Best/Worst Christmas Gift Ever?

What was your best Christmas present you ever recieved?
Mine..would have to be a toss up, last year I got a diamond ring! This year he bought me a 99 Yukon(a little early but I tell him it will count as my Christmas present lol)

Worst present ever? Guess that would have to be the huge care package I recieved last year in our # swap game. I picked it but didn't know until I opened it that it contained cleaning supplies! Yep, box of laundry soap, dish soap, dryer sheet, paper towels, toilet paper etc!
Granted that I could use each and every one of the things, but it just wasn't a happy kind of gift.

What was your's??

I guess my best Christmas present was in 88', arrived on January 6th tho. All 9 lbs, 11 ozs. of her!!! It was a difficult delivery,,but all came out well. She's now 15, and still sassy as ever,,my daughter Kate.
My worst? I really cant think of anything. I've been really blessed. Always someone sitting on my shoulder!

The best was a very active blonde wow was she all over me from the moment I found her sleeping in my truck she jumped into my arms and gave me many kisses.

Since I was on the way to the store I just took her along and she wouldn't leave me alone until I turned the radio on and she acted like she had never heard one before. Thank goodness a man can only stand so much pawing.

That was the start of a true love bond between us that girl was sugar sweet and eager to please. I was her human from the start it was obvious that Kate only had eyes for me.

About two months prior to this I got the urge to get a new dog but Linda kinda drug her feet because we had two at the time so I let it drop intending to just resume my efforts in the spring. Linda ordered Kate before she was born and the whole thing was timed for Christmas. Kate was the most
beautiful Golden Retriever one could ask for and she was a true Christmas surprise.Ernie

When I was 7 I recieved my best ever present. It was a beautiful bride doll and she was about 20 inches tall with a beaded gown and a veil of sheer lace. I was enthralled by that dolls beauty. She represented everything a little girl dreamed of, growing up, being married to a man as wonderful as my father and living a fairytale life of happily ever after. The Doll is gone now, destroyed by a sibling in a fit of rage. But her memory lives on in my heart and is represented to me every time my wonderful husband looks me in the eyes and tells me "I love you".

There is no "worst" gift. Some things are remembered more fondly than others but each has represented the giver and their desire to give to me a token of love.

As a kid my parents liked to save the best presents for last. One year it was a pogo stick. No cheapo version. This had dual coil springs, T-handle, rubber foot pads. I got so I would loose count of bounces after a few hundred. Think this is when my rep as that wierd kid started.Worst was last years flu shot. My brother came up for Christmas but I had the worst fever I've ever had. DW was great hostess and nurse but I was pretty useless. No more flu shots for me. Sidetrack: Why can DW tell you the When and Why of every present she ever got and all I remember is from who?

My best gift was a doll from Franklin Mint that my husband had bought, and had shipped to my sister-in-law's until Christmas morning.

My worst gift was given to me by my first husband. He was an avid fisherman, and he always brought home the catch. For Christmas one year he gave me a fish cutting board. It anchored the tail so I could clean the fish without cutting my hands ! Now wasn't that thoughtful ?

I guess my best gift yet was our trip we just went on to Guadalajara, Mexico. It isn't all for X-mas, but it would be fine if it was, because I got a 1/2 Karat solitaire diamond ring with about 16 rounds in it, with a band with 8 baggette diamonds in it. It is soooooo beautiful, and ya know how much cheaper things are there. We got to go all over the place and sat 1st class on the way back, which was a total suprise. I had never ridden 1st class before. We got the hot towelettes and steak that was just like a Flo's Filet from Longhorn's, and I couldn't beleive it for airport food. My hubby is the best, and I got to meet all of our family I had never met. We went for a wedding and it was amazing. And I was also treated to a day of beauty by my wonderful hubby. Hair colored, nails, eyebrows, make-up, toe nails and my hair is so curly I never knew how long it really was, and it is past my waist. Total shock to me and him. And to se his face was the best gift of all!

