What was your best christmas present ever?

When I was 10 I got a YAMAHA 80 Motorcycle.    

We were the last house on the block before the farmers drive and got to ride up and down there all summer...and it took forever for summer to arrive.  

Obviously she didn't notice there was NO return policy.  

There's a standing offer that she is free to leave anytime she wants, but she has to take the kids and the dogs. That's the only reason she's staying.

Must be one of the little foo foo furball dogs for a man to give up a dog.....

My brother once stood outside my football teams (West Ham) training ground for three days getting a ball signed by all the players - he was only about 14 at the time (he's 8 years younger than me)

It's not the ball, it's not the players signatures - it's the thought and effort that went into getting it for me.  Best present I've ever had.

My Dad and I also had some great times playing snooker on a table they bought me once when I was a lad.

Happy, happy days.

So, would it be bad form for me to steal this excellent idea, but start now and just make up stuff for January-November?  Yea, I thought so.

The claudagh ring I had been wanting all through high school.  My parents always gave me gifts from both of them, but for some reason that year my dad gave me the ring signed just from him. 

The Barbie van my grandmother got me when I was about 8 or 9.  I hadn't asked for it so I was really surprised.  I was even more surprised because she was never the best gift buyer so this one was extra special!

Oh, that reminds me of one that tops that.  My grandfather wasn't the mushiest kind of guy.  I was never close with him (even though we lived close and saw him all the time) until I was much older.  One year, out of the blue, he handed me a black velvet box on Christmas.  Inside were three pairs of fake diamond earrings.  It was so strange to have him give me a gift that was just from him, not my grandmother and I loved it!

This wasn't a Christmas present, but a birthday present. My dad bought me two CDs (normally his gift was always the joint one mom got but this year he bought it and didn't tell my mom). One of the CDs was the Mill's Brothers Paperdoll album. One of the songs is "Daddy's Little Girl" He wrote me a letter to go with it and said if he could sing, he would sing me that song.

That was in August of 2001. In May of 2002 he died. The day before his death was his 60th birthday. I brought my CD player into the ICU where he was and I played that CD. When "Daddy's Little Girl" came on, he opened his eyes, smiled at me, grabbed my arm and tried to sing along (he was on a ventilator). That was the last bit of communication I had with him, as he was sedated after that until he died.

To this day I can't listen to the song without crying, but I feel like I'm getting a hug from him when I do, so I try to listen to it every once in a while.

I know!   I almost went over to your "worst" present thread and made a contribution, but that one would have made you cry too!   Ah, the holidays....and people wonder why I'm so weird this time of year! 

I got me a new QR frame THIS year...that's up there on the list 

Oh MAN!  That made ME want to cry!  This is definitely a two hankie thread! 

My daughter Katie.  She was born on 12/22/81 and we brought her home on Christmas Eve.

Mark