Friday, December 5, 2008

A Little Sussy

I am a big fan of Christmas. Big, big fan. Not so much because I like getting gifts- although I do like getting gifts (more on this tomorrow.) Nope, I like Christmas because I love giving gifts. A thoughtful gift is a lovely way of saying to someone, "I know you, really know you. And I believe this is something that will delight you." 

Obviously I'm not talking about obligation gifts here. Not those extra wrapped boxes full of universal recipient gewgaws that my Grandmother kept in her hall closet in case a neighbor stopped by with a gift for her.

I'm talking about something small and lovely. Just a little sussy to remind someone you care about that they are loved. 

Patrick's 10-year-old Logan will be Patrick's 11-year-old Logan tomorrow. And we try our best not to let his birthday be over-shadowed by the run up to Christmas. On the other hand, money is really tight right now. So we got him one gift he really wanted and one little gift that I know he will love. The one he wanted was a nerf gun that shoot 3 darts per second. The gift I'm excited about is a bright red fleece throw for the living room couch that will be all his. He and I are forever trying to share a blanket when we watch t.v. together and he will be overjoyed by one of his very own, because, frankly, I am not the best sharer in the world.

(Please don't send me emails about how kids shouldn't play with guns. I agree with you completely. I'm on your team. You and I should commission a study on toy guns leading to a life of crime and go on Oprah with our findings. BUT- and it is a big one- as much as I love Logan, I am not his mom. He has two perfectly intelligent and  responsible parents who happen to have different opinions on this than I do.)

In honor of the impending holidays and Logan's birthday and whatever's going on in your world, I am giving away a little sussy today. And, for once, it has nothing to do with knitting. 

A $100 Tiffany & Co gift card. All for you. You can even re-gift it if you like- I won't tell a soul. Why am I giving this baby away instead of putting a down payment on a tiara for myself? Glad you asked. Because were friends. Because of everything you do for me. Because getting your emails and comments is keeping me afloat in these tough times. I only wish I had 500 of 'em to giveaway.

To enter this giveaway just leave a comment on this thread only and tell me about the best gift you've ever given or received.  And identify yourself in some way- real name, rav name, whatever. The winner will be selected via Random Number Generator on this Sunday night at 7 p.m. and announced right here shortly thereafter. Check back here to see if you won. Sound good? 

Good luck!

163 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Susan--this is very generous of you :)
Hope you all enjoy the b'day.
One of the most satisfying gifts I have given--researching recipes for obscure dishes my parents miss from their childhoods, getting them just right, and making them for them.

Heather said...

Wow!

My best gift had to be the banker's lamp my parents gave me for Christmas last year. I've been starting to write seriously, and also enrolled in a master's program, and they said it was to help me study and work. I was so touched by the tacit support for my work...and it's a wonderful lamp. I love it.

Heather

Maggie said...

I'm not usually one to get excited about shiny stuff--usually it's fuzzy stuff I care about! But this, this I could be interested in ;)

Well, there's been several good gifts. Probably the one I'm thankful for nearly every day are the good kitchen knives I received as a wedding gift from some dear family friends. I think of them every time I use the knives, and it makes me happy. Plus, the knives are great, and make cooking a real pleasure!

Manise said...

Holy cow! Way, way generous of you Susan! Thank you. Happy birthday to Patrick!
The best gift I've received recently was my Schacht Matchless double treadle for my birthday a year and a half ago. I had to wait 12 weeks for it, but well worth the wait. The most satisfying gift I've given is a plane ticket for my mother to go back to Greece to visit our friends where I grew up the year before she died.

Tamsie said...

The best gift I ever received was a green down jacket from my boyfriend, now my husband of 26 years. I was visiting my parents and it was freezing freezing cold. More than that, it was a comforting gift that let me know he wanted to keep me warm.
Tamsie (real and rav name both!)

jenne said...

Let's see, I think the best gift I have ever received is my grandfathers old (but still working) Nikon film camera. He passed away something about eight years ago and I miss him terribly. The camera had been missing for years and turned up a just the right moment. I was really into photography and I really wanted a film camera to play with. The icing on the cake? I got an entire darkroom set to go with it. That was an awesome christmas.

Fingers crossed, I've always kinda wanted to buy something from tiffany's.

Anonymous said...

Wow Susan - how nice. I would love to have this so that I can actually give a nice gift (she really covets the silver tape measure) to my knitting group mate whom I met through Ravelry - she has been so supportive, educational, tolerant, and fun...she has made a real impact on me.


--- To get to the best gift I ever got, my husband rented and moved the 365 non-working vespa I had in storage 40 miles aways without me lifting a finger. You have no idea what a relief that was!

Second best gift - grandma giving me a season subscription to the NYC Ballet from age 6 to 15.

-tresgatos on rav

ms. crafty said...

Yowza!

The best gift I received was a Cuisinart. I know...cheesy kitchen gadgets...but for 10 years I've been making carrot cakes and grating the carrots by hand. Not only does this take forever (it's literally an all day affair) but I would end up grating my knuckles and being bandaged up for days. Now it's all done in 5 minutes. More time for me and more cake for everyone else!

-Meredith (mercat on Ravelry)

Manise said...

Oh, I forgot.....Manise is my real name and my Rav name too.

Jennifer said...

Susan, as with everything you do, this shows creativity and generosity of spirit. Thank you.

I had decided to terminate my relationship with a knitting store I helped set up. My last day was quite bittersweet. When I came home at the end of my last day, my then boyfriend (now husband)had made me dinner, written me a wonderful note, and gave me a soldering iron. He knew it was the ending of one incredible chapter and the beginning of another and he wanted me to have all the tools I needed as I embarked on my next adventure. I had mentioned my desire for a soldering iron under my breath in a hardware store months before. His gift showed that he listens to me, remembers what is important to me, and supports me in my adventures. That's what makes this one of my most favorite gifts.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday to Logan.
You are a very generous person.
The best gift I every gave was a Seed Savers catalog and gift card to my grandparents years ago. My grandfather still orders from them. They knew that I really thought about what they love. Not just seeds but heirloom seeds they remember from long ago.

Unknown said...

I generally weave couch blankets for wedding gifts. The best one so far was last year, when I totally accidentally got the colors exactly right for their couch and living room - the bride's mother called me right after the wedding to tell me it was the best gift they received.

Susie said...

The best gift I ever received was from my son when he was about 10. He made me a little baby out of pipe cleaners and googly eyes. The baby wears a tiny little diaper cut from an old sock and pinned on with 2 tiny safety pins. The baby lies in a little bed lined with black velvet (not sure about the color choice!) and has a little black velvet blanket to cover him. It's the most adorable thing and I will keep it forever.

Lexi said...

The best present I ever recieved was my first horse Fancy, my Grandfather knew my love of horses and since we had the space and time... she was my birthday present. I'm so lucky to have her in my life as well as my Grandfather.
Alexandra aka LexiBeth on ravelry

Elena said...

Wow, Tiffany's. It would be really hard to decide what to get. Not a bad thing, though.

My best gift was for Christmas last year. On the day of my school's Christmas party, I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter when I was really expecting my period instead.

Katrina said...

Oh wow! What a generous give-away. My Dad is a pretty sensitive guy. Every year at Christmas, we take bets on whose present will make him cry. Or, whether a present that he gives will make him cry. Inevitably, both happens and it always makes for a memorable holiday. Last year, he turned the tables and made me cry - my grandparents had both passed away and we had finished cleaning out their house. He had saved the baked bean pot for me, but placed inside the little hand written notes that I used to leave my grandmother when I was younger, which she had saved and he had discovered during the cleaning out process. What can I say, we both started bawling from the emotion of it. I guess I take after my Dad.

Katrina (blueberryblues on Ravelry)

knitspot anne said...

the best gift i ever received was a helicopter ride over NYC at twilight, just as the lights were coming up. it was a BD gift from my husband (then boyfriend). he didn't know it then, but it was something i ALWAYS secretly wanted to do and never had.

BeccakBecca said...

My 2nd anniversary is coming up and it reminded me of my favorite wedding gift: our hot air popcorn popper! I never expected someone to pick it off of the registry but I am so glad they did. I just love fresh and healthy popcorn while relaxing!

Anonymous said...

one of the nicest gifts we've gotten is the handpieced/quilted comforter for our daybed from my mom in law Rosemary!

Kristina said...

Wow, how generous of you.

My birthday is actually on Christmas day, so I appreciate you mentioning that you try to keep the birthday celebration special and separate from the Christmas celebration.

One of the best gifts that I have ever given was a coupon book for activities to do with my nephew throughout they year. He already has tons of stuff, so this was a nice way to make sure that we would be spending time together.

Anonymous said...

Great Gift! Thanks Susan!

My most prized present to have received is my Grandmother's diamond cocktail ring. My mother passed it down to me a few christmases after my grandmother had passed away. I was so touched by it that I bursted into tears. I wear it every single day and think of my mother and grandmother every time it catches my eye.

Unknown said...

