Your favorite Gift?

I received a gift that made me cry such happy tears! DH's sister started my Genealogy Album and found information that just amazed me! I had no clue she was doing this, because DH and I are not married, but we do have a daughter together, so I just thought she was getting info for that side of the family. Such a precious, thoughtful gift this was for me!

I would love to hear what everyone else's favorite gifts were.

Happy Holidays!
Tammy

Tammy, my favorite gift by far (for Christmas anyway) was in 1999. One month before Xmas, my boyfriend came in the house after work and brought the mail with him. He brought a flyer from the store where I worked at the time and showed it to me. He said, 'Look, they have fine jewelry on sale for 75% off. We should go buy you an engagement ring." We were both barely earning above minimum wage. We went that night and were engaged on the same night.

It's funny, too, because he picked the ring, not me. An emerald-cut ruby, with diamonds down the sides. He said, "Red for love." I cried.

AWEEEEEEEEEEEEEE C, that is just wayyyyyyyyyyyy too sweet, I LOVE IT!

I think Sienna's favorite gift was her Digital Camera. She is only 5 and is already holding the camera out at arms length to take the pic! (Daddy used to be a professional photographer, so guess it is in her blood!)

I want a digital. What I have now could be called one but only marginally. It doesn't take great shots.

Shoot, hers is a web cam and everything! And she can even change from pink to purple to blue! Only bad thing is it doesn't have a memory card, so it fills up too fast. But, then again, it is easier to delete them off that way I guess! LOL

What wonderful gifts.
I had a couple this year. Seeing my kids, seeing our grandchild for the first time. Those were great.

This:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=USB-GREENHOUSE-051

It's silly and I love it.

You would have to post that...now I want one! LOL, how very cooool! My favorite gift was a gift card from a nice department store, since I need dress clothes for my internship as a paralegal.

Kids and grandkids, how much more special can we get!
And I would be called a geek anytime to get that! LOL
Good luck on the Internship, that is always interesting!

Okay...I have now added that to My Favorites. Thanks a lot.

HE HE HE

Did you see the baseball hat, that you program to scroll whatever you want it to say. It is on the same site.
The only thing you need (it states) is a head.
Too funny.

My favorite gift this year is a paper garland of colorful butterflies. So festive, and just brings spring and summer a little bit closer.

Well, my head is lost somewhere in garden wonderland, so I'd be in trouble! LOL
I bet the flutterbies are gorgeous! :)

This isn't about a gift I received, although I did get some nice things.

Rather, it's about how I scored BIG TIME points in the minds of my grand nieces: Since I don't see my nieces and nephews' kids that often, I figured I should take them something for our Xmas get together...and since Xmas is so much about children, I bought 5 of those inexpensive little plastic tiaras with the fake jewels in them and wrapped them up...one for each of the little girls...whose ages vary from 4 to 10...

You would have thought I'd given them each a million dollars! It was hilarious to watch them prancing around like they were royalty with those funny little tiaras! They even wanted to wear them to bed !

TOO FUNNY !

Oh, that is so cute! What a great idea.

My favorite gift was having all my family around. I recently lost my father and this Christmas was very different. You can get so caught up with so many things in life that keep you so busy and forget about the things that really do matter in life. Christmas was a dreaded day this year for me, but seeing how the family has all pulled together and become closer, that is the most precious gift of all.

Oh I bet they did LOVE the Tiara's, and was a special gift for you to see!
backspace-so sorry to hear about your father, but it is great to know that the family pulled together and made it through!
Actually, our BEST present was DH's Mom getting to come home from the hospital after being there almost 3 months and being told she wouldn't make it! I talk about her on other threads and feel awful about not thinking of that here!

Backspace, I'm also so sorry to hear of your loss. It is wonderful though how this has pulled your family together. Whenever there's a loss I always try to focus on what good can come out of it, sometimes it seems so hard to find. I'm very glad to hear you've found the good.

Ok, the question is "Your favorite gift?" There was no specification that it had to be a Christmas gift....or is that implied? Oh well, here goes........

My favorite gift is, hands down, the Daylily that a hybridizer allowed me to name after our little girl that we lost. The hybridizer had produced a Daylily by the name of "Heather's Baby" years ago. I found it listed on Tinker's Database or someplace, and I had to have it for the memory garden. It wasn't for sale anywhere. I even called Daylily farms and inquired. Every one was so helpful in my search, but no one could come up with this flower or a reason why it wasn't for sale....

