I have had some great ones and I love anything that comes from the heart.
But one of the coolest gifts I ever got was from an old boyfriend. I was sick with a pretty rough thing for over 3 weeks and I could not work. He brought me home a puppy after work one day. I don't know why but I remember that as a very important gift at a difficult time in my life and that puppy gave me something to focus on until I got better.
The best gift given was the time I met a guy at a bus stop, I was 18, and he needed money to get to Chicago and was 5 dollars short. I only had $10 in my account but gave him a check anyway. He promised to pay me back and was so grateful. My friends thought I was nuts because with a check he had my address (they thought he might come kill me or something) but I still believed he would pay me back. 3 weeks later he sent me a $5 dollar bill with a letter about how grateful he was and that was such a difficult time for him. He said he thought I was an angel in disguise. Sometimes we never know how something small is going to help someone.
best gift ever received - unexpected ice climbing trip in ouray, colorado.
best gift given - cut, split, hauled and stacked a few cords of firewood for an elderly neighbor
bumper sticker - honk if you will pay my mortgage
"The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." attributed to Margaret Thatcher
"A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government." Thomas Jefferson
Best gift received...the surprize birthday party complete with homecooked dinner my dad threw me for my 10th birthday.
Best gift given...I enjoy giving so much that I hope a lot of the folks I've given to will tell me their gift was the best they've ever received. My favorite was a few years ago when I gave my mom a statue of Santa Claus hoisting an angel baby in the air...in remembrance of my sister whose birthday was Christmas Day and who was murdered 8 days prior to her 9th birthday.
I had serious complications during my second pregnancy. I had been told for months that my son had very little chance of surviving his birth and if he did survive he would have severe health challenges. On December 22, 1984 I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. On December 25th I wrapped my little boy in his blanket and stuffed him into a huge Christmas stocking the volunteers at the hospital had made. At the top of the stocking in glitter and glue they had written the words "God's Gift". He is the ultimate gift to me outside of the Gift God gave us over 2,000 years ago, his son, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas ya'll!