Thanks,
Traci

I am not one to share very private moments, but I am in rare form at the moment. I just found out that I get to share christmas with my estranged granddaughter that I havent seen for two years. I can count the times in my life when i Have cried tears of joy on one finger. You can take all the diamonds and any other thing that is precious to you and I would not trade

Doug448 glad for you I have never seen our grand daughter either she will be two in Jan. The mother hates our son so much she has used every legal means and dirty trick to keep him from having contact with the baby. Those days are over because the courts are seeing through her lies and after many court proceedings he now gets his daughter for eight hours each sat and sunday twice a month. He lives in Cape Cod and she lives in Yakima. Sometimes she refused to let him see the baby after flying across the country.The court says no more of this will happen even if the child is in the hospital. We will be going to Yakima soon to visit her now that he gets her alone from the mother. The mothers mother is one step behind the daughter.To get the babys SS number we were forced to hack because the mother left a message on the answering machine that said since we could help with sons truck payments and not help her we could get info about baby from our son who didn't have the number. The number was need to buy automatic bonds for the baby. Well we got it and she doesn't have a clue but the bonds are in Lindas and the babys name.Wow what a vent sorry but in a way this is going to end up a Christmas Present.

Glad for you our day will come as well.

Edited to fix spelling probably still missed some

This message was edited Dec 6, 2003 6:31 PM

Ernie, you got it, love prevails, it just has its own schedule. Somehow that little girl will always know that she has a grandpa who loves her. hang in there brother.

dough448, that is the greatest gift of all! Thanks for sharing your good news with us.

Great Stories eweed and dough. Love is truly the best gift of all.

When I was 7 years old I had been playing all day with the town kids on the snow hill in town. Most of them had sleds that would turn at the bottom of the hill and go down a long street to a stop. Ohhh How I wanted one of those sleds! I had a piece of cardboard for my sled and I knew my parents were doing the best they could for us. That night at dinner I must have been overheard telling my brother and sister how much I wanted a sled and it was strange how fast Daddy ran out the door after dinner but I knew at times his duties called him. It was Christmas eve and he had to do three night services at our church that night.

The next morning I got up and went downstairs to see a shiny wood and red "Flexible Flyer" sled under the tree. I was sooooooooo excited! It was for me from Santa. OH HOW did Santa ever know???

Many years later I found out that when Dad overheard me talking about how badly I wanted that sled he had driven almost 60 miles in a blizzard to Sears and bought my sled. I still have that sled and it is truly my best Christmas present ever! Daddy is gone to heaven now but I cry of happiness when I think of the sacrifice he went through to get this gift for me.

One year when I was a kid, maybe 12 or so...we had a tough year. My parents were cherry farmers in Northern Michigan and the crop wasn't good that year. It was my parent's main source of income...So my dad made homemade skiis for all of us kids...6 of us. He sanded the lumber, rounded the tips to look just like real skiis and somehow bent the ends so they turned up like real skiis, too He then tied thin ropes on the ends and I remember how much I loved those skiis....and my dad for making sure we had something special that Christmas. What I wouldn't give to have a pair of those now...I don't know what ever happened to them and I would give anything to have held on to them...but I hold them in my heart, along with my dad, who passed on almost 20 years ago.


This message was edited Dec 8, 2003 12:58 AM

Frankay, women are detail people and very observant. Men are only observant when it is something they are specifically meaning to notice. That's why women make such good secretaries. They know where everything is and how it works.
My best gift was a small Fiat. I needed a car, mine was dying but I didn't have the money. My husband found an incredible bargain. My daughter was involved too. He had washed the car and then towed it home. But at first he didn't take it out of gear and it drug and got filthy again. My poor daughter was sneaking outside after I went to bed to wash the mud back off. I was so shocked the next day; it had a huge red ribbon and bow on it. It wasn't the greatest car in the world but it at least ran for a couple of years and the heater worked.
The worst Christmas present was 2 cemetery plots. Now of course, it makes sense because the spaces are next to my husband's parents who have both passed away since giving them to us. Here's the funniest part: I now work for the perpetual care cemetery and am fully convinced that buying everything pre-need is very, very, important and saves the family all the difficulty of choosing spaces, paying cash, and just generally tending to business on the worst day of their lives. These kinds of poor folks have no idea what they are doing and have to be explained to like a child and then later don't remember a thing. Even those that choose cremation still need a resting place for the ashes and some kind of plaque, monument of marker so that their families have a place to go if they want to put flowers and also for a historical record. I do not, however, advocate giving cemetery property as a Christmas gift, lol.