So, I tracked down the hybridizer myself through the internet. I wrote her an e-mail and explained why I wanted this particular Daylily. She wrote back and said she would send me some fans of "Heather's Baby" in the spring. We talked back and forth a bit over the winter. She decided that "Heather's Baby" had never really performed as well as she would have liked for it to. It had been created for her DIL's first child, and was beautiful, but not reliable. That's why it was never for sale commercially.

She offered me another Daylily, that had never been named. She told me I could name it anything I liked and she took care of the registration. DH and I decided on the name, "Nicole's Smile". It is registered under that name, and you can see the registration here at Tinkers....
http://db.tinkersgardens.com/?script=3.1
I need to upload a pic of it to their site, but I'll attach one here for now.

This is by far one of the greatest gifts I've ever received, and it was from a complete stranger. "Nicole's Smile" is growing in our memory garden, along with other Daylilies that were sent to us in Nicole's memory...."Baby Love", "Hush Little Baby", "Lullaby Baby", "Siloam Little Girl", "Siloam Baby Talk", "Siloam Angelic Love" all sent by the same hybridizer who allowed us to name the flower. I've also had DG members send me other Daylilies for the memory garden...."Renee" (Nicole's middle name), "Hidden Rainbow" (because sometimes hope seems hidden, but it's there).

It is so special to me that a complete stranger would do this for someone. Maybe it wasn't that big of deal for her, I don't know. I just know how much it has helped to heal my heart to have a lasting, tangible memory of our little girl. Even my DH (who is a flower-stomper by nature) has a special place in his heart for this Daylily. It's amazing how far a simple act of love and kindness can go to help a person heal.


My second favorite gift was also not a Christmas gift....sorry! It was when my DH surprised me with a new car. Yeah, for real! We had been looking at a particular car and I wanted it so badly, it had all the bells and whistles. I didn't think we could/should get it. I was with a group of friends one day at church when he came to pick me up. We walked out to get into our car....and I couldn't find our car on the street. Then I realized we were standing next to the car I wanted...duh! He had arranged the whole thing with the dealership and sales people....if I answered the phone when they called they were supposed to ask me if I was still thinking of buying the car, then DH would sneakily call them back. It worked because I never saw it coming. I don't even remember if I ever talked to them on the phone. We did get some strange looks on the street that day when I was jumping up and down, hugging DH and screaming. LOL!

heathrjoy-a few tears about your story here! So sorry for your loss! I couldn't imagine what I would do if I ever had to endure such loss! I love to hear about any gift that was special, so it doesn't have to be just about Christmas.

Anyone feel free to add any gift that was important and special to them!

I, too, am planning a memorial garden, but it is for our dear neighbor/friend that was found and had laid there for at least 2 days. She had lost her husband a few years prior, then her youngest son 1 1/2 years prior to her passing. I think it is such a lovely gift to have been able to name a flower after your precious gift you had to let go to heaven, and I am sure the hybridizer is pleased to know they were able to assist in your healing process!

WOW a brand spankin new car, I bet that was amazing! :)

heathrjoy- What a beautiful story. Last fall I planted 300 plus tulip bulbs of red and white for a memorial garden for my dad. Red was his favorite color. I can't wait till spring comes to see how it all turned out. I think memorial gardens are very, very special.

I hope all of you will share pics of your Memorial gardens!

mistygardener- Absolutely I will share pictures, I can't wait!!!!

Wonderful! :)

Wonderful story, Heathrjoy...very nice ! Do post pics. when the DL's are in bloom.

Ya can't beat a new CAR !!!

Thanks Misty. I really encourage you to do the memory garden. There is something so healing about it. At first I was concerned it would be too sad for me to even deal with doing a memory garden, but there's something about the hard work and love you put into it that is so satisfying. Plus it's not a "one time" thing like putting up a picture on a wall...you get to tend the garden and you'll find lots of plants to add to it in the future. Sharing the plants you've chosen in memory of your loved one also becomes very special.

The memory garden isn't a sad thing at all. I find mine a very peaceful place where I actually let go of the sadness. There's something about a garden that MAKES you look to the future with hope....waiting for those blooms and how much bigger and better things will be next year. We all need that, whether we've suffered a loss or not. When hope and expectation starts to replace grief and sorrow you know you're headed for a good place. :)

You are so welcome, heathrjoy! I hope to have mine done in the Spring, but it seems what I am looking for is the wrong time of year to be getting. I will be glad when Spring is here and I can get mine started. Please share pics as soon as yours is ready!

Good stories. I like the memory garden ideas. Would love to see pictures in the spring.