12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

Meaningful/Memorable Gifts

I'm not sure that I've ever gotten any meaningful gifts. Is that sad? I usually get things that I need like new clothes or new shoes.

I have gotten some memorable gifts though! These are gifts that I have always remembered for one reason or another.

When I was about ten or eleven years old, two of my aunts (my mom's two sisters) gave me a red plaid flannel pajama set with lace around the neck, sleeves, and the pants. My mom made me wear them because it's not nice to not use a gift. Oh it was so horrible! They were so itchy and hot!

And this may have been the same Christmas, my grandma (on my mom's side) gave me beads and that stretchy lanyard type stuff. At daycare, we had been making beadie buddies lately. And I wanted the same stuff for Christmas so I could make them at home. My grandma was in her 80's and she didn't have a lot of money. She got me the beads that you iron to melt into shapes. Yeahhh, years later those beads and the lanyard stuff was still in the same box. I was upset at the time because I still couldn't make what I wanted, but my mom told me that grandma didn't have a lot of money and she wanted to get all of her grandkids something and she had done the best she could with what she got. This is when I learned that it is the thought that really counts. As much as I didn't like the gift, I have never forgotten it. I still think about it often, because it was the last gift she was ever able to buy for me.

About four or five years ago, I asked for Oakley sunglasses for Christmas. My uncle (my dad's brother) has never been married and usually gives me cool gifts that are probably intended more for a boy. But I was a tomboy growing up, so it was okay. I was so excited about getting a nice pair of sunglasses, but I really didn't know if I was getting any. I had gone to the store and picked out the ones I wanted, wrote down the exact information, and gave it to my mom. Christmas Day came around and I was so excited when I unwrapped a sunglass case! But when I opened it up, there was a pair of aviators from 1970. No joke! I was kind of mad, because I couldn't believe he had bought those when I clearly had picked out what I wanted. I put them on anyway, and I looked so hilarious! In the end, I got a gift card to go get the ones I really wanted. But it sure was funny getting the old ones!