Oddly enough my favorite gift ever was a Silver Tiffany bracelet from my parents. =)
Rav name: curlyknitter

Lisa said...

Best gift I've received - that's easy. I missed my undergraduate graduation ceremony (was stuck in an airport with a canceled flight). I found out later that my mom and grandmother had driven from NS to Ottawa to surprise me... so I missed them too. Years later, I was going to my graduate graduation ceremony and was kind of bummed that none of my family could be there (they all lived on the other side of the continent). The night before the ceremony I heard a knock on the door. Opened it to find my mom standing there. My boyfriend had bought her a ticket to fly in for my ceremony. Best gift ever.

Jean said...

The best gift I ever received? Easy! One of the things I took with me when I somewhat grew up and moved out on my own was a set of porcelain mixing bowls my mom had when I was growing up. They had fit the mixer she got when she got married. Like her marriage, the mixer was long gone. At some point, the large mixing bowl broke. At some later point, so did the small one. I burst into tears, in front of my two sons, and tried to explain why I was so sad. I didn't cry for long and then got on with my life. Fast forward to Christmas. My younger son (then about six) brought me to tears with his present--he had picked every piece of that small mixing bowl that he could out of the trash and painstakingly glued them back together. "I knew how much it mean to you, Mom," he said, "so I tried to put it back together for you." It sits today above my desk, holding special little things, and still, occasionally, bringing me to happy tears.
(crabmom on ravelry; blog is runswithsword.blogspot.com)

Unknown said...

Wow, what a really thoughtful gesture!

The best gift I've ever received was the notification that we were given a Guardian Angel sponsorship at Best Friends Animal Society. I love knowing that animals who really need a little extra help and love will have an opportunity for a happy life because of someone else's gift to me.

Anonymous said...

I have to say right now that a share of your fiber csa is pretty high up there on my list.

Unknown said...

Susan, this is so generous of you! One of my favorite gifts came about 5 years ago when I was having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. My husband cut moose silhouettes - papa moose, mama moose, and 6 babies - out of plywood, painted them white, put red ribbons around their necks and staked them among the trees in the yard where I could see them from my kitchen window. They delighted me then and delight me now. Christmas starts when the moose herd comes out. The beauty of the gift is as you said, "I know you, really know you. And I believe this is something that will delight you."

ricochetred on Ravelry

Sue said...

That is so very nice of you Susan!

The best gift I gave was to my sister.
I hadn't seen her for 6 years, since she lives in Germany and I lived in Canada at the time.
I made her a card and wrote that her gift would be a hug from me. She would just have to come to the location shown in the picture( our house) and to let me know when she would like the hug and her ticket would be paid for.
On Christmas eve(our Christmas in Germany) I called her and was on the phone with her when she opened the card. It took her a while to put it all toghether before she started crying.I'm still tearing up even as I write this.
Needless to say we had 4 wonderful sister weeks !
Have a wonderful Christmas time!
Sue

girlwithasword said...

fantastic question - someone posted a similar question on a soapmaking forum I frequent, and the answers were so fantastic. one of the best gifts I was ever given was a book about sheep - from my hubby, because he knew I would love it, and came up with the idea all on his own. :) and i love books!!!

Vaedri said...

The best gift I've ever received was a set of postcards. In the weeks leading up to my birthday, a friend sent me a postcard a day, all with lovely artwork on the front and inspirational quotes on the back. It was so thoughtful and a wonderful, prolonged treat!

wierkat said...

Here's my favorite gift given and received...

There was once a beautiful bit of roving that both my best friend and I wanted to purchase. Well, when the dust settled I was the proud owner of the beautiful roving and my friend went away very sad. So I spun the roving into some beautiful yarn and gifted it to my sad friend. My no-longer sad friend then knitted the beautiful yarn into an even lovelier scarf and gifted it back to me. It's hard to say which was more fun, the giving or the receiving.

Unknown said...

That is very generous of you, and I have to admit, if I won, I'd probably donate it, but whatever.

Like you, I'm a big fan of giving (much more so then receiving). Every year for the past 4 years, I have trained a group of folks to complete a half marathon, while fundraising for our local Ronald McDonald House.

We train for 3 months and the event is in November, so the House sees the donations about now. This year we raised a net of over $140,000. That equals 14,000 room nights for children receiving treatment at our local children's hospital and their family.

Over the past 4 years, we have raised over $450,000.

I can't think of a better gift to give, especially during the Holidays when these very sick kids are away from their homes and most of their family, and undergoing treatments for terrible things like cancer and heart transplants. Being able to provide them a home away from home, without the worry of the expense of housing is awesome.

Wishing you a happy, healthy holiday.

rav name: spunkyknitter

Ellen said...

Hi Susan,

How lovely of you to offer us the chance for a swell gift.

I think the best gift I ever gave was the year we picked letters to Santa and anonymously sent big boxes of toys and clothes to families in need.
When the clerk at the Post Office asked us about the boxes, we told her what we did and she started crying!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Ellen aka ellenronnie on ravelry

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Susan, and happy birthday to Logan!

The best present I ever received was when I was 4. I wanted a little cash register to play store with so badly. My family kidded me because I couldn't really pronouce cash register. So when Christmas came, and I got my heart's desire, all of my aunts, uncles, parents, and cousins cracked up when I opened my present and exclaimed at the top of my lungs, "A CASTRATOR, A CASTRATOR, JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!!!"

I haven't lived it down yet, and it's 51 years later. :)

-Perry-
perrylowell@gmail.com

KnitChickKim said...

Four years ago I had to go out to Seattle and clean out my mother's apartment when she went into a nursing home. My mother had worked for State Department and had lived in Africa for 7 years. She had some amazing things from her years in Africa and her other travels. I couldn't afford to ship everything back home to Maryland so I put it all in my Aunt's garage out there. After being a single parent for almost all of my daughter's life the money for shipping ws just not happening. About two years ago my aunt started bugging me about getting the stuff out of her garage. She offered to send it to me a little bit at a time if I would just send her a small amount - maybe $400-$500 - per month. I certainly didn't have that kind of money and worried what was going to happen to my mother's things. My boyfriend at the time, now my fiance, made arrangements and paid for all of it (almost 1000 pounds of freight) to be shipped to me. It was a truly amazing gift.

KnitChickKim in Ravelry

Erin said...

Yay, if I win I can get that sterling silver telephone dialer I've always coveted...

At the end of the summer that I was 10 years old, my parents decided I was mature and responsible enough to get the one thing I had wished for EVERY birthday since I could say "pony." When I blew out my candles turning 11 that October, I was just thankful. I didn't wish for anything, and I haven't cared a lick for a birthday since.

The best gift I've given lately was showing up unexpected at the 30th birthday party of my dearest friend, who lives far far away and hadn't seen me in 5 years. I had not known before that a person could scream, laugh, and cry simultaneously. Priceless.

Julie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Julie said...

My son made me some adorable kitty earrings and a hammered ring for my birthday this year which blew me away as it's the first year he remembered on his own and planned something ahead. Makes a momma proud :)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2142/2374747920_350bc8d327.jpg

Katom Burke said...

Susan you are so generous! The best gift i ever got was when i was very young. my parents gave me a doll and a crib for her to sleep in. i thought it was the greatest! i later learned that my parents were so broke that year that the doll was from a tag sale and the "crib" was a white box that mom had taken an exacto knife to to make the slats. every time i think about that i get teary....i understand now that i'm i mom the length you will go to for your kids and that love/time etc. goes so much further than money. Happy Holidays to you!!
Kate

Moa said...

What a nice giveaway!
The best part of a handmade gift is the giving and the response. The first pair of socks I ever made were form worsted weight acrylic, and made for a very good friend. The yarn was from her recently departed grandmothers stash, knit in my friends 2 favorite colors, purple and orange.
When I gave them to her she cried, and then proceeded to call her pops, and said" Dad, Meghan just gave me the coolest present ever. A pair of house socks in purple and orange and made from grandma's yarn. She knit them for me." and then he was crying. Good tears.
She wears them all the time working in her painting studio, and now feels like her grandma is there still, always her biggest supporter!
(Moa on Rav)

Anonymous said...

Somewhat hard.. I received Angela's Ashes one time, and it was a very enjoyable read. I also received a coffee table volume about art. It was an appreciated gift.

-constants on ravelry.

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever gave (or orchestrated): I worked at a clinic for almost 16 years. My favorite boss (ever) had worked there for more than 25 years. Each year, the clinic would give a small bonus attached to a Christmas ornament. My boss had kept all of the ornaments over the years and trimmed her tree with them each year. At one point, her new husband was cleaning out the garage and threw away the box containing the ornaments. She was just sick over the loss. One year, I secretly called around to all of the past and current employees and asked each person to donate one ornament from their own personal clinic-collection. I was able to restore almost completely her full collection. When she opened the box, she was touched and surprised. I know the feeling of losing something irrevocably and how wonderful it must feel to be able to have it restored.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is so wonderful of you! Thank you!!!

