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  5 0 When I was in maybe the second grade my aunt - childless and not too clear about "age appropriateness" - got me a stack of books. Most of them were well beyond my reading level at the time. Over the course of the next fifteen years I slowly worked my way through it: Oliver Twist, To Kill a Mockingbird, Wuthering Heights...I can't remember them all now, but they were all awesome. Only To Kill a Mockingbird was accessible to me at age eight, but the pleasure of returning to that stack over the course of half my life has been immeasurable. Bestest present ever. TVDinner Redux answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Sphinx… 2 0 Get 'em while they're young, that's what I always say! Then again, my three year old niece hardly even bothers to greet me at the door anymore before she runs to the bookshelf and demands to be read a story, so that strategy might be backfiring... Seriously though, I am thankful every day that I grew up in a house full of packed bookshelves. Sphinx commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  4 0 Great question, Gloria! As a child: When I was four years old, my parents bought me the full-size playmobil victorian dollhouse. It was the best present ever-I played with that dollhouse regularly until I was almost 14 (blush, blush....but seriously, best present ever). Over the years, friends and family gave me more and more sets and pieces to go with it. For an imaginative child, it was awesome. I acted out scenes from books, made up my own soap-operaesque stories, and made many of my own accessories with fimo, wood, fabric, etc. I still have it, and I intend to pass it down to my kids when I have them. As an adult: When I was little, my family lived in a tiny house without running water or electricity in Northern Idaho (yes, my parents are hippies). We hauled our own water and did have a generator for occasional use, but most of our light was supplied by kerosene lamps. We moved to Spokane when I was six, and the kerosene lamps became more or less obsolete (except during the Ice Storm). One day in Hardwick's with my boyfriend, I saw their awesome Aladdin lamps and mentioned that kerosene lamps remind me of my childhood. Lo and behold, when Christmas came around months later, he had bought me a beautiful, huge, green (my favorite color) Aladdin kerosene lamp. I smile every time I see it. Sphinx answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  3 0 When I was about three years old my Mom and I were walking down the street when a big, expensive, car pulled up beside us. A woman got out of the car and handed my mother two huge shopping bags full of toys. We were really poor back then, and without this anonymous stranger it would've been a sparse year. This was back in the 1960's, and we were poor hippies living in San Francisco. One of those bags contained a giant can of Tinker Toys. We still have them - and my Sister's grandchildren are playing with them right now. Rhias Hall answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Sphinx… 0 0 This is such a neat story, Rhias. Sphinx commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  3 0 Not to sound incredibly cheesy but... My partner had cardiac arrest from a freak thing this year but made it out alive. So I say having him around today is by far the best Christmas gift ever! When I was a kid, I got a Transformer (the police car, not sure what his name was). I knew my parents couldn't afford it but they bought it for me anyways. It meant alot to me that they would save for it... myjourney answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Rev.Enant… 0 0 Prowl. ;) Rev.Enant commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 A boxed set of CS Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia when I was 12. 6th grade. Maybe 1978? I came from a big family, near the bottom, so we hardly had anything we could "own" as individuals -- it usually got used up too fast or broken or lost. And we had one bookcase in the house for the encyclopedias and the Reader's Digest Condensed Books. I think I'd read maybe the first book of the series, knowing there were seven. I remember telling my mom that's what I wanted. And I knew what the boxy gift was, all wrapped up under the tree. Only heightened my joy at unwrapping it and knowing all seven books were there for me to read and read again and protect from my godawful siblings. I loved them so much -- even though I knew when I read them that they were subversive (that kid that gets the bye because he served an evil god? Yeah, that's not happening in real Christendom. If jesus ain't your way, you got no way). What I loved even more for the story was CS Lewis's Space Trilogy, which I acquired sometime later. Introduced me to science fiction, which I've always loved more than fantasy. Except for that boxed set. Anyway, my mom died a Christmas and a half later. I always associate those books with her, because I'm sure I had other things on the list and somehow she knew they would be the things that stuck. And when the collector's edition came out ten-twenty years back or so, I discovered that my set was not the way the author intended, but in chronological order of the events in the books. Ever since then, you pick up a box set and the order's all screwed up. The movie's ain't bad, but they're not the worn out boxed set that's been on my shelves ever since that Christmas. Mary Beckman answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 2 comments by Rev.Enant and Mary Beckman… 0 0 I'm from the 'First Published Date Order' camp, myself. Rev.Enant commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 That's the order the box came in! Mary Beckman commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 As a baby, a wooden Christmas ornament shaped like a unicorn. I named her Holly when I was old enough to talk, and would make her