What was your best gift?

[Amy loves Bud]

I received a nice new pair of boots and a necklace (leather "chain" with a silver wishbone - love it!) from my husband, but my very favorite gift was a subscription to Cook's Illustrated. I never knew how awesome this magazine was!

 

What did you get that you are most excited about?

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Honestly? Dh and I don't exchange gifts, but, we did enjoy a beautiful and quiet day. That was what I most wanted and I got it so that was the best gift for me!!!

[JFSinIL]

Hubby made me a photo mug of me in front of HMS Surprise, taken on vacation this June in San Diego. He knows I was a British Navy sailor in a former life, I reread those O'Brian books so much.

[Tap]

Dh got me a set of the Kirkland Stainless Steel pans. It is one of those gifts that I mentioned and I am impressed that he remembered. As I was opening it, he was telling me about the different pans, so it was also sweet that he actually stopped and looked at what he was buying :0)

[Nicole M]

My boys walked through the snow to K-Mart together to buy me an iron. They've been watching me toil over their choir shirts with the travel iron my mom gave me to take to boarding school in 1984, and they knew I'd like a "real" iron. It was so sweet, I love that iron. Usually I am not too excited about things that plug in for gifts.

 

I also got an iPod, which thrills me. I listened to the first Stanford iTunes lecture on Ben Franklin last night. So happy.

[BritAnnia]

I'm hard put to choose one of the many I got. None were expensive but each was something I had wanted and I feel spoiled to have received so much. Close to top of the list was that dh chose a book for me... the first time ever! He checked my shelves to find an author I liked, and ended up buying me the most recent Elizabeth George book - Careless in Red (Inspector Lynley). He also wrote the to/from tags on each of my gifts so I received a gift from each member of the family including our pets. Cute! :001_smile:

 

The toppest top of the list has to be the letter dh wrote telling how much he loves and appreciates me. :001_wub: Definite warm-fuzzy moment when I read it. Dh also wrote each of our dc a letter.

Ulitmately it was the gift of effort and thought that dh put into making me feel appreciated and special.

Edited December 26, 2008 by BritAnnia

[Jenny in Florida]

My son made me a nice, big cozy fleece throw, because I've been complaining about being cold in the evenings.

 

My daughter (with help from Dad and one of his crafty friends) made me a set of "drama masks" with casts of her own face. They're mounted on a velvet background. Just so incredibly cool!

 

My husband ordered a personalized plate for my new car and also made nice, big donations to two arts organizations we love.

 

I think those were my favorites, along with the fact that my husband seemed fairly pleased with the gifts we did for him.

[JudoMom]

I got a new laptop. It's red, and fast :auto:.

 

We really did enjoy a wonderful day yesterday, and Dance, Dance Revolution is a blast. I bought it for the boys, but I'm enjoying it as much as they are.

[Crissy]

I got three things, and I really love every one of them.

 

My husband bought me a new pair of pumps. They fit perfectly and they are so comfortable.

 

Jeffrey gave me a set of All Clad measuring cups. My plastic ones are pretty well worn, and these are so nice and heavy. They'll last forever.

 

Hunter made a beautiful drawing for me. It is a rabbit in a meadow and he did a wonderful job. I'm going to frame it and hang it near my desk.

[Debbie in IL]

Dd (13 1/2) gave me 13 individually wrapped Dove chocolates, that she had re-wrapped to include a promise inside. For example, yesterday's promised me that she would write me a song. So precious.

Ds (11) made me a cd of pictures of him and our dog. :) Both gifts were so thoughtful they made me cry.

Dh is taking me out to dinner tonight at our favorite seafood restaurant (yes, in IL! they fly the seafood in fresh each day).

We had a wonderful, quiet day yesterday enjoying being together.

[TraceyS/FL]

Everything was great - but the best was the hard drive from my parents. I'm out of disk space and have been limping along - and now i have room to breath and record more homesat!! YAHOOO!!!!

 

Back to moving files....

[RebeccaS]

I got money to get my wedding rings fixed. I had to cut them off months ago when my hand swelled up mysteriously. It was awful. Hurt like crazy to have them on, hurt like mad to cut them off. Chris was going to do it for me, but they wanted me to come in and make the decisions. I can't wait to go!

[dm379]

DH had a necklace special-made. It's great and really meaningful. That's all I got. Everybody else gave us money or gift cards which I already spent on curriculum, my next session's school books and bills.

[Vida Winter]

I got a bookcase! It is simply wonderful.

[Jolash]

ds9 gave me a new pair of pajamas with slippers to match and dh gave me a 3 stone diamond anniversary ring - total surprise there.. he NEVER does anything big at Christmas!

[cathmom]

Mamma Mia! and the book The Outliers (I had it on hold at the library - 12th out of 15 holds - could have been months!)

 

And the card from my 19yo who said he had missed me this semester, would miss me next semester in Europe, and was glad I had joined Facebook so we could talk!

 

And the sweet presents from my dds who bought them without my knowledge at a Christmas Fair I took them to!

[Carol in Cal.]