LOL! My father always tells my stepmother that he's not getting her anything for Christmas this year because she didn't use what he bought her lastyear. And when she looks surprised and says "Oh? What's that?", he will tell her "Your cemetery plot!" I can't figure out if she's really falling for it time and again, or if she's just humoring him so he can tell his little joke and get a laugh!

I think my best Christmas present came when I was about 13 or 14. My mother was a single mother struggling along without child support, and we always had something really BIG break at Christmas (usually the furnace) so most Christmases were on the lean side. But mom, my brother and I always had so much fun together, it didn't seem to matter.

I had a really OLD record player at the time, that I had covered with this AWFUL yellow and orange contact paper with mushrooms on it to make it more presentable. I wanted a new stereo with an eight-track tape player in the worst kind of way, but I knew it was probably out of the question because of the cost.

Lo and behold wasn't that stereo there under the Christmas tree on Christmas day with a big bow on it. I don't even remember if I got anything else that Christmas. All that mattered was that stereo. I can't imagine how my mother pulled that one off, but I feel the wonder of that Christmas everytime I think about it.

I don't have a worst gift, but I do have a funniest. My mom bought me one of those Poo-Pets (a frog!) that is made out of cow manure. You're supposed to put it out in your garden and let the rain wash it down into the soil, but it's too cute and I still have it! She kept telling me that year if I wasn't good I would get [deleted] for Christmas, and she was right! LOL!

Well, I guess the worst gift I got was from my DH before we got married. I was expecting a ring so when I saw this little box wrapped so pretty I just knew it had to be a ring. When I opened it there was nothing inside? What is this suppose to mean. He said that nothing could match the love he felt for me. Very sweet sentiment but Very big dissapointment. Then there was a big box. Didn't have a clue what was in that. After going through several smaller boxes inside the large one I finally came upon another tiny box. I just knew that this was the ring. WRONG! Another empty box and he just said the love I have for you wouldn't fit in the smaller box so I had to put in it a bigger box.
I was so dissapointed that Christmas that to this day I remind him to Never give me his love in a box. That was fifteen years ago and He hasn't forgotten. I still have that empty box though. Go figure! His heart was in the right place but his wallet wasn't. Heheh.

Would best Christmas memory, instead of gift be okay?

It was late Christmas night, and we were on the freeway some 50 miles from home. It was the '60's, and Viet Nam was happening. You didn't pass a soldier in uniform on the hiway.

We found he was going to the same place we were, so we assured him a ride all the way.

Then he told his story. He had been listed as MIA, and had recently been located and was back with his group when he learned he'd be going home. Since it was so close to Christmas, he wanted to surprise his family, so they hadn't been notified about his having been found.

As I said, it was late Christmas night, and he so wanted to see his mom before the date changed. The family home was in a cul-de-sac, so we dropped him off at the still lighted home, and went to turn around. As we got back to the house, a young woman, presumably his sister, had just opened the door. I never ever heard such happy and surprised screeches before! It was beautiful! The memory still brings tears to my eyes.
It was 11:55 pm.
Merry Christmas!

ya know what! After being so excited about going to Mexico and meeting parts of our family I had never met, and talking about the diamond ring, really sounded materialistic. Ofcourse I was happy about the Make-over and the jewelry, but to be w/our family and the look on my husbands face was what meant the most. And as a child, Santa was always so good to us, My best gift was a 4-wheeler, and I do not remember getting a worst gift. Not even as an adult. I guess I have just been lucky. And my most favorite thing of all is cooking for my family and my husbands family. For the last 13 years I have cooked for my family since my mom passed away. I have learned that, seeing them eat like pig's make my day, and calling me before Christmas to make sure I'm making their favorite things! Mery Christmas to everyone!
Traci S

Tigerlily, what a beautiful story, you made me cry!

I don't have any best or worst... Christmas was never really about the presents... I have more memories of being together than I do of what I got... I am the youngest of 6. The brother closest in age to me is 10 years older than me, so just about everyone was gone from home, but, on Christmas they always came home and spent the night, even after they were married and had their own kids.... I never fully understood, until my dad told me after I was grown and had kids of my own, that the reason my siblings came home and spent Christmas night uncomfortable and for the most part sleepless, was that they wanted me to experience the same kinds of Christmases they had. The 5 of them are all fairly close in age, and wanted my Christmas memories to be of all of us together.
They did good, because I remember the time spent more than anything else.

