What I Got For Christmas

In my family we've given up giving big gifts. This year we reduced it even further, to only stocking stuffers. Still, I got some very nice things.

My brother and Carla gave me a tea kettle with apples painted on it. I think that was probably a little bit more than a stocking stuffer, but maybe they were figuring that if each of them had given a $6.00 item it would have made up to that. Anyway, I really like it, since apples are the motif in my kitchen. They also gave me a bottle of their home made wine.

My brother Ross gave me a set of very nice salad spoons from Ikea.

My brother Robb gave me a really good quality can opener. He was over for Thanksgiving and had had to use my crappy can opener. Next time he can use this good one! He also added a few nifty $1.00 sewing toys.

My mom gave me an insulated lunch bag. And a box of flavored herbal tea. And a pair of socks. And $30.00 to buy something I wanted.

I took that money and bought a cute Christmas tea pot (on sale 75% off) and everything I needed to make myself a rag rug for my livingroom.

That's a list of things I got. Material things. The real gifts were the hours I spent with Ross wandering around downtown Fargo looking at the cute shops that have started down there. It's the relief that all the family members got along for 6 hours. It's being sad that Gina, Bill and Abbey, and our nephew Joshua couldn't come because of bad roads in the Cities, but happiness that they were able to get back home safely after nearly going in the ditch several times. It's watching the old home movies from thje 50s and 60s and hearing my mom say "Oh, that's your Cousin Sophie" and "Do you remember your dad's Uncle Joe?" Stange, look how young and attractive my parents were before they had 6 kids. It's the look of interest and appreciation on Carla's face when the kitchen cordial book was unwrapped. Why is it that the least expensive gift is always the favorite? I had debated whether or not to give that little book, since I had picked it up for 99 cents in Canada. Same thing happened a couple years ago when I gave Ross a 25 cent cup with a goat on it. It just goes to show that it's not how much money was spent that makes a gift special. It's how well it matches the recipient.