The best gift I ever gave was when I was in high school, a (now ex-) boyfriend was going to be across the country with his family over Christmas so we couldn't spend time together. I made him a big shipping envelope with little notes and trinkets to be opened at specific times of the day throughout the week he was going to be away - for instance, 5:43pm GMT on 12/23 or 11:16am PST on 12/25 (just to make it interesting). It was so much fun to put together and I kept a list of each thing so at those times I could think of him opening them, even though we weren't together. He really enjoyed it too!

Allegria13 on rav

Petra Manis (APDT) said...

Wow, how very generous of you!!! As a new member of the farm I am bowled over!! And I hope Logan likes his "gun". I am not a fan of them either, but I do admit they are quite fun to have around in the office for those stir-crazy friday afternoons!! Not that I have an office. but I did, once.

The best gift I ever received....well, a share in the farm comes pretty close, but I think it has to be the easel my husband (then boyfriend) Scott gave me for Valentine's Day. It was just so thoughtful and showed how much attention he paid to what I said. I had talked about picking up my paintbrushes again. Just once I mentioned it, and he remembered. So come V-day there was this huge box with a red bow on it. It was the most thoughtful gift anyone ever gave me that I didn't ask for.

The best gift I ever gave? I don't know. I pride myself on picking gifts for people that nail down right what they are all about. I think the most appreciated one was a spa day for my sister-in-law the year she adopted her child. Christmas fell about a month after her 16-month came home, and by Christmas....boy did the new mommy need a spa day!!

M said...

What a great give-away! How very generous of you!!

My best gift was my cat when I was 15. My previous cat who I raised from a kitten had run away. My dad wasn't fond of cats, so I figured I wouldn't have another one until I was out of the house. I got a beautiful 2-year old long haired white cat. He was a good cat. We had to put him to sleep a few years ago, but he had a great life.

Anonymous said...

The best gift that I have ever given was an Ipod Nano to my husband. Yes, I know that everyone has them...but you have to understand how frugal he is and how he never would have asked for it or gotten it himself. He would have considered it frivolous. To this day he still raves about how great it is.

christyz on rav

Amber said...

This is such a nifty little drawing, it's nice to dream about what small shiny sparkly one might get from Tiffany and Co!

Geekpixie on rav.

Writer Bug said...

Wow! I can't believe you're giving this away!!

I am very lucky to have a really good gift giver for a husband. For example, one gift he got me last Christmas was a tote bag that said "I'd rather be knitting." How cool is that? Again, in that way you mentioned on the blog, about the gift being a symbol of feeling truly known.

Jenny said...

Wow! Fun! I'm with you, actually, while I do love getting presents, I love giving them, that's exactly why Christmas is my favorite holiday. I get so much more excited about the anticipation of my mom's reactions to the things I'm getting her than I do about the prospects of what I'll be opening. Having said that, I also love the mystery and excitement of what's in the box.

Best gift I ever got- there are two that come to mind. When I was in college I babysat for this family. She was a professor, he was an engineer and I met them because I was interning in the younger child's kindergarten class. I loved babysitting these kids, they were great. The parents were down to earth and modest. My car died and I was looking for a new one having NO idea how I was going to pay for it, and one day they gave me the keys to their '89 Honda Civic. Um, hubuduh what?? Yeah, they just GAVE it to me. They said "well, we could try to sell it and get like a thousand dollars for it, or we could really help you out and just GIVE it to you. You need it, this car will last for a few more years, just take it."

Their selfless generosity was so amazing, I'm still blown away. The car lasted 4 years and two trips cross country, and by the time it died on me I was in a place to buy a new one.

The other best gift I've ever gotten was a tape that a friend of mine made for me in high school. She played piano somewhat well, and she happened to know a lot of my favorite piano pieces (I can't play at all) so she sat down and recorded herself playing my favorite songs. I thought that was a really thoughtful, from the heart kind of gift. Better than an iPod, really.

The best gift I think I've ever given was about 4 or 5 years ago. My mom still gives me a stocking for Christmas, and it occurred to me that she stopped getting stockings in her family somewhere around the age of 13, so she would probably love one too, so I bought a stocking and filled it up with horse themed stocking stuffers (she had just bought her first horse that year- a lifelong dream come true). On the morning of Christmas, after I opened my stocking, I sent her into the kitchen to refill her coffee cup and put a stocking on the mantle. I wasn't prepared for her to be so touched as to actually tear up, but to this day she still says it was the best gift she's ever gotten. I guess it just somehow made her feel really special, and kind of like a kid again.

Thanks, that was really fun to think about (though ridiculously long!)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for helping my memories surface, Susie...

The best gift I ever gave was for my dad's 50th birthday (hard to believe, since he was the usual impossible-to-buy-for-dad). He dreamed of being a pilot, and back in the day was denied by the Air Force due to being very color blind (gotta see colors to read the maps). So, for his 50th, I gave him an introductory flying lesson. The pilot first talked with him about safety issues, and Dad was positively strutting around the small plane as he helped with the pre-flight inspection. The pilot took off with Dad as co-pilot; they touched down 30 minutes away, then dad got to take off, return, and land the plane back where we were all waiting for him. When he climbed down, I swear his feet didn't touch the ground for days. Plans to get his pilots license were made, investigated, discussed...he died 4 years later, still talking about the day he got to fly a plane.
Lori/Ravelry knittingfool

caracolina said...

This is going to be a long story but I love telling it, so bear with me, please. My favorite birthday present I got last year for my 40th birthday from my husband. Before that my favorite birthday present was the song and video he and some friends made for my 23rd birthday in germany, but the 40th birthday present is a record for effort and effect. My birthday is on dec 12, so some time in october last year he came up with the idea that I should get 40 gifts for my 40th birthday. I had just picked up spinning, so he went to our LYS behind my back and got some advice what fibers and tools to get me. I bought a lot of stuff there and also online. Whenever I said "oh, I would really like to get a niddy-noddy" or something like that he'd make remarks that I should wait until the next paycheck (he takes care of the finances) and I'd duly forget about the whole thing. Since we don't really observe birthdays I didn't expect anything and he, class A liar he is, mentioned several times, ruefully, that he didn't have anything for me this year. And I believed him. For several weeks he managed to conceal all the boxes and packages from me in our one-room-apartment. And to top it off, he sanded and finished a gardening shelf that sits on our balcony to brand-new looking condition and added a hotplate, microwave, and crockpot for dyeing fiber and yarn. He managed to do laundry and hang it up on the balcony for two weeks so I wouldn't have the need to step on out there! Am I naive, gullible, or what? I was actually really busy at the office and working on my degree during that time and was just thankful that he took over so many chores... Then, on the morning of the big day, John handed me a small gift and a really crummy card. I didn't expect the gift, so that was nice, but the card was seriously ugly and impersonal, but what could I say? Thanks honey, but this card stinks?
At work, everyone was in on the plan to whisk me away from the office. My coworkers persuaded me to go out for a birthday lunch and under false pretenses drove to our house "to pick up my husband". Instead they left me there, only to find a huge poster on the front door with all kinds of cute references to the number 40, inviting me to come in with my eyes closed. Inside, I was handed a huge envelope and told to open my eyes. He had strung fishing wire across the living room, held up by tall dowels and from the wire, the presents were hanging, all wrapped in different paper, with numbers stuck to them. The birthday card was a large print of him and I on our recent trip to Oregon with a long touching message of how much I mean to him which brought tears to my eyes. After hugging him I proceeded to open my gifts, then we went out for a celebratory lunch. I can't believe he went through all this! There are some photos on his blog (http://www.johnwise.com/index.cfm?mode=month&month=12&year=2007 - scroll down). And when you ask me, what is the most special gift of all the individual items? I have to say, the fact that he went through so much trouble to find what I needed and all the effort. The message in the card will be treasured as long as I live.

Anonymous said...

I am giving the best present this year. My closest friend found out that his spouse was cheating on him and leaving him last year the day after Christmas. During the ensuing divorce, he lost his beautiful home AND all the Christmas ornaments. So that this year would not be too depressing, I have decided to send him a "Christmas Tree in a box." I am handmaking 100 ornaments filled with photos of family and friends to remind him of good times. It fills me with more joy to know that his children will not see an empty new apartment for their Dad this year, but a home full of warmth and love.

Karin
doctorknitter@gmail.com

Susan in Maryland said...

What a sweet thing to offer. Thank you. The best gift I ever received was something techie which doesn't match my personality but it changed my life. My husband gave me a GPS for my car a few years ago and things have never been the same since. I always got lost and was often afraid to venture out alone (in case I couldn't find my way home!) but once I started using the GPS, I go everywhere and even offer to take others along! I knew when he gave it to me that he definately "got me."

Allison said...

I also love giving gifts more than receiving. I would say the best gifts I've gotten are my camera and yarn, because then I get to share the results with others!

Quality Chick said...