My worst, it was worse for my husband than it was for me.
He had bought me this ring that the kids had picked out--he let the Jewelery store wrap it for him. Christmas morning, I'm handed this beautifully wrapped box, open it open the ring box inside and find that it's empty. The look on my husband's face was priceless!
Needless to say, it got straightened out and I got the ring a few days later.

Nothing stands out when it comes to gifts, but what I really liked about Christmas was that we didn't have to go to school for over a week.

That must have been a great look on his face Melissa. I miss how it used to be with all the family around and everyone staying the night. Those are good memorys for me too. My family still gets together on Christmas Eve but more often than not a few are missing. We still have nice Christmas's but I miss the excitement.

my worst christmas ever was when i was six and all i asked for was a bicycle, and i didn't get it i looked out side and every where. that was the year i knew there wasn't a santa. i have never received a bad christmas present unless you count all those years my sister got me a present from the dollar tree LOL my best christams present would have to be my daughter and son they were both born at thje end of the year nov and oct so i didn't really want anything but them those years which was 1997 and 2000 oh no i can remember a really good one now but not as good as my kids the year my husband asked me to marry him he gave me my ring on christmas day, so with out that there would be no kids so that is the best present!!!

Best would be the diamond ring my honey gave me last year.

Worst would have to be a hamburger press, from my grandmother.

I was 10

This is a great thread. :-)

My great gift getting experience was as a child in the late 60's.

My two siblings and I are all female - three girls, no boys, no brothers. I guess it has more to do with the times than with my Mom, but we were only allowed 'girl toys'. Mom was particularly entranced with the idea of dolls. Every Christmas the big question was which of the latest dolls each of us wanted.

I wasn't interested in dolls. I wanted trucks, tools, books & puzzles. Books were OK, but trucks and tools were out of the question. Apparently it was a huge problem for my Mom that I didn't express which doll I wanted. I didn't understand any of this, I just wasn't interested in dolls. Consequently, I ended up with whichever doll my older sister preferred, every year. Which was fine.

Then, one year there was a new doll, a wonderful doll, a doll that I wanted. Actually, it was a regular ol' doll, but it came with a car. The car was battery powered, and in a very primitive way, programmable. Under the hood were pegs connected to wires. How you placed the pegs determined if the car went straight, turned right or turned left. I had to have it.

To insure that Santa would bring me that doll, I tried to convince my older sister that she wanted it too. No dice. She knew which doll she wanted and it didn't drive a car. I was distraught, knowing that Santa always brought us both exactly the same doll.

So, when that doll (or rather, that car) was under the tree on Christmas morning, it was like a miracle. And it was everything I thought it would be. Totally cool, even my male peers were impressed.

My Mom never did figure out why I was so excited with that doll. It was just an ordinary doll, after all and I never really played with the doll. It wasn't until after my own daughter came along and we were contemplating her Christmas gifts that I finally figured out the doll thing, and my Mom finally got a clue about the toy car thing. Communication is an amazing thing ...

The worst gift - there isn't a particular one, but this has stuck with me since childhood. To a child under the age of 10, clothes - particularly dress clothes - do not qualify as a gift for the child. Clothes are a gift for the child's mother. I never give a child clothes, because I remember how disappointed I always was to receive clothes as a gift when I was a child.

Cheri'

I'd like to share a memory, rather than a gift, OK?
My FAVORITE Christmas memory, involved our teenage sons (1988).
As usual, we'd set up our Christmas tree shortly after Thanksgiving, and had also hung stockings on the mantle, etc. About 10-14 days before Christmas (I forget) we got THAT call .. the one we all dread (well, close ! ;)
My FIL had suffered a heart attack and was scheduled for bypass surgery before too long. We lived in Texas, they in Florida. Well, we promptly all sat down and the family decided to drive over to FL, using the $$ we'd set aside for gifts that year.
So, we spent at least a week before Christmas with my in-laws (dad was awaiting scheduling)... very blessed we could do that. These grandparents gave our two sons some $$ to spend for their gifts, since no shopping had been done for them, understandably.
We returned to TX on the 23rd of December that year, spending our last .39 for a cup of coffee at a gas station many miles from home. We actually felt great because we'd been able to spend that time with Grandma & Grandpa.
When DH & I rose on Christmas morning, and we were having our first cups of coffee, I glanced at the fireplace, since something looked pretty unusual. ALL FOUR stockings were stuffed to overflowing !! Candies, beef jerky, breath mints, key rings, etc. etc.
Considering the fact that *I* am the normal stuffer, I looked at DH with a smile, and he protested, in utter incredulity ! It took about an hour of this head-scratching before the boys' stirred and joined us. All we could do was explain with complete awe that WE had nothing to do with these goodies... that they were empty when WE had gone to bed.
EVENTUALLY, they looked at each other and confessed. After we'd drifted off to sleep, they had kicked out the window screen, crawled through the BR window, ran a few blocks to the 24/7 gas station (even Christmas Eve!) and spent the remaining $$ given to them by the grandparents, so that we could have something the next morning.
I'd never felt so blessed.
Gotta go now, hunting Kleenex ;)
Blessings, Pambi 8^)

