What's the best gift you gave this year?

[Kat45]

I'm going to cheat a little on my answer--it was a gift for a Christmas-time birthday rather than for the holiday itself. A friend from college turned 50 and his wife gave him a surprise party. A few months ago, I happened to find some old Kodak instamatic photos, most of which were from parties in the early eighties. He was in several of the photos, one of which was from a party held for him; these photos included a pic of a cake someone made for him: the cake was a nude female torso, complete with big breasts and "pubic hair." He looked pretty wasted in all the photos, whether he had a beer in his hand or not. I had the photos scanned into computer and made copies of them, then I gave him one of those small personal photo albums with the photos in them.

Many of the folks at the party were also college friends, and everyone got a kick out of seeing pictures from over 20 years ago. Funny thing is, someone waas reminiscing about that very cake earlier at the party.

It was a great gift, and it only cost a few bucks, which was about all this underemployed person could afford. I was so happy to give this to him and I truly enjoyed the reaction to it.

[DeepGreen]

1. Love n/t

[Kat45]

2. That's the best gift anyone could give--or get.

[DeepGreen]

3. Thank You,,, and I was given Love in return :) n/t

[Kat45]

8. Even better.

:-)

[Bertha Venation]

4. Shocked hell outta my sisters -- told them I'm going home to CA for my

birthday this year. February. Woo hoo!

[n2mark]

5. Gave my son

Sirius radio for car and home with a three month subscription.

[Kat45]

7. That's a pretty cool gift.

Is he going to be listening to Howard Stern?

[DeepGreen]

11. We are thinking about getting Sirius

Is it working well? Does your son like it ??
thoughts????

[OhioBlue]

28. Got my B/F Sirius for Christmas this year

works great as long as you can put the antenna outside (for us). When we had it inside, we kept losing the signal.

[DeepGreen]

32. Thanks OhioBlue

I was wondering about that. We live in an apartment and do
not know (at this time) how to get an antenna setup.

BTW,,, I was born and raised in central Ohio :)

[OhioBlue]

35. might work on the window sill if you are up high

we are on the first floor, surrounded by trees.

I live between Cleveland & Columbus.

[DeepGreen]

36. Thanks Again

I was born in Columbus (Grant Hospital). After leaving
there, I lived in Newark for 20 years.

Take Care

[Kat45]

6. Cool! That should be a fun birthday.

[Bertha Venation]

10. Yep. We're going to CA Adventure. We've all been to D'land about

a hundred times, but no one's been to California Adventure yet.

I haven't seen either of my sisters in nearly two years. OUCH. :cry:

[Left Is Write]

9. I don't think I gave anything really that great this year.

I gave my husband a retro-looking watch he'd pointed out to me a couple of months before Christmas. I gave my oldest daughter the makings of a "Senior memory book" - a scrapbook in navy blue (her school colors are navy and gold), alphabet stickers in her school colors, scrapbook pens and a few embellishments, and about 10 disposable cameras to capture some of those memories. I also gave her extra pages to set aside for people to sign for her. She really liked the whole package.

[Kat45]

15. That's a really nice gift for your daughter.

She will enjoy making the scrapbook, and then she'll have it as a memento of high school that she can cherish always.

[elfin]

12. Bulgari Black Shower gel to a friend

It is a unisex luscious smelling goo, which was featured in Janet Evanovich's latest book where Stephanie Plum hides out in sexy Ranger's apartment unbeknownst to him. When she would go into the office, her co-workers would think she finally had something good going with Ranger, because she smelled like him.

My friend and I race to see who can read the latest in this series first and got a hoot over this plot. When I gave it to her I said "Now you can smell like Stephanie.... and Ranger."

[Kat45]

16. I'm not familiar with Janet Evanovich.

What type of book series is it that she writes?

[yellowdogintexas]

24. hilariously funny light mystery series: first book in the series is

"One for the MOney"

you will laugh until your sides split and there are 10 books in the series.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. plane ticket for my husband to be here Christmas Day

Got my daughter some movies she wanted.

it was a low key holiday.

