by Valerie NusbaumI’ve given and received a lot of Christmas gifts over the years. I remember most of them fondly, and some have funny stories attached. Choosing the best gift ever was posing a problem for me, so I asked some friends and family to share memories of their most special presents. I set out a few guidelines: no babies, puppies, engagement rings, or spouses. I wanted to hear the stories about those quirky, lovingly hand-made or thoughtfully purchased gifts—the ones that linger in our hearts even now. The following is what the people told me.Randy’s best gift ever came when he was a little boy. He loved playing with big metal tractors and trucks, so he was thrilled on Christmas morning to get a wooden barn in which to park all of his equipment. There was a big barn door on the end, large enough to “drive” his tractor into the bay; part of the roof actually came off so that he could see inside. The thing that made this gift so special was that Randy’s dad had spent countless hours in their garage designing and building the barn from scratch.When I asked my mother to tell me about the best Christmas present she ever received, she decided that it had to be her baby carriage. As a little girl, she really wanted a carriage for her dolls, but money was tight during the Depression years. Mom asked Santa for a carriage every year, and she was thrilled to get one when she was seven years old. To make it even more special, her beloved grandmother sewed a specially-sized quilt to fit the carriage. None of the other grandchildren received a quilt from Grandma that year, so Mom felt very special. We still have the carriage and the quilt.My in-laws spent a lot of time pondering my question, and they gave me a two-page answer. There was no mention of a present in their notes, save this, “The best gift is being able to celebrate the birth of Jesus.” My brother had a similar response. He said that the best gift is the giving and receiving of a little extra kindness each year.Some of the responses were about toys received from Santa or from frazzled parents. Randy Derflinger loved his Deluxe Playmobile, and he shared pictures of it. Gwen Masser dearly wanted a set of Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Robots. Santa never delivered, but Gwen’s mom finally gave Gwen the set when she was sixteen. Kathy Escamilla chose her Pebbles Flintstone doll as her best gift. Her parents got it for her at Macy’s in New York City. We were all reminded that our dolls ended up bald from so much “love.” Brenda Reeves told me that her best gifts ever were an Etch-a-Sketch and a transistor radio. Terry Pryor got a shiny purple mini-bike one Christmas. The bike was broken, because “Santa” had tried it out on Christmas Eve and was too heavy for it!Other friends shared stories of gifts received as teenagers. Connie House described a set of beautiful green antique bottles that she mysteriously received in the mail. No one knew where the gift had come from. It turned out that Connie’s dad had given her the bottles, and he explained that “sometimes the oldest child needs a little something special under the tree.”Linda Towns said, “When I was in the fifth and sixth grade, I used the school’s flute in band. When I went to high school, I was terrified that I would have to give up the flute because we were quite poor. The elementary school allowed me to take their flute to high school, but only for seventh grade. I was panicked. I hoped for a flute for Christmas, even though I knew we couldn’t afford one. I opened my small gifts and there was no flute. I was heartbroken, but I tried not to show it. My dad left the room and came back with a flute case with a red bow on top!Stephanie Nusbaum still uses the piano bench that her brother custom-built for her. Jeanell Willis remembered the fishing rod and reel that her stepfather gave her when she was fourteen. More importantly, Jeanell remembered how her stepfather taught her to fish and the hours spent on their boat. Gayle Maas still wears the Black Hills gold ring that her parents gave her the last year she was home.There were more memories about gifts received as adults. Tempie Powell recalled her first Christmas as a single mom. Money was tight, but her kids were small and didn’t mind gifts from the dollar store. Tempie told me that upon returning from church on Christmas Eve, the family found an assortment of wrapped packages on their front porch. Eileen Markum described the care package she received from her mom the first year she was away from her family. Eileen was stationed in Greece and had been feeling so alone until the package arrived.Terry Miller got a set of luggage from her future mother-in-law. Terry remembers tearing the luggage apart to find the plane ticket that she was sure was inside. Linda Moss recalls being a young teacher, and receiving special gifts from her students, including a coonskin hat and a handmade pillow and blanket. Loberta Staley received a special gift from her husband, Harold, but this is a family newspaper, and it’s best if I say no more.What was the best Christmas present I ever received? There were so many: the shiny, pink Easy Bake Oven that Kathy Wilson and I left plugged in and nearly burned down the house; the gold heart-shaped watch that my grandparents gave me the year I was five, because I had learned to tell time (even then I liked a challenge); my first Barbie doll (a gift from Aunt Faye), which was actually one of the first Barbies, because I was around the year they were invented; my drum set that I played for hours every day (the drums mysteriously disappeared, and my parents told me that Santa had taken them back); or maybe it was the Chatty Cathy doll that I wanted so badly. I woke on Christmas morning to see Chatty Cathy sitting beside my bed, and I was rendered speechless. All I could do was point.I was mulling over all these gifts the other night, when the phone rang. It was my brother calling. I had been very sick, and he called to check on me. We talked for a bit and he asked what I was doing. I laughed and told him that I was curled up on the couch under my favorite blankie. He had given me the blanket some thirty years ago for Christmas, and even though it’s getting threadbare from washing, I still use it every day. Nothing has ever kept me as warm. That long-ago Christmas, my brother gave me a whole “Box of Warmth,” as he called it—fuzzy slippers, fleece pajamas, a warm robe, a heater, and the blanket. It was his first year out of high school, and he was working his way through college. I knew he could ill afford to give me so much. He said that it was the least he could do after I had done so much for him, and he pointed out that I had given him an allowance each week all through high school. I’d bought the Members Only jacket that he wanted so badly, and the Capezio shoes. I’d even gotten him the Miami Vice outfit that he wanted to wear to a school dance, and I had helped him with his college tuition. I was happy to do those things. He was my little brother and I enjoyed spoiling him, plus it gave our parents a break from all the expenses. Maybe it was because I was sick and scared that night, but all these memories came flooding back, and I huddled under the best Christmas present ever and cried my eyes out.Here’s what I learned from this exercise. We cherish the gifts, but we cherish the memories more. The best gifts are given or made with love and are often the product of sacrifice. They mean so much to us, because the people who gave them mean so much.Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope you get exactly what you want.
