat and gloves…. when the guys got back, Tim noticed that I was STILL in my coat and gloves, and after apologizing for making me suffer from the heat, told everyone that we were engaged…his grandma recalled many times with a laugh how fast I took off my coat and gloves….yes, we’re still married, 28 years in October, 2021.

Love your story, Angie. I’m sure everybody was smiling at your news and how you tried to hide it until your husband-to-be could share it with his family.

Sue has some memories of growing up when there weren’t a lot of gifts for every child. But she learned about giving and had a great tradition going before COVID interferred.

My father was a poor Baptist preacher with a wife and 4 daughters so we had limited gifts growing up. I remember stockings with oranges, apples and nuts in it. We usually got one toy and some clothes. Since then, I always enjoy giving more than receiving. Until COVID hit, every Christmas I would fill a large bag with random things that I had purchased during the year. Then everyone would draw a number and blindly pick a gift. Sometime we played where you could steal someone else’s gift and they got to draw again. It was always fun. Some of the things that I had in the bag were really good and others not so much. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I look forward to the time when we can do that again.

I’m looking forward to a time when COVID isn’t in the news and we can gather without worrying about the pandemic. Jessy agrees with us on that as she’s ready to start back with one of her best Christmas traditions too.

One of my best traditions before covid was to go caroling around our small neighborhood. My sister played the guitar, and our kids had fun singing and getting baked goods from some of the neighbors. One year our caroling group kept growing as some neighbors joined us after we serenaded. Then we sang at their neighbors’ house, they invited them to join and so forth. It was spontaneous fun! Can’t wait to put social distancing behind us 🙂

I’m with you on that, Jessy. What fun it sounds like all of you had going caroling.

Last we have an unusual story from Suzanne. Things we can’t explain happen all the time. Maybe we aren’t supposed to try to reason it all out, but just accept it as the gift it is. That’s what Suzanne did as she and her sisters gave her aunt the best gift ever – their time.

Several decades ago, I received a musical Christmas card from a special aunt in Florida. In March my husband and I woke in the middle of the night to Christmas music. I got the box out of the top of my clothes closet and discovered it was my aunt’s card which was closed and rubber banded with the rest of the cards. I opened it and it stopped playing. I closed it and it did not play. I opened the card and it began playing Christmas music again. I read my aunt’s message which requested that me and my 3 sisters visit her soon, that she missed us. My husband said that it was a special message for sure and that I should tell my sisters. When I told them, we decided to go visit and take my aunt to a condo further south in Florida, We had a great time. Several months later, my aunt very suddenly passed away. She left all of her belongings to me and my sisters. We moved everything to my sister’s house in Indiana and all of my sisters and our girls picked items that had special meaning to all of us. I made a comment that Aunt Pat would be pleased that we were all sharing her special memories. At that very moment a Christmas tree musical candle started playing a Christmas song. We all had tears in our eyes and love in our hearts.

What a beautiful story, Suzanne. Thank you for sharing it with us.

I hope you are enjoying reading these stories and I’d love it if you want to share some stories of your own. I love a storytelling time.

Do you have a special Christmas memory?

Winners of my Christmas Newsletter Book Fun:

First place winner was Veronica from Texas. She won a lovely Nativity statuette plus her choice of one of my books. She kept it in season and chose Christmas at Harmony Hill.

Second place winners won a choice of one of my books. Lonnia from Georgia chose These Healing Hills as her prize and Sheila of New York chose Murder at the Courthouse.

If you threw your name in my giveaway hat and didn’t win, I hope you had fun taking part in my book fun anyway. I’ll have more giveaway chances here soon and also in my next newsletter. So if you aren’t already on my email list to get my news, be sure to sign up on the form in the margin of my website, www.annhgabhart.com to get your copy.