Best Christmas Gift Ever

Ah Sentry, this doesn't compare to an Atari, but you might like the little story. When I was about 8 years old, of course my folks started asking what I was going to ask Santa for. I said I couldn't think of anything and there were lots of kids who didn't get anything so maybe he could give one of them my present. (Yep, I was that kid.) Christmas morning, I was surprised to see a manicure set complete with nail polish. I have always loved doing my nails, not sure why - grew up on a ranch. Anyways, I loved that set.
By the way, my kids are now grown, but my daughter would probably still have a list of wants a mile long. My son is more like me. One year took him to see Santa. He asked for a screwdriver. Santa said "What?" Son said "A screwdriver, you know like for fixing things." (Geesh Santa - don't even know what a screwdriver is?) Santa got a chuckle out of that one.

 

Had to dust off the cobwebs to find a memory of a specific gift that stood out...

I was 15 and my sister had just turned 13. We were finished with the wrapped gifts under the tree, but my mom said there was still a gift for each of us ON the tree. We each found small cards with our names on them.
Inside the card was a phone number. We both had the same number.
My mom said "Why don't you call it?"
We grabbed the kitchen phone and dialed the number.

It took us both a second to realize there were phones ringing IN OUR BEDROOMS!

Mom and Dad got us our own phone line! To be fair, my sister was on the phone A LOT more than I was, but we had a little bit of independance that Christmas.

The kicker was Mom had the lines installed while we were at school and they sat there for a week before Christmas. She later told me that she and Dad plugged the phones in while we were sleeping Christmas Eve.
My sister and I woke up with the phones on our nightstands and didn't even notice them when we woke up, lol.

 

My most memorable Christmas was when I was 12. Mom and Dad got me a set of Craftsman tools. Complete with roll around cabinet and top box. I still use a good amount of them to this day.

 

My most memorable was one we gave our grandmother.

It drove her crazy not being able to figure what the present was before hand. She asked me for hints, I told her she had half of one. She said, then I will have a whole one? I said no, you will have one and a half.

She would pick up the box and shake it. I warned her that it was fragile so she quit.

When she opened it Christmas Eve it was a four slice toaster that she had wanted. We got a good laugh at the look on her face. She said that she would have never guessed.

 

My husband made me a flag holder for my father's flag that was on his coffin.
That to me is better than anything that could be bought
I plan on handing it down with my father's purple heart medal and his discharge papers from the Army

 

The first time I ever saw Santa Claus.

We were less than dirt poor living in a clapboard house in an off grid time warp. We rarely received prezzies which went along the line of a pair of socks for the boys and a pair if undies for the girls and trust me, those were cherished.

One year, it was incredibly cold; -50F. We were piled under blankets on one mattress along with the dogs and Dad's last two bottles of beer; only way to keep it from freezing.

Any hooo....we heard bells outside. There was a loud banging on the door and Santa in a moose hide coat came barreling inside. He gave each and every one of us an orange, also something we had never seen before. Dad gave Santa a beer and we watched him drive off in his sleigh pulled by two genuine reindeer. In later years we discovered they were horses with deer antlers strapped to their heads

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER and those oranges were the best presents, in my mind, to this day.

 

I got a blue scooter when I was little. Rode that thing everywhere.
Orange in my stocking, too, and a candy bar.