Pambi, what a wonderful story! Oh, gosh, these all are. :)

Cheri, I can relate to both of your stories. I didn't like dolls either, though my parents did humour me and get me what I wanted. There were only a couple things that I'd ask for and I was smart enough to know what wouldn't fly with the parents, so I didn't ask for anything expensive or messy.

As for the clothes, I forgot about that, but yeah, clothes are not a present to a kid, at least to a middle-class American kid. My niece is old enough now that she can understand the concept of presents, so I will not be sending her clothes for Christmas or birthday for many years.

Kelli, how lucky you were that your parents humored you! =)
I manipulated the system as much as I could as I got older, getting bug books and puzzles on the grounds that they were educational, getting a rock tumbler on the grounds I could make jewelry with it ... I never could make a case for a remote control race car, tho. LOL

I ended up buying for my DD all the things that I wasn't allowed as a child. All she wanted was the latest doll ... LOL! (She always got it, too, thanx to her grandmother) At least I finally got to play with an erector set ;-)

Now I've got a grandson ... heh heh

Cheri'

Cheri' you better be praying that your grandson likes tools, trucks, books, and puzzles and not boy dolls. LOL

Cheri, I wanted a rock tumbler but I wasn't allowed to get one. Too much noise and mess, I guess. I was the first child so maybe my parents didn't know what to expect. I was not physical enough to be considered a tomboy, I just had broader interests than most girls. I'm still like that. I'm going to like what I want to like, regardless of what "society" expects of me.

Kelli,

You're never to old for a rock tumbler. I'm in my 30's and was given my first one last Christmas.

Keli
ahhh, I got the rock tumbler, but was hardly ever allowed to use it. Mom has a paranoia about electricity ... LOL, so I could only use it when Dad was home.

I'm sure that thing is still around somewhere ...

I wasn't a tom-boy either, tho that's how I got labeled. No good at sports, and I liked to sit quiet and read . . . Like you, I just had (and still have) interests unrelated to gender. I like what I like ...

Ponditis - that would be just my luck ... lol. But at 8 months he is all boy, so far. I think my chances are good of finally having a 'playmate' =)

But, if he wants dolls, so be it, he shall have them. =)

Cheri'

This is a really strange best present - - but it has lead to many, many laughs over the years.

When my ex-husband and I bought our first house together, we closed on the house in Sept. Ex-hubby was typically really good about presents and trying to please me, and so he asked "What do you want for Christmas" shortly after we moved in. To which I replied "ALL I want are gas logs for the fireplace - - I don't care if I get anything else, all I want are gaslogs".

Numerous times before Christmas, he asked what I wanted for Christmas and my response was always the same. By the time Christmas rolled around, everyone knew that I wanted gaslogs - including co-workers (ex-hubby and I worked at the same company), family and friends.

On Christmas Eve, ex-hubby woke me up and told me that I needed to go pick out my gas logs and arrange to have them delivered. Needless to say, I was furious. I tried to explain to him that the "gift" part would have been HIM buying the logs and arranging to have them delivered to which he replied that he didn't have time. Too make matters worse, he had called in sick at work one day so that he could go string up his mom's Christmas lights. He had "time" to do that but not my logs.

Anyway, I am not a person to carry a grudge and I got over being mad fairly quickly. However, my poor ex-hubby was tormented for MONTHS with folks asking how we liked our new gas logs. I cannot begin to tell you how many times people would ask how I liked my logs, and I would have to say that I didn't get logs. They would say "why not?" and poor ex-hubby would hang his head.

