Saturday, December 7, 2019

To Give; To Get


Christmas is approaching. I have sent off all the gifts that need to be sent. As a matter of fact, my sister who is in a nursing home because of a stroke has already opened hers.

I love Christmas. I suppose it may be that my family did not have much money. We could not afford birthday gifts for instance. We did get to choose our birthday dinners.

At Christmas, my parents went all out. Santa always left us nice toys.

A big production was made of opening gifts. No grab and rip. Each person was handed a gift in turn. That gift was opened. After we all oohed and aahed over it the next person was handed a gift. It would be a long time before we were able to get to breakfast and we loved it.

Giving gifts has always been my favorite part of Christmas. Choosing just the right gift for each person and watching delighted faces as they open them gives me such joy.

Of course, I would feel a little silly if I did not receive a gift too. In my life, I have received a lot of wonderful gifts.

A good one was my first watch. It was a sign of being more mature and I was glad to be recognized that way. The problem was that it felt hot on my arm. I told my mother and she explained that I would eventually get used to having it on my arm.

After complaining several times I finally had proof that the watch was hot. It had burned me and there was a big blister where the watch had been. My father took it back to where it had been purchased. They examined it and found that a tiny drop of oil that should have been there to lubricate the moving parts was missing. I got a new watch and no further problems.

Probably my favorite gift was from a man I was seeing a few years after my husband and I divorced.  He bought several small gifts in size. He wrapped them each separately and placed them in a quilted tote bag which he also wrapped. The gifts were all nice but what I really loved was opening all those small packages. I really am like a child I guess.

The favorite gift I ever gave was to my grandmother. I was in the second grade. We had been working with modeling clay. I made the bust of a woman. It reminded me of Grandma when it was done. I gave it to her for Christmas with the provision that I get it back when she died. (Children are so tactful.)I checked on my "Grandma" every time we visited her. When she died an uncle and his family quickly cleared everything from the house. No trace of "Grandma" was ever found.

Out of all the wonderful gifts you gave or got what were your favorites?


23 comments:

  1. Great stories, especially the Grandma one. She must have been tickled when you made that stipulation.

    The favorite presents I've given are the quilted Christmas tree skirts I made for my mother and my siblings over the years.

    The best present I ever received was a pair of barrettes my daughter bought for me when she was a young girl.

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  2. Our Christmas's were much like yours in terms of opening. I don't recall a favorite present. I do remember realizing neither parent had a gift to open. The next Christmas I shook down my brothers for their allowances and bought our father a tie and our mother a nightgown.

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    1. How observant of you. I am searching my mind and I do not remember whether my parents received gifts from Santa or not. I do remember that Santa always left my mother and me a large box of chocolate covered cherries and my siblings all got a giant Hershey bar.

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  3. I wonder where "Grandma" made it? Sad in a way that it wasn't kept/preserved for you to have. When I was growing up, we always opened our gifts one at a time. My mom did it as we didn't get a lot of gifts and she wanted to prolong that time. I think the best gift would be the gift of forgiveness I was given 1 Christmas by hubby. It was a particularly stressful year for so many different things and the one thing our son wanted for Christmas was to go back to where we had moved from a few months before to visit friends for Christmas break. Hubby was against it. I was favoring it. I bought the airline ticket as they were going fast and was planning to tell hubby about it and "plead" my case. His email address was on the ticket site and he got notice of the ticket I had bought several weeks before he brought it up to me. During that time he treated me as nothing was wrong and with utter respect. When I asked for his forgiveness for not discussing it with him first, he readily gave it and promptly allowed son to go on that trip (he was a high school senior at the time). It was truly a lesson in humility for me.

    betty

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    1. The love your husband showed is what makes the best kind of present.

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    2. Your provocative title reminded me of part of Hamlet's soliloquoy -- To die, to sleep -- to sleep, perchance to dream -- and I mentally modified your title into To give; to get -- to get, perhaps to gorge.

      This is supposed to be the season of giving, not the season of getting. I apologize for what sounds like the beginning of a rant. I will stifle myself, but the seething goes on.

      It is always painfully obvious when I read blogs before I have had my morning coffee.

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    3. rwp; you are right. As I noted I get the most pleasure in giving. That is what love is about. But it is nice to be loved in return.

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  4. I think my favourite present was when I was about 4 and my parents bought me a rocking horse. These days we do not buy or give presents anymore. If there is anything we need for the house we buy a combined gift for ourselves. I have no family left at all, and Nigel's only nephew is in Australia so we put money in his bank account. Not very exciting I am afraid! Our best part of Christmas this year will be the goose we have on order 😊 Hope you have a good Christmas. Diane

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    1. I know my Christmas will be good. May you enjoy your goose.

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  5. We got only three or four small gifts at Christmas but I appreciated everything. I don’t remember anything I received; I only remember the beautiful faces that sat around our table, always laughing and talking and enjoying each other’s company.

    The best gifts I get now are for places to go and things to do. I much rather experiences than stuff. I got more than enough stuff.

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  6. This is marvelous. I was there with you.

    The best gift I gave was a quilt made of my late fIL's shirts. It meant a lot to Mom and to me. The best gift I rec'd was serving pieces from my late grandma. I used it to cut my wedding cake.

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    1. Those are especially meaningful gifts. Thank you for sharing.

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  7. I remember my grandmother spending the night Christmas Eve. She had to sleep with me. lol

    My sister and I would be up by 4 AM. We could see what Santa brought us, but had to wait until later
    for the ritual of opening presents one by one. (There was hell to be paid if my sister received one more gift and I received.)
    My most memorable gift was a doll. I think I was 4. My sister was 7 and she also received a doll. I remember my doll because it had 'no hair'. :( :( While my sister's doll had 'real' hair. lol

    I have no grandchildren to share the fun with. I don't always look forward to Christmas.

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    1. I am sorry that you don't look forward to Christmas. If you wish to become a part of the season you could read to children or conduct a craft class at a local children's center. If not, I wish you Merry Christmas.

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  8. The gifts I remember best are books i received and I would read a chapter or two a night afterwards. My favorite was Black Beauty. Like you I enjoy looking for just the right gifts for people and they are not ones necessarily things bought at department stores. You have wonderful Christmas memories, Emma.

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    1. I love Christmas. It is a holiday that reminds us to tell people how much we love them. What could be better?

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  9. dear Emma i am sorry for being late to read this absolutely beautiful heartwarming post

    winter vacations have started here till first week of January and i got bit busy with my family

    your story is lovely about gifts you gave and got in past my dear friend :)
    no matter how old we are i think it is always exciting to receive gifts :)
    just like you my first gift was watch ,my father was watchmaker and he he kind of created a watch for me with various old parts extract from watches he used to repair ,i can never forget that gift i had it for years until i lost it in a wedding ceremony

    wishing you more health and peace in your days ahead my friend!
    hugs!

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    1. Your father gave you a marvelous gift that he made especially for you. It doesn't get better than that.That is a special memory.

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  10. Handmade gifts are always the best. Jilda helped Jordan with gifts for his mom, his nana, and pop. He put a lot of love in those gifts.

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    1. I always loved the pictures my children and grandchildren made for me.

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  11. The best gift I gave me was a quilt made from my later FIL shirt. Means a lot to mom and me. I think the best gift is a gift for a deceased grandma. I used it to cut my wedding cake!custom photo collage blanket

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