Good and Perfect Gifts

"We give gifts to remember the best gift we'll ever receive, Christ. None of the gifts can top that, but we still enjoy being on the look out for something to make our loved ones smile." ~Kathie

When I do a giveaway where I invite you to share stories with me, I'm always so blessed by the comments and stories you share. This Christmas giveaway is no different. (If you haven't entered yet, you can still throw your name in the hat by leaving a comment here with a way to contact you or by e-mailing me from my website. Deadline to enter is December 31.) 

The above comment is from one of my newsletter readers. Kathie likes finding at least one gift every year that will "knock the socks" off the person who receives it. That's the kind of gifts most of us want to give, but it doesn't always happen as evidenced by the gift stories I shared on Sunday.But Kathie loves finding gifts to please her family. 

"I always love to find at least one special gift each Christmas. Something that I just know will knock the socks off the recipient. ....I never really know what that special gift will be until I see it. If I find at least ONE, then I feel like I've succeeded."

Cathie's husband succeeded with a best gift one year. Here's her story. 

"I think the best gift I have ever received was a kitten (total surprise) from my husband, who thought he did not like cats.  He was so secretive and was so excited to give me this gift.  That was true romance!"

When I asked Cathie if I could share her story, she said yes and told me more. 

"The rest of the story is, while my husband did not fall in love with that cat, (she was a one-person cat for 17 1/2 years), he loved the bond between Cecelia and myself - enough so, that he wanted his own! So, after a couple months, we got a cat for him ... Winifred -she got sick after three years and we had to put her down - sad day for Rick and he didn't want to "go through that again" - well, I waited a couple months and for his birthday in November (did you know it is hard to find young kittens in November? - ha) I gifted him a black and white persian.  Madison is now 16 1/2 and he loves her dearly." 

Love the great names Cathie gives her cats. You could imagine them in a cozy mystery. You did know cats solve mysteries, didn't you? I was at a bookstore today and saw several mystery books starring cats.

Last, here are a couple of ideas for Christmas this year or for another year. Something better than a new sweater or slippers. BJM shared her favorite gift. 

"My favorite gift was a Memory Jar that my daughter gave me one year for Christmas. In it she had written, on different pieces of paper, things she remembered growing up. Some made me laugh and some made me cry. In all it was so special to me.

I also made one for my son and daughter one year and also put pictures in theirs. You just get a nice jar with a lid, and you can decorate it or write The Memory Jar on it with a pretty ribbon tied around the top."

Another idea is for someone to prepare the memory jar and then at a big family gathering, let everybody add a memory to it for a grandmother or grandfather. 

This last is a gift Sharon gave from the heart. 

The favorite Christmas gift I gave was ten years ago. My brother died in July and for Christmas, I made a video and talked about his life growing up..  I told stories of our parents and grandparents and life before they were thought about.  The four really appreciated it and my great niece would sometimes ask to see her grandfather's video. It took many hours to write and produce, but it was worth it.

It is very true that the best gift we can give is a gift of love and time.

Hope you find some good gifts to give this year. I doubt I found any perfect gifts but I did find some gifts. Now I've got to get them wrapped. Do you like wrapping presents?

The Best Gifts are from the Heart

"The greatest gift is a portion of yourself." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I sent out my newsletter last Sunday letting my reading friends know about my Christmas giveaway contest and then I posted it here on Sunday night and the entries are rolling in. For fun, I asked you to share stories of the best or worst gift you have given anyone or perhaps received. The photo here shows the best gift a grandmother can get - a precious grandbaby. This was my first grandchild. After her, eight more came along and each got their picture under our tree as the best gift of the year. I'm not the only grandmother to feel this way and some of you have said that your best gift ever was a new baby born in December. 

As I always do when you share stories with me, I'm sharing some of them forward. 

Marcy knows that a grandbaby is the best gift ever and so this is the story she shared. "When I found out I was pregnant with my first son, it was early December (many years ago). Since my parents were both gone, I wanted to make the announcement special for my in-laws. I wrapped up little pink and blue baby socks for them for Christmas to tell them our happy news. Needless to say, they were thrilled."

What a fun way to announce a baby on the way!

Then Jane shares a best gift that she received from her mother. "I can't think of a gift I gave anyone that was the best or worst, but the best Christmas gift I ever got was a box full of baby clothes my mother bought for my first baby. He was due in April and she gave me the box for Christmas. I loved getting all the baby little things. It made that Christmas very special and you know, I still think of that gift every single year and my son is now 38 years old."

I wrote back to Jane that I remembered how much fun it was folding and refolding those little baby clothes I gathered and had in the cradle as I awaited the birth of my first baby. The little tiny t-shirts and those gowns with the drawstring bottoms. The soft yellow receiving blankets because then you didn't know if the baby would be a boy or girl until he or she made her way out into the world. Even the diapers were fun to fold then. Jane wrote back and added to her story.

"I spent some time thinking about gifts and realized that it's not always the expensive big ones but the most thoughtful ones that really are appreciated. I think that my Mom giving me that box of baby things just reinforced how much she cared and was looking forward to the baby too. I also remember looking at the little clothes and folding them over and over. Such a special time in our lives and wonderful memories."

 

Here are a couple of other sweet ideas for moms and grandmoms. Babs made a picture of her and her four boys and put it in a frame on a white mat. Then she and the boys each wrote something they loved about her mother on the mat. You can imagine how Babs' mother treasured that gift.

Ola did something sort of the same. She gave her sister-in-law, who loved jigsaw puzzles, a puzzle made from a picture of the sister-in-law's four kids. Don't you know that Mom enjoyed working that puzzle?