Needless to say, Gas logs appeared early in December the next year - - bought and installed by ex-hubby. Years later, I still chuckle when I think about those gas logs. Nat

This message was edited Dec 18, 2003 12:43 PM

My worst gift was only the worst at the time, I wanted a carpet cleaner,"BAD". Oh how clean my carpets would be. LOL. Well that year I got that set it and forget it rotisery(bad bad spelling). My SIL got the carpet cleaner that I wanted and I had asked for it first.(I know selfish, sorry) I didnt even want that cooking thingy. Weell DH sent me to the store a month later and I got an even better cleaner.
Now for the last two years Im still waiting on that ice machine for the frig. I ask for it every year.
Best gift was this year, already, I dropped my watch that Ive had for 11 years, I loved this watch, you could see all the inner workings and they were painted different colors. DH and kids went to the mall while I was at work, one of them rememvbered my dissappointment of me breaking my watch, I came home from work and could see the kids running around like mad,came inside and they were talking about the really cool new ornament they bought and dragged me to the tree.LOL they had to point it outf Low and behold was a brand new silver banded Fossil watch with a beautiful blue face.(I love blue), when I turned around I had four expectant faces staring me down(3 kids 1DH) The one thing I really wanted for myself and this year they all remembered, and I love it.

Oooh, watches! I have a pretty Bulova watch that belonged to my grandmother. At some point, I'd wound it too tightly and it no longer worked; either that, or it needed a good cleaning.

Howie surprised me a few Christmases ago by taking it to a jeweler's and having it cleaned and repaired. He put it back in my jewelry box and I was none the wiser until Christmas, when he told me to go look in the jewelry box. He'd put a bow on top of the watch, and it was only then that I noticed how clean and shiny it looked, too! That was a real surprise, and a special one since he knew how much I love that watch.

My Aunt famously buys the 'worst' presents, I think what makes them that is there is no thought to anything but price. A gift can be pennies or pounds but thoughtful gift giving is priceless. Ages ago I mentioned the jumpers (sweaters) she gave us but for those who haven't heard it here it is.

I was complaining to my then boss when I was 17 that we'd get some awful clothing from my aunt. She wouldn't believe it and requested I bought it in after Christmas to prove me wrong. That year it was a black sweatshirt with applique white 'cute' dogs with lines of red and blue applique triangles all over it. (Mom got a burgandy one with Reindeer and Trees). I did wear it the next working day and was immediately told to take it off before I scared the cows into not giving any milk LOL. We still laugh about those jumpers but I won't even go into the undergarments my aunt has taken to giving these past few years. (I wouldn't mind but she expects expensive presents from us!)

My best and biggest surprise present was when I was 10. Mom had gone broke buying me a pony a few months earlier but we couldn't afford to keep her, so I helped at the stables as often as possible and the stable manager was so kind as to forget late payments, extra hay etc. Nugget came with only a bridle and we had to share a ratty old saddle and head collar from another kind family in pretty much the same situation, most often I rode bareback. I'd saved every bit of pocket money (from other family members living away), any small jobs I did or change from dinner money I could to try and get enough together for riding clothes, as I was 10, I kept growing out of them.

That Christmas there was a big box with my name on it and inside was a beautiful saddle, not new but in good condition, from my moms'partner. My Aunt and then pending uncle had actually bought some nice jodphurs for me too. I was sooo ovewhelmed.

My saved up money went on a show jacket and a pair of good leather and string gloves (took me ages to save), secondhand but like the rest, good condition. I used to show in hand, show jump and gymkhana and now I could do it without having to beg and borrow clothes and tack all the time.

That's cool, Baa. I can just see you, doing whatever you could to keep and enjoy your pony. What a wonderful surprise for you!

Baa that would have been a dream come true for me to be given a pony when I was small. Oh how I wanted a pony but it was not to be till I moved from home and I have had horses ever since. I don't show but trail ride and love it.

GW that was sweet of Howie to have your watch fixed. My Godmother inherited several million from her Uncle and took me shopping for a watch band in Cody Wyoming. I picked out a pretty silver one with flowers on it and came home and found a watch for that band at Walmart for $5.99. I get a lot of complements on that watch and I cherish that band.