My Favorite Christmas Gift of All Time

I asked my husband what his favorite Christmas gift of all time was, either in recent years or as a child and he answered, “You mean that I gave?” I’m impressed that he only thought of giving and not receiving.    

And as the saying goes, it is better to give than receive. This is true in a lot of cases. I volunteer a lot, especially with organizations that help children improve their lives, and what I found is that when I help and give my time, I think I get just as much out of it as the recipients do. Studies have shown that people who volunteer and give to others are happier and more fulfilled.

So check out Patch’s story on giving opportunities and pick a couple of organizations to help. The simplest one is probably just dropping off food at the Saratoga Library. Additionally, my friend is a volunteer manager at a place called One Brick. There are a lot of fun ways to volunteer through this organization and they are looking for new helpers now.

However, it’s also nice to receive once in a while. The expert gift advisors say that money gifts are the most popular.

I’m actually an excellent and easy gift recipient. I get excited about cliché presents like new slippers or a scarf. You don’t have to use much imagination with me. When I think of my favorite gift received in recent years, it was a perfume and lotion set from Macy’s. I also love Starbucks gift cards.

The top two Christmas gifts I received as a girl growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, were a sky blue banana bike and the Fisher Price Family Playhouse Boat with those little plastic people who had no legs but just a round bottom parts that fit nicely into various holes around the boat, including in the little life boats.

Amazingly enough, these life boats separated from the yacht and could float on their own in the bath tub. Also, the lounge chairs were very nice. Mom and dad could lounge around while the child could take out the mini boat for a ride. Life on a toy boat doesn’t get any better than this!

The banana bike was also awesome because it let me get to my friends’ houses faster and it was extremely cool looking which is of utmost importance to a 10 year old girl, but nothing has ever come close to beating the boat. I played with it for hours at a time and to this day, it beats any present I have ever received.

Also, even though I celebrate Christmas, I hope that everyone who celebrates Hannukah, with its generous eight days of gift giving, has a wonderful holiday this week.

What was your favorite gift of all time?