DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Best Xmas gift you ever bought or received

So with the holidays coming up, this year is a special one for me personally, as my son is at the age now that he's REALLY getting into the idea of it. I think Im more excited about this year than he is, just because I can see him getting excited.

So far, we pretty much have our shopping done, however my son is OBSESSED with the Cars Movies. They make little diecast cars from the characters you can buy and they are like hot wheels only a little bigger and more expensive. He has a ton of them already. He REALLY wants the character Smokey, and it has been hard to find (we have cound it onine a couple places, but they are WAY overpriced).

well on lunch I figured I would stop in to Wal-Mart grab a subway and go down the toy aisle. Sure enough, they just brought a stack of new toys out and there was ol' Smokey! Hes going to be ecstatic. I mena I will ask him "do you want a bicycle, or a trampoline?". he always replies, "no dadda, I want Smokey."

So it got me thinking, what are some of the best gifts you ever got for xmas, and what are some of the best gifts you ever gave for xmas.

The best gift I ever received for Xmas, was a "family present". We were well, not too well off in my early years, and each xmas our "santa" bought us a family present. I remember "santa" getting us Sega Genesis. Man, I was smiling for WEEKS! I never thought we would get a gaming system and there it was. My brothers and I must have put 10,000 hours on that thing. I still remember the cheat code to unlock all the levels on Sonic. Up, Down, Left, Right, Hold A hit start

Best gift I ever gave (other than Smokey). My grandmother used to make Ox Tail soup. She loved it. My father loved it too, but no one knew the recipe. I found some distant cousins that I knew grandma was close with, and messaged them all on FB. Long story short, I made the biggest batch of Ox Tail soup for my dad you could possibly imaging, and had the recipe framed with a picture of Grandma and my dad (she passed about 10 years prior to this). Not many times I seen the old man at a loss for words, and ill be damned if he didn't eat 5 bowls of soup for dinner lol.

What are some of your guys/gals best stories?

My dad bought me the PS2 when it first dropped for Christmas. I still have it because I remember the argument my parents thought I didn’t hear. My mom was ticked because at the time we were really struggling financially, but my dad wanted to out a smile on face, and took out a credit card just to buy the ps2 and games for me to play. I’m never tossing it, even though it doesn’t work anymore. He didn’t tell my mom and it was a big deal to them, but i was so happy when I got it.

Best giftI ever gave was buying my wife a plane ticket to go visit her family back home in Germany for Christmas. My wife was, and still is, really home sick and misses her family, but we was transitioning out of the military in 2014, and really needed all of our cash to make it through. I thought about what my dad did for me, so even though we weren’t struggling persay, I took a credit card out, and bought her the planet ticket for a weeks trip.

Needless to say, I’m still reaping the rewards of that gift :))))))

Oh man, those are great stories! I still have our Sega for the same reason. It still works though - crazy as that is!

My wife knows my stance on purses. I think that name brand purses are the most idiotic items on earth. Like 300.00 for something a grocery bag does? lol.

I'm not that sure what the best gift i've ever gotten was. My wife does a good job picking out gifts though. She bought me a pair of North Face Gloves on our first Valentine's Day together. Still have those things. They're warm but not bulky, and fit me perfectly.


The best gift i've ever given was my father an iPad. I purchased it on like Black Friday, and i was tempted to keep it. It was the first time i ever was making real money. A co-worker of mine told me, "You've gotta give it to your dad man. It's your dad, think about all the things he's done for you."

He was absolutely right. The least i could do for my Dad was get him an iPad.

Best gift I've received? Probably a Kosar Jersey. Framed. Not just any Kosar jersey though.

It was a jersey I bought for my son, when he was about 5. He outgrew it. We kept it. My daughter wore it later. (she's 12 years younger than my son). When she outgrew it (she wore it every gameday from probably age 4 to age 6 or 7), we kept it. Just because.

Years later wife bought a frame to put it in. Mounted the jersey, and had a nice letter in it, signed by her, my son, and my daughter. I won't say what the note said.

Yup, it still hangs in a prominent place. And dang........looking at it, I can see my son wearing it. I can see my daughter wearing it. The gift that keeps giving.

Might sound funny but my wife and I bought a $150 rice cooker twenty years ago for a present for both of us at the local asain store. We tried many cheap ones and they never worked very well. We eat rice 5 days a week and it is still going strong. Best christmas present we have received.

That's quite a gift

This if a gift we will be giving my daughter this year. Long story but we recently had to have 3 elm trees taken down due to emerald ash borer infestation.

the first 2 were planted when we built the home in 2000, but the third was a tree my daughter brought home in 4th grade in a dixie cup. My wife & I planted and I can't believe I never mowed over it and it survived northwest Ohio winters. However it grew to be the largest tree in our yard.