I love that you are making sure Logan's birthday shines! As someone with a bday near a holiday this is so important.
So my favorite gift I received was a childhood present. Under the tree was this way awesome kitchen play set - a sink, stove and cabinet. They were made of plywood and painted avocado green. They were the best and spurred many years of fun. They came out again for my son to play with and he also loves them. What really makes these even more special is apparently that year my parents were very tight on money. So much so my mother didnt know where she was going to get money for Christmas dinner. Grandma ended up giving that to her. So the presents were made by my dad. All I remember about that Christmas was that it was the best. Its true, presents that say "I really know you" dont have to be expensive. Joy is often right there in your hands.
Happy Holidays to you! And thank you for all the joy you bring your shareholders.
Ravelry - Chloecat262

Anonymous said...

Best present I ever gave was a Wampum bracelet to Patti for our 5 year wedding anniversary and 1 year 'living on the Vineyard' anniversary...

You are too much...xox

Unknown said...

I once got an enormous Nerf gun from a friend at work--we had great fun with it after hours, as he had a similar one. It shot 3 kinds of projectiles! I don't like real guns but I do have an appreciation for Nerf weaponry. So I hope that Logan will appreciate his as well.

But probably my favorite gift ever was my first TiVo. I'm not one for electronic gadgets usually, but my TiVo and I have had many happy knitting hours together.

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever gave was the scarf I knit for my husband when he was just a very new boyfriend. He still wears it and tells everyone that I knit it for him when we were in college!
cheers and congrats on the tech makeover!
Zoe

misplacedpom said...

I gave my best friend a Le Creuset pan to say thank you for all the dinners he has cooked for me. There was no real occasion, I just felt like he deserved it.

Misplacedpom

Rachael said...

The best gift I ever got was when my grandmother gave me my great grandmother's knitting needles. I learned to knit because I had them and I had to figure out how to do it! Family lore says she was an amazing knitter who could and did knit everything and anything she wanted. I don't use them anymore, they decorate my den in a lovely vase, but they really were the gift that kept on giving - I haven't stopped knitting in the 7 years since I received them!

Anonymous said...

Susan - hope this isn't a duplicate.

Never heard 'sussy' before, I like it.

I'm an avid counted-cross stitcher and have done almost all the MV x-stitches from the Heath Hen in Vineyard Haven. BUT... the one that means the most to me is one that Deb designed herself.
She took a picture of my most favorite place on MV - the Tabernacle - blew it up to an 8x10 and charted it in color on graph paper (before computer graphs). She supplied the material, my daughter Patty supplied the embroidery floss and that was my Christmas gift that year. All I had to do was SEW it. I started the beginning of January and finished it in April, I kept track of how many hours it took, 132. It is a masterpiece and definitely one of a kind. I cherish this gift with all my heart because of the thought and love behind it.

Happy, happy birthday to Logan... hope all his birthday wishes come true.

Ah, the Tiffany & Co gift card. I have a 19 year old granddaughter named Tiffany who would probably love to have "breakfast" there :)

See you soon.
Joan Boyken

Anonymous said...

Nice giveaway! Best knitting gift given was the 16 pairs (15 pairs of socks, 1 pair of mittens) to my husband for our anniversary last year-- he was genuinely surprised (and relieved I wasn't really holding out on giving him any socks till I had 100 pairs done which is what I'd told him!).

Anonymous said...

My first pair of binoculars - a gift from my husband.
Billie (dogwalker on ravelry)

miss ewe said...

Wow! What a great give-away!

I think my best gift ever may have been my share in your fiber farm! So creative, and it was a gift of a whole community!

Meg said...

I think the best gift I have gotten recently is unlimited time in a yarn store with the boyfriend (with no complaints!) and several skeins of my chosing.

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever received was a box of chocolate dipped strawberries from my boyfriend. I had been 3000 miles away from him while getting my Master's degree in NY and was not able to spend Valentine's Day with him for 2 years. He thoughtfully shipped me my favorite dessert and called me at dinner time. Although we were miles apart we still spent the evening together, in a way.

Anonymous said...

Long before the age of cheap cell phones my dad gave me (and my sister) each a cell phone (plus 100 minutes a month of talk time) for Christmas. It was great since I was in grad school and broke. But the bestest part was having it ring on the commuter trains, digg it out of my bag and try not to beam as I got lots of stares from all the high power businessmen who didn't have cell phones yet and wanted them. That phone made me feel special and important all year long.

Cupcake said...

Susan you are so generous, thanks for thinking of us. The best present I received was a European Cruise my mom got me for graduation. It was a trip of a lifetime, I got to see so many places and do so much. I will never forget it.
(CraftyCupcake on Rav).

Erin said...

The best gift I've ever given is a soup cookbook I found to give to my dad. He loves to cook and had been talking about wanting to find some good soup recipes for the past few months, and the cookbook I gave him a few years ago is one of the few that he still uses regularly. By now it's full of little annotations he's made about the recipes.

Quirkles said...

Doh! My whole long comment got lost. Well, here's what I said.
I am really enjoying reading everyone's stories of gifts given and received. It puts me in the spirit.
The best gift I've given recently was the love of running and a bunch of running clothes and gear to my niece, who now runs races with me (so it was a gift for me too!). One of the best gifts I've been given was a diamond solitaire necklace from my mother-in-law. It was from her departed mother's engagement ring, and she gave it to me to show how much she appreciates and loves me.
Thinking of all this is making me happy!!!!
You're the best Susan!

AmIAKnitterYet said...

What a lovely idea.
My best gift ever--a massage from my husband on my first Mother's Day. It was the first time I was away from my baby at all & some special me-time. It really recharged me.
Roz (AmIAKnitterYet)

tripletsmom said...

WOW, what a generous give away...
The best gift I ever got was a gold pendant of triplets in utero for our anniversary while I was pregnant with the girls. Next to that it would be the cashmere sweater I got this year for my birthday...it's been a couple of years since DH and I have gotten each other anything and he thought I deserved something extra nice:)

Unknown said...

This is very generous of you - I've never posted here, but I do enjoy your blog and living your country life vicariously. The best present I've ever received was a ring that my husband of 1 year had made for me on our first married Christmas. The stone was a pebble from a beach on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. He found the pebble on one of our first dates, and kept it to remind himself that he was lucky to have found me. The setting looked like a wave encircling the stone. And about 10 years ago, the ring went missing. I'm still looking for it - and the memory stays with me. Sara from IL

Anna Marie said...

The best gift I ever received was flowers my husband sent to me at work. It wasn't a special day or holiday or anything. When I asked him why he sent them he said Just Because!

Anonymous said...

The best gift I have received was one of humility and humanity. When I was in college, I lived in an apartment. There was this mildly retarded guy that lived down the way. He would come down the sidewalk everyday about 3 o'clock. We would make fun of him and mimic him from inside the apartment because he was so odd looking and behaved the same. One day I was alone and trying to wrap packages for Christmas. I am a terrible wrapper. For some reason I had the door open even though it was December. I was cursing up a storm and had absolutely had it with wrapping those packages. This voice from the doorway said, "Let me help you with that." It was this man that my roommates had been making fun of for months. He came in, sat down cross legged on the floor, and within 5 min, had wrapped all the packages in an expert manner. It seemed he worked at a shipping place and his job was to wrap packages. I asked if I could pay him and he refused. And then he left. I have never felt so ashamed in my life for making fun of this fine man. It has been 35 years and I have never forgot the lesson I learned that day. I even tell this story to my kids.

I have never gotten anything for the holidays that changed my life like that.
All the best,

John Scott Porterfield

Anonymous said...

The best gift I've given is a spinning wheel to my best friend. She and I have been best buddies since we met in kindergarden and now through motherhood and sacrifice. I came into a great wheel by chance but had one already,her birthday was coming up so I fixed it up and gave it to her with some fiber. She was over the top happy since she never expected to own a wheel. Now we can spin and knit together in our old age!

Anonymous said...

I think the best Christmas present I ever had was 22 years ago. My husband (at a young age) had bypass surgery on Dec. 2nd. Having him home for Christmas and on the road to recovery was the best present I have ever had and we have been celebrating each year together since.

Joyce (Jazzywalker)

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever gave someone was for the Christmas of my senior year of high school. I was working on the yearbook staff for my school, and we were told to clear out a closet that was stuffed full of unwanted stuff--including brand-new yearbooks from decades past.

My sister, who is 11 years older than me, had hated high school so much that she never bought a yearbook. Of course, years later, she regretted it, and in those pre-internet years, the chances of tracking them down 11 years later were pretty slim indeed.

So, for Christmas of 1983, I gave my sister all of her high school yearbooks. She said that I had given her part of her own history back!

--Tracy Wells
"Ingleterra" on Ravelry

Sarah said...

The best present I ever gave was a signed drawing by Maurice Sendak of "Really Rosie" that I got and had framed for my sister. It was one of her favorites growing up. She loved it and I loved being able to give her a little piece of our childhood.

Sarah (sarahland)

sara said...

How generous of you!!

I must say that I'm pretty excited about what I'm giving my family this year. I have gathered recipes and family photos and created a family cookbook. Everybody in my family cooks really well and we have some great recipes: from cheese fondu that we have every Christmas Eve to cranberry-ginger upside down cake.

ravelry: mitbitna

Carolee said...