1. My DH and I have been kind of battling, pretty badly. We seem to have made up rather completely. Big improvement!

 

2. Someone at church made me a DVD of the Children's Christmas Service, which I wrote, taught, and directed this year. I was very concerned about one of the pieces--it's the centerpoint of the whole service, and the kids seemed a bit shakey to me during the first part of it. But the DVD showed that their words came through loud, clear, and enthusiastic!

 

3. We visited my cousin on Christmas Day, and I had a long talk with her brother in law, who is the head of the English department at a college. He also talked with my 7th grade DD about her writing and her homeschooling--I didn't know that he was going to do this. And he told me that he was very impressed with her level of reading, writing, and analysis, and that he would be glad to have someone in a Junior level college literature class come up with a thesis statement like she did about two plays that she watched recently. Later he asked her if she would send him an autographed copy of her first published book, and his wife offered to proofread it for her. DD is SO thrilled, and I feel sort of quietly calmer about the whole 'am I doing this right?' symphony that plays in the background of my head continually, although I ignore it as much as I can and don't let it effect what I do.

 

Great Christmas presents, albeit not in the traditional 'open this wrapped present' sense of the term.

[5knights3maidens]

[Amy from WT]

Money is tighter than it's ever been for us before, and we really didn't expect to be able to give each other gifts, other than getting a few for the kids. But we did come up with something fun: a few days before Christmas, we all went to the dollar store, and I gave each family member $4 (there's five of us.) Everyone had to use their money to buy one present for each person's stocking. Then Christmas morning everyone had four presents in their stocking. As we opened our stockings, we had to guess who the presents were from. I wasn't sure how it would go over, but everyone loved it! Not only that, it was the first time in years that I actually had a filled Christmas stocking (not that that was the point...)!!

 

And my in-laws surprised me with a very pretty necklace from their trip in Norway. The parents are pretty much just helping us out with some money to pay bills this year, so I didn't expect any presents to unwrap. It was a GREAT surprise!!

 

This is a very fun thread! I'm really enjoying reading it...keep 'em coming!

[laughing lioness]

An oil based hand creme from my dd from L'Ocitane. I love, love, love it! It's lightly scented and usually my allergies just go wild with scent but this I can handle! Awesome earrings, Living Memory, and 3 Cups of Tea. My dh also bought me some nice new underthings- so thoughtful:)

[Country Mouse]

My favorite gift that was just for me was a stash of Lush Butterball Bath Bombs. I looooovvveee those.

Also, dh went to the mall on Christmas Eve morning after working 24 hours straight to get them for me so I cherish them even more.

 

The family got a Wii and a dual membership to the nearby zoo and science center from the grandparents. Also favorites!

[Kari C in SC]

My oldest ds got to come home from the Army for Christmas. I got lots of nice material gifts, but talking to and looking at my awesome young man was the highlight of my Christmas!

[Jill- OK]

What did you get that you are most excited about?

 

1. A hug and kind words from my oldest dd (14yo) about the thought I put into their gifts.

 

2. Getting to see my oldest son (13yo) graciously accept some...odd...gifts from his grandparents, lol, and roll with the second punch of his personal gift from us not arriving on time. (We give each of the kids a book, a group gift intended for all the kids, and a personal gift). He's usually a great kid anyway, but it especially warmed my heart to see him be a good sport about it all.

 

3. Handmade bookmarks from my 8yo. :001_smile:

[Mabeline]

I got an electric mattress warmer. It is heavenly to get into a warm bed. Now we don't have frozen toe fights anymore. :thumbup1:

[stephanie]

Dh got me a mini-laptop which I love because dh and I are always fighting over the computer, a dyson hand-held vacuum, and the best, most wonderful gift of all......a BULLHORN! I've been wanting one for a couple of years now so that the kids could hear me way down the street and upstairs. I am loving it too!

[akmommy]

I got several nice things but my favorite I think was the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. If you remember the tree form The Charlie Brown Christmas Special, it was just basically a twig and when he hung one ornament on it the top of it drooped over. Well, Freddys had a little fake one for around $8 that I had looked at, but didn't buy. Dh went back and got one that he wrapped and put under the tree for me.

 

I don't know why but this goofy little tree makes me smile everytime I look at it.

[nmoira]

DH and I usually don't exchange gifts on Christmas, but will pick something up in the week or so after if we have an urge or find a good deal. This is my whim this year. :) I was hoping the Amazon Oxford sale would be as good as last year's, but alas it is not.

[3lilreds in NC]

Dh gave me a pink tool set that is pretty fun. :)

 

My favorite gift, though, has to be my 2 skeins of Harry Potter sock yarn from my inlaws. FIL chose Dumbledore and MIL chose Hedwig. I'm so excited! I have to go get real sock needles though, because I've been knitting socks with worsted yarn (I'm lazy) so I need some smaller ones for real sock yarn.

[cricket1178]

I got a coffee mug 2 years ago that I always used, but recently broke it. Dh looked all over the place and finally found one.

 

But my favorite gift was from my 12yo dd. She made us a cd of her singing songs she'd written to us. In one of the songs she begins talking to us about how much we mean to her. The cd had a cover picture with little pictures inside. Beautiful. I cried all the way through. I'll treasure this gift always.