a little dwelling in the back of our Christmas tree each year, using other ornaments (a tiny wreath, a teddy bear, a copper kettle). I've had her on my tree every year of my life since then, no matter where I go. She's in the room with me now. As a kid, probably one of those potholder weaving sets. I was a crafty kid and I loved colors and patterns. As potholders, they were worthless because they invariably shrank to be too small for that sort of use, but they made great coasters. I must have made a hundred of them...plaid patterns, rainbow patterns, houndstooth patterns...and then given them away as Christmas or birthday presents. My parents still have a drawerful they use as coasters to this day. As a teenager, the complete VHS set of David Attenborough's "The Private Life of Plants" videos, which I've watched a thousand times because I'm a plant nerd. As an adult, probably a surprise visit (from New Mexico) by the man I later married. :) Sacrelicious answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by Sphinx… 1 0 I just took all my childhood ornaments from my parents' house last Christmas, and it's absurdly comforting to sit in the living room and look at my baby ornaments sparkling on the tree. Sphinx commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 my winter sled, as a child. I served us for years and years... (No, it wasn't a Rosebud, but it sure was a dandy...) got it in about 1960. It's still around! PS: If you can't get to your parents' house to go look for the thing, by all means, go onto Ebay and buy yourself another one. Just looking and handling one identical to your memory will reward you.. and I'll bet you can even find one that has already been "broken in" by some kid. Go for it! "Cagey" answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Losing my virginity my junior year in high school over winter break. Thanks again Bill L____ The Doctor answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 I received a Baby Chrissy doll with long red hair like mine. She was big enough to wear my baby sisters' clothes. I think I was about five. She slept in bed with me and my dad used to pretend that he couldn't tell us apart and kiss her goodnight. About a year or so later, one of those baby sisters ripped Chrissy's head off. My mom tried to glue it back, but couldn't find any glue that would work on the weird fleshly rubber of the doll neck, so that was the end of Baby Chrissy. I think I cried all the way until my next birthday, when I got an original Blythe doll (also a redhead! but with awesome fashion!) Now I cry wishing I still had my Blythe, because those things sell for thousands of dollars. http://www.crissyandbeth.com/babycrissy.html Luckier answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 My dad got me a mountain bike for Christmas in 1987 and my life has been better for it since. I can't say how important and memorable all of the experiences I've had on that bike, and the many others I have had since then. inquisitive206 answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Well, I got it on New Year's Eve, actually. A marriage proposal from my partner (now my husband). 10,000 Stars answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Mr. Machine. The original model, oops, I am really dating myself now. It was a windup walking (well, legs moving on wheels) robot that you could take apart and put back together and all of the inner workings were visible through a clear body. It was a cool toy at good time of my life. I don't know what happened to it. A few years ago I started seeing them on Ebay and realized there was also a second model that was brought out 18 years later (not the same in subtle ways). To get an original cost a lot of money, but I looked at them when they came up for sale. Then about 6 years ago an original design model was brought back (made from the original molds, etc.). I bought one. It is around my house somewhere (in the box). I enjoyed handling it and remembering, but, as with most things it is better in my memory than trying to recreate the experience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Machine Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 3 When I was a young boy, I desperately wanted an air rifle. When I told my mom, she turned me down in no uncertain terms. In an attempt to sway her through other authority figures, I wrote an essay about it for my teacher Miss Shields. She gave me a C+. Sadface. When I asked for it from the Santa Claus at the local department store, that insensitive clod told me off for wanting something with such a capacity for violence. Then he kicked me down the escalators. It was a Christmas bummer. Luckily, on Christmas morning, my dad (a man of fine tastes) snuck it under the tree without tipping off my mom. Score! I immediately took it outside for some test shots, and uh... Had an unfortunate icicle accident. The Red Ryder Range model BB gun was the greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive. But I still hold a grudge about my mother's callous disregard of my desires. "You'll shoot your eye out!" Whatever, you controlling harpy. Anyway, that's my Christmas story. kitschnsync answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report 1 comment by "Cagey"… 1 0 I got it...within the first paragraph, but I wasn't sure until Mrs. Sheilds came up. Nice jo, Kits... "Cagey" commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 3 Best gift ever was a few years ago when I got snow tires from my parents!!! I was sooo genuinely happy (unlike other Christmas's where you fake joy) as I needed winter tires SO bad! That year my brother also bought me doggy paw floor mats for my car, and I was also super happy. http://teethbrilliant.blogspot.com/2010/12/teeth-brilliant-get-brilliant-white.html lewisquckel answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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