Friday, December 04, 2009

21 Days and Counting

When I look back at Christmases past, there are a few gifts that stand out as being the best gifts ever.
#1. Black riding sled from my Grandpa. I'm not sure what happened to it, I think we may have actually ridden it into dust. We lived on a hill growing up, and used this every day of every winter.

#2. Sylvanian Family House. I had the bear and rabbit families.

#3. My first guitar. With the exception of the fight that later ensued between my brother, Dan, and I regarding said gift. I believe he referred to me as, "one of THOSE girls." I punched him, called him a few nasty names, and then felt bad as my mother cried over Christmas dinner because her kids, "can't spend one day together without fighting." Sorry mom. Not sorry, Dan!

#4. Pool Table. It was a family gift, from my dad, that arrived two weeks before Christmas. It actually sat, ASSEMBLED and WRAPPED, in the basement until Christmas morning. The sad thing is that we still weren't sure what it was until we opened it.

#5. Penguin sleeping bag. Another gift from my grandpa. When I look back at Christmases from my youth, it's one of the first gifts I think of. I've never seen another one quite like it. This one is similar - but not quite the same.

Now that I'm the mom, I'm always on the lookout for life changing gifts. I'm still trying to decide which items are the big hits, and which ones we really can pass on. Any ideas?

5 comments:

Greg Kopp said...

THE SLED STILL EXISTS! It's hanging in the garage at dads!

mom said...

Its a crap shoot as to what will be hit and what won't. One thing I remember for sure is that many times the most popular item was the box the intended gift came in. Then there's the times when one kid asks for something all year and another one that never mentioned it, runs to it on Christmas morning screaming..."Look what Santa left me" Enter name tags.

mom said...

Oooo, Remember the problems that arose with the sled on the Turlek's hill? Don came out and said that if Michelle couldn't have a ride on the sled, then we couldn't use their hill and you guys decided....OK, no hill instead of giving Michelle a ride on it?? I think that led to a Barth Pond trip.

Mrs. H said...

I TOTALLY had a Sylvanian family doll house when I was little! It's still at my mom's with all the cool little wooden furniture and the cute papered walls we put up with scraps from wallpaper in our house. I had the bunnies and the bears, too! We were so separated at birth.

Stacey said...

It actually looks like you are off the hook. It looks like grandma and grandpa had the best gifts. You have about 25 years until you have to worry it.