She is 27 now and was devastated when she found out. She tried saving some of the seeds but realized any tree she planted would likely be infected also and she would probably not live in her present home very long.

Wanting her to have a memento I saved a limb about 18" thick and a local artist is carving a "statue" shaped as a stack of books because she absolutely loves to read. He is going to put an engraved metal plate on it with the phrase "Each time you read a book, a tree smiles knowing there is life after death".

I am excited to see her reaction. I am pretty sure she has no idea we did this.

For our 20th anniversary, I had the same artist take both my wedding picture, along with elementary & senior pictures of my wife & I and make a collage using charcoal pencil. Our wedding picture in the center flanked by our younger pictures. My wife absolutely loved it.

A Red Ryder, carbine action, 200- shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock.

Did you shoot your eye out?

My 14yo (at the time) son bought me a framed and autographed montage of the Kardiak Kids. He spent a lot of his hard earned money on that and it brought tears to my eyes. It's got autographed pics of Sipe, Sam R, Greg Pruitt, Don Cocroft, Reggie Rucker, Dave Logan, Joe D, Doug Dieken and others.

Of course.
But my dead eye aim has since won me a major award... a leg lamp.

1 of the best i got was when i was 12.. Wasn't no damned political correctness then

I got a .20 ga. Ithica single shot lever action shotgun and a few boxes of shells and kept the shells on bookcase and gun under my bed instead of in corner (so other kids didn't see it and wanna play with it)
.22 rifle with scope 2 year later was nice too. Way lotta good stuff since then lol

On giving thats really tuff like jewelry for the girls and ex but to keep it in sync with the above
1 of the best was a 12 ga. Ithica Model 37 pump gun i gave my son when he was 13 or 14

bet the box was marked Fra-GEEL-lay, too, huh?

Damn, man.

Slam-dunk.
What a thoughtful gift. Throughout her life, she will treasure this one above most others because of how unique, personal and caring it is.

She's a lucky gal to have such a thoughtful dad. But I'm sure she know that already.

Nice story, bro.

I thought maybe it was a bowling alley at first. Not the entire bowling alley. Just the deed.

The two most memorable Christmas gifts I ever received were memorable for completely different reasons..

When I was about 12 I got a Huffy bike that I really wanted. Of course we had a foot of snow on the ground outside so I parked it in front of the TV and sat on it and watched TV until at least the roads cleared enough to take it outside... I rode that thing everywhere all the time until I turned 16...

Second gift was an Anheuser-Busch stein.. there wasn't anything particularly special about it. It was probably about $10... but this was after my dad lost his job, he was also fighting cancer.. We were so used to big Christmas days and it seemed like overnight all of that went away.. I was in my 20s by then so it wasn't about big gifts but that was the moment I realized how much trouble my parents were really in financially.. my dad didn't make it to next Christmas.. I still have that Stein, it sits on my dresser and every time I do something with the family like a concert or a game or even to the movies, the ticket stub goes in there. It's jam packed with stubs from all of my memories now..

Greatest gift I've ever given.. I have no idea, ask me next week.

That stein is a personal treasure.

'The best gift you ever gave?'
That would have to be answered by someone whose life has been touched by your kindness.

You will never know the answer to that question unless someone shares a post about how you touched their lives.

Not knowing is kinda cool in itself. It's the TRUE representation of what 'Secret Santa' means.

The greatest Christmas Present I ever received was Jesus.

Thank you God

Amen!

THAT IS AWESOME! I can only imagine the memories that brings you. I am proud and hurt everyday knowing that my son is growing up so fast.

THIS! These are the kinds of gifts I like hearing about. The stories you, Arch, and swish have shared are what in my opinion these holidays are about.

Amazing Story, DC. Weird how something you would walk past 100000x in your lifetime at a store and you wouldn't even give it notice, can turn into something so valuable and meaningful to you, simply because of who gave it to you.



The meaning of putting those tickets in there each time - letting your dad know the quality time you are spending with your family, is I am sure the best gift you have ever given, sir. Enjoy those moments, and make many more.

Exactly. Of all the things I've received over the years, and some have been fairly pricey, I'm sure if my parents could be polled today, they probably wouldn't even remember giving that to me. In fact, they would probably be embarrassed to admit they gave it to me as a Christmas present.. but it's the one Christmas present that I've received in my entire life that I remember the circumstances and the year in which it was received.. and I still have.

I still remember getting the original Nintendo way back in '87. Was so excited. My first dive into video games, and I'm still a gamer to this day.

I actually built a retro gaming system and play all the old games that I loved back in the day.