But I did some volunteer work and that was really the best gift.

[Kat45]

17. That ticket is a gift to your husband and your family.

Does your husband work elsewhere? Coming home for Christmas is great. Did you volunteer to serve Christmas dinner somewhere? I've done that with folks from my church for regular dinners at a homeless shelter nearby.

[yellowdogintexas]

23. My husband is in Wyoming, working on an oilfield, been up there pretty

much continuously since April, except for 3 weeks in June and over Christmas for the holiday weekend. I have spent two weeks up there while I was unemployed.

My volunteer work was shopping for a poor family with funds from my Sunday School class, and then wrapping everything with another friend from the class) and serving chili lunches at my church to street people, shelter residents and other underprivileged persons (the week before Christmas )

[JohnKleeb]

14. A CD and a Book to two friends

[Kat45]

18. Which ones?

(The CD and book, not the friends.) :-)

[Hans Delbrook]

19. I had all our childhood Super 8 movies transfered to DVD for my parents

And gave them a DVD player to watch it on. They were genuinely touched and my brothers also thought it was great. My Mom said she and my Dad thought they'd never see those movies again.

[Kat45]

20. That is great!

I can just imagine how thrilled your parents were with that gift.

[Hans Delbrook]

22. Yep, even my Dad

...who is not a real sentimental guy seemed to get a kick out of seeing those movies again.

(I have to admit I got a copy for me too.)

[kittycat1164]

21. I gave my SIL and MIL gifts they loved

All of us reeeally love the book "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" Mitch Albom was the keynote speaker at ALA (American Library Association) and I asked one of the librarians where I work if he could get me a signed copy since he was going to the conference. Well, as it turns out, he got me three copies, two signed and one personalized to me. The personalized copy was a gift from him to me, and the other two I paid for and I gave to my in laws. How cool!

[Kat45]

25. That's great! I got that book for Christmas last year.

The priest that I work for gave it to me. I still haven't had a chance to read it yet; have had hardly any reading time this past year. I think they made a TV movie of the book.

[kittycat1164]

31. oh, take the time

please! It is an amazing book. It's a very easy read, one night should do you. Jon Voight was unbelievable as Eddie in the movie. If/When you read it, I'd love to see what you thought.

[Skittles]

26. non-electric can opener, headphones for TV, flashlight

the three wishes of the senior gal in low income apartments I adopted. I added some nice stuff too. :D

[Kat45]

27. That's great. I'm sure you made her day.

I see that kicking ass is not your only talent. :-)

[Lex]

29. I splurged and got Sirius Satellite Radio for my Dad.

.
He wanted to listen to Air America Radio without streaming it through the computer.

He's a 'blue' guy in a 'red' state, so I wanted to get him the hook-up to Air America so he could listen anytime he wanted (in the car or in the house).

He LOVES it.

He was postively sick of being subjected to the idiotic Pigboy Rush all over the radio when he turned it on.

[smbolisnch]

30. A 1 gallon shop vac to my mother in law!

She really wanted it :)

[Jessica]

33. For my Mom ...

She has an antique cat cookie jar that belonged to her mother, who passed away a few years ago. She purchased the matching salt & pepper shakers, but couldn't find the creamer/pitcher anywhere. I tracked one down & gave her a great surprise. She actually had tears in her eyes -- she said it was her favorite Christmas present ever. Pretty nice. :D

[ellie]

34. Mine too was for a December birthday

All year my mom was talking about how she wanted to buy this desk. She is on a fixed income and it was 300 dollars, so it was expensive. Her birthday is Dec. 30, so I arranged for my brothers and sisters to go in on it and buy it for her. We wrapped it up and gave it to her on Christmas, singing Happy Birthday. She was so surprised and thrilled. It was great! Yesterday, my DH put it together and it looks really good. I love giving presents.