Favorite gift, 2008

Am wearing my CuJo jersey now... does that count?

Showtunes?

 

You got a desk? Tell me more.

 

Dead. To. HC.

Mine will sound sappy to a lot of you, but what the heck: A scrapbook containing a collection of some small-town hack's bylined stories from her first real newspaper job, lovingly assembled by said hack's dear mother. BASW it ain't, but knowing someone cares enough to do something like that ... yeah. (Even if she did tell me a little white lie about not getting our fall sports tab with her copy of the paper, because she needed a second one for her devious plot ...)

Running a close second was the smile on Mom's face as she held my nephew -- her first grandchild -- on his first Christmas.

 

To start with the cliche stuff, definitely my kids waking me at 7 a.m. to see what Santa brought them. It's all about the kids when you've got them. Honorable mention also goes to the "Arrested Development" Bluth's Banana Stand T-Shirt I really wanted (with "Mr. Manager" on back) and two books: McCarthy's "The Road" and Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk - How Randomness Rules Our Lives."

Now, my favorite LOL gift: My almost 8 y.o. daughter wrapped an info card about gerbils (photo of a gerbil on front, fun facts about them on back) and put it in my stocking. It looked like a gift card all wrapped up. When I opened it, I cracked up. What a little sassy, fun-loving personality my baby girl has!!

 

My sister's ex-husband found some video he had shot when my dad was alive. He's been dead five years, and these were from 1991 when he was 61 and relatively young and strong. My sister had them put on DVDs and sent me copies. I thought it might depress me to watch him walking and talking, but it didn't. There's also footage of me playing with my year-old niece -- she turns 18 tomorrow.

 

I bought myself an island.

More than a few ladies sent me naked photos, too.

 

Frank, that sounds like one of those gifts that just doesn't have a value. My dad's been gone almost 25 years and my eyes still water up thinking about him and looking at old pictures, so I can't imagine how you didn't get depressed watching those videos. At the same time, there's nothing I wouldn't do to have some old videos of my dad. There's just one in existence where he's in the shot for about two seconds. What a great, great gift.

 

Speaking of old pictures, as the sixth of six kids, with the closest 11 years older, I used to dig out my parents' photo albums all the time when I was young to look through all the family pictures. Since I never got to grow up with any of my siblings, those photos were the only connection I had to them for a long time.

 

This is my favorite gift. I dig the Subway coupons and the Family Guy DVDs and the Coors Light 30-pack. But I've been eying this Brooks Robinson picture for almost two years. My ex-girlfriend and I were walking through the mall together back in October, and I nearly bought it. It's a good thing I didn't because she picked it up in April.

 

Aside from my daughter, a Patagonia R4 jacket from my in-laws. Cash from my dad to build a garage/storage building is 1a.

 

It's weird, because you'd think videos like that would make you depressed, but our home movies have always seemed to lift my spirits higher than anything. I will hear my grandfather's voice in my head 'til the day I die, but listening to it on video is another experience entirely.

Now, if only I could get my sister to send me the damn DVDs she promised to make copies of two months ago ...