Happy Birthday to Logan!

I've received so many wonderful gifts over the years - none of them expensive, but all wonderful. One that stands out in particular though, is my grandmother's spinning wheel, given to me by my Mother several years ago - an old upright, dated 1870, and held together with pegs. I don't spin (and even if I did would be scared to use it!) but it's something I'll always treasure. :)

~ Carolee

Sarah V. (Barf Green Is Best) said...

Thinking about what the best gift I've received is kind of gift enough, in a way...

My very very dear uncle, who passed away last year, took me to an art gallery, to see an exhibit he thought I would especially like (and he was right), and then to a really nice dinner. These were definitely not his favourite things to do, but he did them for me, because he knew it would make me happy, and because he genuinely wanted to spend time with me. The gift of his time, interest in my life, and the careful thought that went into planning such a fun day meant SO much to me. That was my best gift. :)
- Sarah (SarahVV on Ravelry)

Anonymous said...

Wow... What a gift! You are so very generous Susan!

As for gifts, I just love to give gifts... My fiber stash is full of things that are for other people and very little for me, though I have patterns that are for me, I keep getting sidelined by stuff I want to make for others.

I think my favorite gift given is a wall hanging I cross stitched for my mom when that was my fiber fetish craft of choice. I actually designed it myself having never designed anything before. It was a wall hanging with a poem she learned in grade school for a memorization assignment. L'il Orphant Annie by James Whitcomb Riley. She has remembered it to this day and used to tell it to us as we grew up. I just loved hearing her recite the poem. So one year I decided to immortalize it for her. I finished it 90 minutes before it was time for everyone to get up and open the presents under the tree. It was the first time she has ever cried from a gift (certainly not the intention, but she said they were good tears). It hangs in her house to this day.

I have many gifts I have received from friends, my children, and loved ones that are so very special. I'm not sure I could pick just one out. Though I think one of my favorites was a gift that my partner gave to me early in our relationship. It was a laser made plexiglass cube with the Milky Way in it. It sits on a lighted stand. How many people can say the one they love gave them the universe?? smile.

tripletsmom said...

I forgot to identify myself...I am TripletMom on ravelry

Anonymous said...

I once found a British friend her favorite but hard-to-find tea and gave her a lovely full British Cream Tea on very special china. She admired the china so much that I gave her a tea set for Christmas. She was very touched that I had gone to so much "trouble" for her. I had a great time doing it and it was no trouble at all, of course.
Dina (dinajill)

Unknown said...

When I was a kid, our family took long road trips every summer, and sang lots of old cowboy songs and various obscure family favorites. I searched the internet for all the songs I could remember and made CDs for every family member of our old favorite sing-a-long songs.

carol on Ravelry

Sara said...

The best Christmas present I ever got - was when my daughter came to see us for the holidays. It had been several years since we had seen each other...and it was great.

nhsara on ravelry...

Anonymous said...

For Christmas a few years ago, my grandmother gave all of her grandchildren a cookbook that she had created (well she wrote it and my uncle typed it and had it printed)that had all of her favorite recipes in it. She has written in her diary every day of her life, so she was able to make great little comments on the recipes like "Aunt Fern brought this salad to New Year's Eve in 1965". She also included little stories about things like the way they cooked when she was growing up and the first time she had to dress a chicken by herself. I make a lot of recipes out of it and I love reading all of her comments and stories. It's a gift that I'll treasure.

Anonymous said...

Well, the full-size stuffed Mickey Mouse I got when I was about 7 sure was good...

One of my favorite gifts that I've given? My Mom loves (adores) the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs, so one year I took a picture of it and had it blown up to an 8x10 and then, over several weeks, charted it into a counted cross-stitch chart for her. On Christmas morning, I set up a treasure hunt for her, with a series of ornaments for the Christmas tree at each clue, with the chart as the Big Finish. (Oh, and my sister gave her the fabric and embroidery floss to make it.) I still remember the look on her face!

Actually, it was right up there with the look on my Dad's face the first year after his mother died and wasn't around to bake him Christmas Stollen any more ... but I did. I spent a Saturday down at my best friend's house and wrapped it well, and put the stollen under the Christmas tree. I could be wrong, but that could be one of my Dad's favorite Christmas gifts ever--certainly his face said it all! He's not an emotional man, my Dad, but he was right then...

Happy birthday, Logan!!

anne said...

Thank you for your generosity and Happy Birthday to Logan. I hope it's a wonderful day. It's hard to pick my best ever gift but among my favorites are my mother's wedding ring, a fur coat from my favorite aunt, a surprise hot air balloon ride from my husband and my new I phone.

Thanks for all you do,

Anne

Anonymous said...

So generous! What a wonderful giveaway- Thank You!
The best gift I ever received was a Louet drumcarder from my husband. I had not hinted at one, or even mentioned it. After giving me the carder, he told me how he came up with the idea: He noticed me one night with a BIG fleece and my handcarders, he said he felt bad, realizing it would take me forever to get through the whole fleece. After that he went online and started researching and reading spinners reviews of all the different carders out there (he's very methodical- one of the many characteristics I love about him!) To say I was surprised is an understatement. I just really love and appreciate that he gets my passion for all things fiber.

-Nadine (yarnfrog42 on Rav)

Anonymous said...

My best present occurred when I was three years old. I had a baby brother who had gotten some sort of bug and had become dehydrated. They hospitalized him to get fluids into him. My parents, concerned that my birthday was going to be a flop, asked me what I wanted. I told them I wanted my baby brother home from the hospital. Would I have answered the same thing at age 6 or 8? Who knows. But he was home and safe and mending for my third birthday! And he's still one of my best buddies today!

Susan in HK
tukatshak on Ravelry

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful, generous person you are Susie!
The best gift I ever received was from my husband. We had been cleaning out old boxes and found a drawing pad of mine from my teenage years when I fancied myself to have artistic talent. For Christmas that year he gave me a sketch pad and pencils and an assortment of lovely tools to draw with and encouraged me to start drawing again. I was so touched by the thoughtfulness of that gift - years later, I still take time to nurture that artistic part of me.

Paula (emilysmom on Rav)

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a fabulous, generous gift. My best gift I ever received was a set of tools for making stained glass given to me by my wonderful partner. She is not at all crafty, but she knows that I am and that this would give me a whole new creative outlet.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Logan! I, too have a birthday near Christmas (the 14th) which sometimes got mixed up. The best present I ever got and the best present I ever gave was on the same Christmas about 12 years ago. My then husband and I decided to give each other presents that we always wanted when we were kids. However, neither of us knew what the other was doing. So, on Christmas morning I watched his eyes tear up when he opened his first telescope. I thought that was the greatest moment ever, until I opened up my gift, a full train set for under the Christmas tree. We ended up laughing and crying to think that we had given each other the most wanted gift from childhood.

Anonymous said...

Last year in Augusst I got a call from the cat rescue that I volunteer with asking if I could take in a pregnant mama cat. I talked it over with BF, and yes, we could.

She birthed and raised three beautiful babies. We got them adopted and got her neutered and waited for a cage in the adoption center to open up. I dreaded that call. I loved my new friend so much. She trusted me to help her raise those babies, and she was so sweet and gentle and agreeable. I nagged and nagged BF. Could we keep her? Could we add a family member?

Finally I'd given up. He said no so many times, that three cats and a dog was enough.

I told him that I would need him to come with me to the adoption center when that call came in, because I wouldn't be able to abandon my friend and he would have to help us understand.

One night in December last year, we were about to fall asleep and he said, "Nora can stay. We have plenty of room and we love her."

I got another best friend and a sweet kitty got a home. Best Christmas gifts ever.

techbytes said...

Susan! What a fabulous gift!
Happy Birthday Logan!

I think the best gift I've ever been able to give has been this year. I'm sending my mom to CA for Christmas with her brother and sister whom she doesn't get to see but once every 3 or so years.

I think the best give I've received was the year my mother-in-law showed me how to crochet and knit. It is something she loves doing and knowing my love of making things shared with me - and now I'm obsessed :-)

Kathleen Haymes

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow. That's incredibly sweet.

The best gift I've ever received? Hands down, it would be my last birthday. I was pining for some fall colors, so my husband surprised me by taking me away for the weekend. It was like a double gift, too, because he recruited my best friend into both keeping the secret and taking our daughter for a few days while we went. It was lovely- exactly what I needed.

I'm onmytiptoes at ravelry. This is a lovely idea.

Anonymous said...

What a nice lift you will give whoever wins your prize. My husband and I have quit giving gifts to each other at Christmas. We figured out 5 1/2 years ago that we had it all. See, he had prostate cancer. It was very aggressive. He is well now. We have each other. That is all we need. Merry Christmas to all.

Becky Myers
Ashland Ohio

The Plaid Sheep said...

You are a truly dear soul. May you have lots and lots of joy this season.
I got the best gift ever last Christmas. My aunt scanned the family photos from way back and put them all on a CD then gave one to each of the family. Absolutely amazing. I love going through it and being taken back to all those moments in time.

m0nk3y mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sue said...

I think the best gift I have received so far was christmas,2007 when I got to hug my oldest son who had just returned from serving 15 months in Iraq...

Happy Holidays
suzraymond (ravelry id)

Sarah T. said...

How incredibly generous! We're trying to work out how to come to the holiday party.. It's only an hour out of the city, after all....
Best gift... (so silly) most recently anyway... My hubby got me a wii. We're both phd students and sometimes? Ridiculous winging around in our living room once the baby goes to bed is the BEST GAME EVER.
:D

m0nk3y mark said...

WOW!WOW!WOW! That is an incredible gift. May giving so generously bring you much birthday (and holiday) cheer.

Best gift; my wife's first knitting project (or one of them anyway) a scarf, 2 years in the making, but now entering its 8th winter it lives around my neck.

Anonymous said...

count me in!
best gift was a magic wand that my parent's made together for me. second best was the real gumball machine i got when i was 5.
lucylou on rav

Taleah said...

This is SO lovely of you!

My sister and I are two years apart, and have always been close. Before I moved away for college, she sketched me a little woman with a word bubble and snuck her into my luggage.

Over the years, she's gone through many changes and reincarnations - but this little piece of paper where we scribble things for this girl to say to each other means a lot. We're now both married, but we still sneak it around. It's worth more to me than any trinket.

My Rav name is naughtyknots

smr61754 said...

Susan, you ARE a very generous person. Thank you for posting about the giveaway.

Best Christmas present I ever got was the year my fiance' passed away. He died Nov. 8th of '02. Needless to say I wasnt in much of a mood to celebrate Christmas. I was still living in the house we rented but I had to make the effort for my kids.

It was about a week before Christmas and my cat, Pepper, went missing. I found him 2 days later...he was up a tall tree in the yard of a house across the street. One of the neighbors called the fire department and they tried to get him down, but he fell and was killed. That was all I needed. First my fiance', then my cat. I was depressed, I felt so lonely.

The next afternoon there was a knock on my door. When I opened it, there stood the firemen that had tried to save my Pepper. And they were carrying a pet crate. Inside was an 8 month old kitten. The men had felt so badly about Pepper, they went to the local animal shelter and found me a new friend. I was in tears, I was so moved by their kindness, which helped me through a difficult time and to show me, in a very special way, how Christmas is a giving season. I named my kitty Snowden and everyone who meets him thinks he is a very special cat. And I totally agree.

Anonymous said...

No knitting involved! I think the very best gift I ever received is my Kitchenaid mixer, the big one. a 5 quart lift bowl! I got it about 12 years ago and it has allowed me to gift others with fine baked goods and jams and jellies. I truly love to bake and knit so the two often get combined.I knit while it's in the oven. I love that I can bake cakes and cookies for the homeless in our area and for school children who don't have someone to bake a cake for their birthday(their teachers call me with all the info). So I guess that would have to be the best gift I've received, the one that let's me give to others.Aunt Sugar on Ravelry

Ananamoose said...

The best Christmas gift I received wasn't from a person. It came out of nowhere.

It was some time in November of 2001. I think it was late November. My mom and I were visiting my grandfather who was dying in Vegas of cancer. It was a very hard time for me because I was very close to my grandfather. While we were there, my step dad and brother called us and said they found a kitten in the middle of the road. They thought he was a sock, but when they stopped, they realized he was a kitten and brought him home.

Mom and I came home from Vegas and while we were deciding to name the kitten, I suggest either Belaggio or Mirage since we had been in Vegas and it seemed fitting. Well Belaggio was laughed at so we decided on Mirage since he was mistaken for a sock anyway.

Mirage was a very skittish kitten and I was the only one willing to get near him and work with him. Eventually I was the only one that could get near him for the longest time. He would follow me everywhere too. It was a good thing he showed up when he did because my grandpa died December 11th. It was the saddest moment of my life up to that point and I was glad that Mirage was there for me through that. He helped make that Christmas a little brighter. I just wish he was still here with me. He disappeared over a year ago.

Lisa said...

Happy Birthday to Logan!

The best gift I ever got was my mom paying for both of us to go on a dream trip to Africa. We had the most amazing time, and it's really a special memory now, since Mom died about 1 1/2 years ago.

thalassophile said...

On my tree hangs a snowman that looks a little like Napoleon, it's probably the shape of the hat. The construction paper hat gets stapled together every few years and a new hook into it. The toothpicks need to be poked into new places between the styrofoam balls to keep the body together. The felt scarf is fading, but the blue sequin eyes still twinkle under the tree lights. I have many ornaments but this one is my favorite, my son made it in grade school over 20 years ago for me as a Christmas present. As he grew out of grade school and into middle school, he was embarrassed that I still kept the snowman. By high school he gave up and teased me about keeping the snowman. Now as an adult he smiles and understands why I still keep the snowman.

Turtle said...

wow, that is seriously generous! i would so love to be able to pass this on to my now 16 year old daughter. The gift i am thinking of came from my hubby at our 2nd christmas. I was at home with the baby doing craft fairs on the side and he was a poor navy man. He took me to a jewelry store to look at watches as i did not have one (before the era of cell phones) I picked out what i thought was a simple, pretty loose style watch. It ended up being white gold and very very expensive! I immediately said no way! Refused to even discuss it. It ended up under the tree, he had gone back on his own to get it. (i still have it) I had actually sold a diamond solitaire ring my dad gave my mom the night i was born that xmas to buy him a wedding band (and still had to borrow 200 from his dad to get it for him) Is a beautiful irish band) I was as touched as i was mad at him for buying the watch but it is still great 15 years later!and i love it!

Your New Home Awaits said...

THe best Christmas gift I have ever recieved I actually recieved for quite a few Christmases. My gramma would always get me a box of turtles chocolates for under the tree. I loved that they were all mine and that I didn't have to share them with anyone.

My gramma is gone now but my DH carries on the tradition.

Anonymous said...

My mother-in-law and I were very different from each other - not that we didn't get along - but my husband did not marry his mother! We were just nothing alike. I am a disorganized creative type, she was the immaculate housekeeper. She followed her recipes to the 1/16 of a teaspoon - I throw in a hand full or 2 of whatever to see how it will turn out. So I was dumbfounded one Christmas Eve when she decided to pass on some of her jewelery and I was given a beautiful 1 carat diamond necklace. About a year later she had to move into assisted living and my husband went to pick up the things she wanted him to have when her home was sold. The BEST gift was her handmade childhood doll quilt that she had matted and framed to hang in her guest room. I was so touched - it was one of her most cherished possessions and she gave it to me.
Rebw12 on Rav

Anonymous said...

When my niece who lives in FL turned 2, I mailed her a big package wrapped in bright paper. It was a house with little people. My brother and sister-in-law filmed her opening it and emailed the video to me (I live in NH. It was great to be able to see her excitement opening the package. Heather in NH

Anonymous said...

The gift I remember most from childhood was the Cabbage Patch doll I got during the whole Cabbage Patch craze. I still have that doll and my two boys have even played with it (a couple of times). Happy holidays! :-)

Jennette said...

I'm SpyKnits on Ravelry...

The best gift I ever received was from my husband. He gave me a gift certificate for a new bike, but along with that he made a 3-D. life-sized bike out of cardboard and locked it up outside the restaurant where we were having dinner. It was amazing.

Anonymous said...

Best gift recieved? The hand-written booklet of all my family's favorite baking recipes that my mom sent to each of us (and there are sixteen of us, so this was a LOT of work) one Christmas. Now I can make Sputnik Cookies and Grampa's Favorite Fruit Bars for my son.

Best gift given? Matching floor length pullover robes I made for my husband and son. They are fleece, with a garish flame print, and pockets in all the right places. My husband has worn his out and my son outgrew his, but they loved them so much that they'll be getting new ones for Christmas. I hope they don't read this.

Susan (SusanM on Ravelry)

Soonerbeknitting said...

The best gift I have given was a quilt for my daughter when she was 5. I got family members to draw pictures with transfer crayons and ironed the pictures onto broadcloth squares. She loved it then, but now that she is 25 and some of these family members are gone, she really treasures the quilt, especially the chocolate chip cookie my dad drew for her. It was an ongoing joke that he would sneak her cookies whenever I wasn't looking - one of her favorite memories.

englishtch on ravelry

Sner said...

This is incredibly generous! The best gift I ever recieved was the year that my partner and I were finally both well employed and we gave each other permission to buy ourselves something extravigant that we normally wouldn't dare purchase. That was the year I bought my Kromski. I still remember how nice it was to be able to buy something without having to panic about cost.

Sner (Rav name)

Anonymous said...

Hi susan, found you through the ravelry and wow to you. Giving away such a pressent...well let me think.

I love giving and that's all year through and I guess that the boys who deliver their post/folders the whole year are most stunned every year. Last year when they came to bring us their best wishes for the christmas season I made little felt shoes with a candy in it and some money. They never expect it so I like doing it again. Now I've to come up with something new. I also made christmas balls earlier and now I guess some crochet snowflakes must be ok. So...giving that is just my most fun.

Have a great day and take care.
Valeria

JPDeni said...

A day or so after I came home from the hospital with my newborn daughter, I suddenly found myself out of disposable diapers. I had just put the last one on my DD and was wondering how I was going to get to a store when there was a knock at the door. A young friend of mine who I knew had no money at all was standing there with a box of newborn-sized Pampers. She apologized for not being able to get me something nice for my baby, but thought that I could use the diapers. I gave her a big hug and told her that she must have been reading my mind. After nearly 37 years, that's the baby gift I remember.

My Rav name is the same as my blogger name -- JPDeni

crafty_kat said...

The best gift I've ever received was last year. Hubby knew that I had been longing to get our likeness drawn by a local artist for years. He hates having his picture taken, let alone having to sit down and have someone draw him.
Last year though, he found out the artist in question was moving to Las Vegas, so that was the last chance to get anything done by him.
He surprised me by giving me a sitting with him, and I am now the proud owner of a portrait of hubby and me in charcoal. I absolutely love it, and I love him ^_~

Merry Christmas!

Oh, on Ravelry, I'm naelany

georg said...

I met my husband while working at an animal shelter. There was a dog there at that time who was catching every disease that went through the place- so I spent my mornings before work curled in her pen, saying, "Can ya take another bite? Can ya have a little drink?" And "Can ya make it another day so I can see you in the morning?" She made it through. When I moved in with the sweetheart, he brought the dog home with him and gave her to me. Her name became Kenya, and soon it was Kenya get off the couch and Kenya behave. :) We had 14 wonderful years with her before she died from bladder cancer last spring. And for our 10th wedding anniversary, we got a basset as old as our relationship. Our dogs are definitely the best gifts I've ever gotten.

You can see both dogs on my Flickr from the ravelry id thegeorg.

Anonymous said...

My best gift ever gotten was a baby kitten named Mango Mambo Moose Monkey Banana.She is now 8 months old.

Gioia(who love lambs and angora bunnies).

Anonymous said...

First of all - Happy Birthday Logan!!! May the year ahead be filled with smiles and joy! Everyone in my family - except me - is born quite close to Christmas (December 4 - January 3rd) - we also try to make their day special and not let it get overshadowed by the holidays!

Ok, so the best gift I've ever received....

About 20 years ago my husband and I asked our family members to not purchase anything for us for Christmas, instead to donate that money to charity; one of our favorite organizations or theirs. We have no real need for anything and wanted to turn the focus to those who do have real needs. Turns out this was a very, very difficult thing for most of our family members to grasp. Happily this year they ALL finally "got" it and we have already received holiday donation acknowledgments from each of our family members. So the best gift I've ever received is the joy of knowing that:
A child is closer to having her cleft pallet repaired (Operation Smile). Elephants will be fed for a day (The Elephant Sanctuary). Someone will be getting a hive of bees (Heifer International). A village in the third world will be getting sanitary toilet facilities (World Vision). A classroom for children with special needs will be getting art supplies (Donors Choose). A building project in Virginia will have two packets of nails for their next house (Habitat for Humanity). And two no-kill animal shelters/sanctuaries will have more funds to continue the amazing good work they do (Richmond VA's Robin Starr SPCA and Best Friends).
Christmas does not get any better than that!

Happy holidays to all from Jenna S in Richmond VA where we might actually get real snow today!! Fingers crossed!

Laura said...

Thanks for doing this - it's so much fun to read all the gift stories!

The best gift I ever received? It's a tie. One is a package of ball-shaped firecrackers a friend in high school gave me for my birthday. He'd gone through and written the name of something I didn't like (mostly having to do with school) on each one, so I could have the fun of blowing them up. He was normally a very reserved fellow, and the thought of him thinking of and taking the time to do that for me was very touching.

The second was a box of sharpened pencils from my mother. She slipped them into my college apartment. It doesn't sound very exciting - but it meant that all through college, whenever I needed a pencil to fill out a form (which usually meant it was something important, and with a tight deadline), I could lay my hands on a pencil in a hurry.

The best gift I ever gave worked out far better than I'd anticipated. In casual conversation, a friend mentioned that he thought Celtic knotwork was nifty, and that he'd probably wear a Celtic knot if he had one. So that year for Christmas, I bought him a pendant. He seemed a bit puzzled, at first - I think he forgot the earlier conversation! But later he called to tell me he'd worn the pendant to a concert by a band he really liked. After the concert, one of the musicians noticed his pendant - and he got to have a long and geeky conversation with the guy. That was a bonus I'd never expected!

VeryBadDogs

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever got was a KitchenAid stand mixer. I had wanted one for years, but couldn't afford to buy it. I certainly never expected to get one as a gift from my boyfriend, whom I had never told how much I wanted one. On our 2nd Christmas together, he brought a huge wrapped box from the car - I had no idea what it was. When I unwrapped it, I was speechless for several minutes, and when I could finally speak, all I could say was "No you didn't. No you DIDN'T!" I asked him how he knew I wanted one so much, and he said that he had noticed that every time we were in a store that sold them, I got a faraway look in my eye and he practically had to wipe the drool off my chin.

I married him, BTW.

Anonymous said...

The best gift I have ever received-
My oldest Son was in the second grade -he's 21 now- and he had the I wants really bad that year. Everything he saw on TV he wanted. I arranged to help with our church's Giving Tree. We spent a Sunday sorting gifts and delivering them to the needy. Now our family coordinates the Giving Tree. We start in early October identifying families in need - we then make 1100- yes one thousand one hundred - this year it is more- tags for our tree. Members of the church take the tags and purchase the gifts - our family - with the help of a few other families then sort and deliver the gifts to all of the families in need - we provide gifts and food baskets. We also take gifts to those in the nursing home who have no family. My four children help for three months to make others happy at holiday time - and every year - when we ask them what was the best thing about Christmas - it is always the time we spent delivering holiday happiness to those in need. This gift I received 15 years ago has changed our family's life - it really brings the meaning of Christmas to our family and reminds us of the gifts we have that we are warm and fed.

Connie - Mom24 on ravelry

HODGEPODGESPV said...

this looks like fun!

your

puddle duck

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever received was a suprise weekend away. It came after a set of grueling exams. My husband informed me that we had to visit some distant relatives. I was none too happy. Imagine my suprise when it was actually a weekend of rest and relaxation in a beautiful hotel.

Thank you to you Susan for prompting me to think of all the great gifts I have received and given over the years. With such a busy season upon us the past day of reflection has put a smile on my face and warmed my heart.

Jackie (stayinspired on Rav)

suzy smalls said...

Wow! So generous... I think the best gift I've ever given was one for my mother, aunt and uncles. I scanned lots of family recipes from my great grandmother (their grandma), along with old family photos and bound them in little books. It made me feel great to do it (plus it was fun project!) and they loved the books. Perfect...
My email is: rosemaryhoeft at gmail dot com

Thanks!
Rosemary

Claire said...

You are too generous!

Blogger seems to have eaten my previous comment - so let me wish him a happy birthday - mine is right after the holidays so I feel his pain!

The best gift I've gotten was my kitten, Spyro von Mittendorf (long stories about how that name came about). She is adorable despite the massive vet bills (she somehow got into some roach bait and her kidneys got all messed up)!!

Unknown said...

I don't need anything from Tiffany's...but I really love the story of the best gift I ever gave. Several years ago, I had really close friends, married almost one year, whose anniversary was coming soon. They had been going through a really rough time, he was in graduate school, she was being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As a result, they had huge medical bills, and fast dwindling income as she could no longer work. I knew that he wanted to mark their first anniversary, but didn't have any money! Her wedding ring was a plain band & I had a small antique platinum and diamond anniversary band in my jewelry box that was too small for me, and too delicate for my hands. I knew it would look so much better on her than me, and mean so much to her! The best part of the gift? I gave the ring to him, not her, so he could give his wife something not only pretty and thoughtful, but to re-affirm his love and commitment to her. And she really needed to hear that he was still crazy about her, despite her illness. She still doesn't know that the idea (or the ring) came from me!

Fanamama said...

My best Christmas ever was in 1993 when we adopted our first child from Colombia. We returned to the States with her on 12/23 and placed her, in her infant carrier, under the Christmas tree. She is the best thing that ever was under my tree! and now she is the oldest of three, all adopted from Colombia. My husband and their father left us and moved to Europe and these kids have saved my life once again. They've helped me keep it all together through these rough two years since he left and now I'm in grad school and working again! This year will be our second best Christmas because we all have each other!
Hugs from Lisa in Buffalo

e.marie said...

Such a thoughtful giveaway! And I've spent the last 20 minutes enjoying reading through the comments (and occasionally tearing up!).
I too am a big fan of giving, especially when you have that "Yes!" moment finding the perfect gift. And the hunt is on for a gift for my little sister, after I received the perfect gift from her for my birthday this year. She told me to request a couple days off work at the end of July for a surprise. I knew it was a concert or something similar, because she referred to buying tickets, but she wouldn't tell me anything else, except "You're going to pee yourself when I tell you. You might even cry."
Turned out they were tickets to see Eddie Izzard, one of my favorite actors and comedians. Second row center, no less. And not only was the show wonderful and hilarious, but we had such a good time together, dressing up and going out for drinks before the show, laughing like crazy together, and getting small matching tattoos the following day. She probably doesn't realize that the best gift is that the skinny brat who used to annoy me, steal my makeup, and read my diary is now my best friend. But the challenge has been issued: her birthday is in April, and I'm determined to find something that will make her pee herself, and/or cry : )

(english on rav)

Anonymous said...

I just had to share my best gift ever, from my now 7 year old daughter. When she was 4 she made me a beautiful card, not just colored with crayons, but it included, painting, gluing on of found objects from nature (my favorite)and her self portrait.
Please don't include my in the Tiff. Drawing, because things are tight for us now, and I'd feel really odd about spending on jewels instead of on the kids.
Ravelry = knitngreen

Anonymous said...

The best gift I ever got was from my mom for my college graduation. I wanted a car (used, cheap) but she could not afford one, even though she knew it was the only thing I actually needed at that time. So she told me she would pay for the first half of my student loan debt. This turned into the 2nd greatest gift I've ever gotten, when, upon paying off half of the loan, my mom refused to allow me to take on the second half of the loan. I have lived debt free since college, and now only have my graduate school loan to pay off, which I am financially very capable of affording, thanks to her generosity over a long period of time. So perhaps that's really 3 gifts, in total? Oh, and my mom, I count her as a gift... So 4, then. OK, now everything is starting to seem like a gift--Susie--was that the point of this request? Regardless, thanks for the reminder!

Anonymous said...

(OOPS! the student loan gift story is from bewts on ravelry)

Anonymous said...

Ciaobella (on Ravelry) remembers the look on her mom's face at her surprise 60th birthday party. It was the best gift Ciaobella ever gave or received.

Ciaobella flew in from Italy, staying low and hiding in the bathroom during the initial surprise. As Mom admired the knitted chocolate birthday cake and wondering who did it, Ciaobella strolled out of ladies room!

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite gifts came from my older two boys a few years ago. They pooled their money and were very sneaky about buying me a very cute stuffed sheep (they named ("Diggy"). Diggy is extra plush and very cuddly! I love this gift because the boys knew how much I want sheep and thought this would hold me until I could get the real thing. :) Jen

Alwen said...

Boy, the best gift I ever got was the Barbie when I was about 8. Why was this one the best? Because we were in the deep recession of the 1970s, my dad was laid off half the time, and my mom had warned us kids not to expect a whole lot for Christmas. So when I unwrapped that black vinyl Barbie box, I was so amazed and so happy.

It sounds kind of dumb to type it out, but I still remember how happy I was to open that box.

(I'm alwen on Ravelry or reachable via my blog.)

Unknown said...

Fun Chance!

Best gift given: Yarn CSA share

Best gift received: Stanley #45 combination plane

Jennifer Ryan

Heidi said...

My favorite gift, is the paperweight that sat on my grandfather's desk when I was a child. It's simple with a blown glass bottom and an etching of a house that reads " Home Sweet Home" After my grandfather died and my family was breaking up my grandparents home I asked for it. Everyone acted like it was nothing and promised to give me someone of "real value". All I wanted was that paperweight and was so sure I was going to get the silverware instead. You can imagine my joy when it arrived (along with the silverware) and to this day it is proudly displayed on my desk. This little paperweight makes me feel connected to my upbringing.

Raverly name Browndogknits

MJ said...

When I started making pottery my friend Kath was so supportive. I gave her a "butterfish"; a butterdish in the shape of a cartoon fish with individual scales and big red lips.
She laughs her wonderful laugh every time she looks as it, which makes me feel like a successful potter.

mudlarque

Michelle said...

The best gift I ever received was from my husband - I've always liked to sprawl out on the carpet and read the paper, or a magazine, or a book, or whatever...but we got rid of our carpets and put in hardwood. So for my birthday he contacted a futon maker and had them make me a lovely custom mat (not as thick as a futon you would sleep on) stuffed with wool, that I can sprawl out on, and then roll it up and put it aside when I am done with it. I thought it was so thoughtful. :)

Michelle (meezercat on Rav)

Anonymous said...

Best gift given= anything hand knit

Best received= My wedding ring

CJ or Jollyewe on Rav

Anonymous said...

Susan, you are too much!

My best gift ever was from my grandmother. For our wedding, she gave Jim and me a rocking chair. But it wasn't just any old chair -- it was an antique one that had belonged to my great-grandparents. There were two of them: one in my grandmother's living room, and one that had been in the basement for years because it needed some TLC. So, for our wedding, she gave it that TLC: my uncle stripped it, repaired all the loose joints and fixed the warped rocker, and my grandmother re-caned the seat and back of the chair (one of those long-lost arts that not many people do anymore!). They decided to leave it unfinished so that I could finish it however I wanted, and I did that on the deck of our first home. It's a beautiful chair, and what's even more beautiful is the time and love that have gone into it over the generations.

Anonymous said...

my greatest gift arrived 5 years ago, my daughter, charlotte. She's a gift which keeps giving. She's taught me a lot about patience, compassion, love, and more than I can enumerate.
rave name= TeresaEn

Snicklefritz said...

What a generous giveaway!

Best gift given: hand-knit baby items for some of my nieces and nephews.

Best gift received: a tough one, but probably $$$$ from mom and dad to help pay for college.

Anonymous said...

Best gift given: for my second oldest sister before her bunion surgery, my sister and I got her shoe stretchers with moveable bunion inserts. :)

limrgrt on aol

Anonymous said...

Best gift received: MVFF spring share from older sister!!

Best gift given: first knitted sweater to older sister back when I was in fourth grade - complete with mistakes because all I knew was how to go forward!

lidween on aol

Dana S. Whitney said...

Our kitty (from the shelter) that Darling Husband named Puppy. We often go to the shelter to see "who" is there... and this one time, he just said... I know you wanted a kitty and today's the day. Totally surprised and pleased.

Sultry on Flickr
Knitting Painter Woman on Google stuff.

Anonymous said...

WOW, How very generous of you and kind. A very nice thought. I have received many wonderful gifts from loved ones but the one I'm thankful for every day(in winter) is the long down coat my husband gave me . Living in Minnesota it is so appreciated every day in winter. It keeps me oh soooo warm. Happy holidays to you and all of yours.

Anonymous said...

One of my best gifts was a very intricate tin angel my husband made me. Its arms are outreached and her heart is open. I put a candle behind it and the light shines through the heart. Along the bottom of her dress it looks like beams of sunlight breaking through the clouds.It means so much to me, I keep it out all year long and love to look at it while it glows.

Anna Dorothy said...

wow!!

favorite gift given: i got a hammock for my mother..she really wanted one and loves it!

MIQuilter said...

When I was fairly young (around 11 or 12) I made a cross stitched "Home Sweet Home" for my mother for Christmas. It had only those three words on it and was framed using canvas stretcher bars. It made her cry (in a good way) She had it hung in her sewing room for over 15 years until it was so shabby and beaten up that it had to be discarded. That year, I again made a cross stitched "Home Sweet Home" for her. Only by that time I was out of college and had money and skills. So it said that and also had silk embroidery flowers and was professionally framed. She cried again. I love making her cry when she opens presents :)

(I'm mkaston on Ravelry)

goodkarma said...

Without question, the best gift I've ever given or received was my baby girl. It was such a leap of faith on my husband's part to have our baby and now he is so deeply in love with our fun, witty, sunny 2.5 year old girl. I'll never forget the day she came into our lives!

Anonymous said...

the best gift I ever recieved was my cross country skis. i love skiing through the woods with my dogs--getting out and enjoying the winter. there were a spurge but i love them!

JuliaA said...

i keep coming across your blog--through rav, through etsy...and it always makes me smile to see it again. i should bookmark it!

best gift i ever gave. my mom wasn't the sort to have a lot of pictures of us, but she loved pics.

so i sorted through all the pics that my dad had taken of my sister and i since 1970, and picked out five of each of us--as babies, as toddlers, around 5-ish, around 10-ish, and teen/adultish. i bought two frames that would hold a series of five photos each and had them shipped to my sister's house, where the whole family was getting together for xmas.

after mom and dad had gone to bed on xmas eve, i took the pics, put them in the frames, and wrapped them. on xmas morn there was this huge gift under the tree. when my mom opened it, she cried. she has both frames up in their family room now..she loves them.

juliaa (juliaa.etsy.com)

|chee-uh| said...

The best gift ever was my first gift from Santa. A BIG stuffed fluffy dog from Macy's.

Mari said...

wow what a gift! I am probably too late, but still wanted to leave a comment. Best gift ever- my trip to Ireland from my husband! Still the best gift I have ever received. :)

Cindy said...

The best gift I ever got and hope will get for years to come is spending Christmas eve with my family. Have a good holiday yourself.