That's all this week, but more stories are on the way, including some worst gifts that are sure to bring smiles. If you haven't entered the contest yet, you still have plenty of time. Deadline for entries is midnight EST on December 30. You don't have to share a story to enter, but they are fun. Just let me know if you'd rather I didn't share the story forward. You can check out Sunday's post to see what the prizes are or look on my News and Events Website Page.Thanks for taking part in my Christmas fun. You are all a gift to me. 

Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness. ~Richard Bach

Christmas - a Time for Giving

Christmas is not so much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~Janice Maeditere

It's December. Already. How does it get here so quickly? It didn't used to be that way. Do you remember when you were a kid and Christmas Eve seemed like it was three days long? We always had a Christmas dinner and presents at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. My sisters and I would go over to her house and spend the day. Our aunt, who was like a grandmother to us, pretended we helped her get the meal ready. I did make the punch when I got old enough. Loved that job. Still make the same punch out of orange juice and pineapple juice every Christmas now. But anyway, we'd get everything ready. The presents would be piled under the tree with their enticing promise. Then we'd have to wait for our parents to show up. I don't know what they did on Christmas Eve but whatever it was always took them a loonng time, but it was wonderful when we finally saw them coming across the yard. We could finally eat dinner and get to those presents we were so eager to open.

Gifts of Love

Those wise men started something we all love with those gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We enjoy getting gifts, but we also love giving gifts. And with nine grandkids, I have plenty of chances to enjoy giving some Christmas gifts. I've already been out there shopping and while I was shopping for them, I also went shopping for prizes for a Christmas giveaway for my reading friends.  

Prizes for my Christmas Giveaway

The first prize is a lovely dogwood bloom pillow for the Shaker shop and the winner's choice of one of my books. Second place winner gets three Christmas novellas (pictured above), Melody Carlson's A Simple Christmas Wish, an autographed copy of Sarah's Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis, and an autographed copy of my Christmas at Harmony Hill. Then for those of you who tell me you "never win" I'll have that extra drawing with the prize a snowman pin and the winner's choice of one of my books. 

How to Enter

You can enter by sending a message from my website, www.annhgabhart.com, or by leaving a comment on my blog here with a way to contact you.  For fun, you can tell me about a gift you gave someone else that was either the best or the worst gift ever. You don't have to share a story to enter, but you can if you want. Remember, you have to say you've never won to enter the extra drawing. The contest is open to USA and Canadian addresses only (sorry, international readers) and you must be eighteen to enter. One entry per person please. Deadline for entries is midnight EST December 30.  

Newsletter and E-Book Sale Prices

I sent out a newsletter today and so I'm already getting entries. I can't wait to start reading all your stories. I'll be sharing a few of them, with permission, here in the next few weeks. By the way if you'd like to get my newsletter and be one of the first to hear about giveaways or discount prices on e-books, just let me know you want to be on my e-mail list. Today I shared the news that the e-book of The Believer was at a reduced price of $2.99 or even lower at Christianbook.com. That may have been only for Sunday. Angels at the Crossroads, the only non-fiction book I've written, is also at a reduced price for the e-book on Amazon. You can read more about both stories on my website.

The Best Gifts

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Hope you have a wonderful first week of December. And I know the kids don't want this to happen, but I need to slow December down a little to get some of those presents wrapped. :)

Books Are Still In Demand

Books are a uniquely portable magic. ~Stephen King

 

That's obviously a magic a lot of readers are still looking for as they came out to the Kentucky Book Fair in large numbers yesterday to find some of those magical stories. And most of them did carry a book made of paper out the door with them. I did have a few are your books on Kindle questions, but I also had a great time signing books for readers to carry away with them. Some were buying them as Christmas gifts. Sometimes for themselves. Books are great gifts to buy for yourself.

I had a great time sharing a table with fellow Anderson Countian, Jennifer Johnson. Jennifer and I are here posing for a picture, but we both have some to learn about publicity photos. :) Note that neither one of us thought about making sure our hands weren't covering up the titles of our books. I took another photo with Virginia Smith and Allie Pleiter that was posted on Facebook. They carefully held their books so that their hands weren't covering up the titles or the cover. So live and learn. This was Jennifer's first Kentucky Book Fair even though she's been writing and publishing for a number of years. She enjoyed meeting readers and talking to her students and former students when they stopped by her table. She teaches seventh grade and actually has one of my granddaughters in her class this year. She was a great table companion. You can check out her books at her website.

 

 

I love Book Fair. I love meeting readers and talking to other book lovers like me. I like seeing the kids carrying around new books like they've been given a prize. I like how there are so many different kinds of books at the Book Fair. There were histories and mysteries. Travel books, calendars and kids' books. Inspirational fiction like mine and Jennifer's. Then you could take home some spooky stories by my buddies, Roberta Simpson Brown and Lonnie Brown, and ghost stories by storyteller and friend, Thomas Freese.

 

Thomas is also an artist with wood. Check out the neat pins he's wearing. Here's a close up of them for you. I love the mini-tombstone that reads, "I told you my feet were killing me." Thomas is always smiling and someday I'm going to get to hear him tell those stories in person. Here's his website link if you want to check out more about him. 

 

 

But back to the fair. Santa Claus was there and so was bestselling author, Sue Grafton. Coaches Rick Pitino and Joe B. Hall showed up to sign books. And of course there were UK books for the Big Blue fans. Dave Shuffett was there with his golden retriever. My grandkids, along with a few hundred others, got to give the sweet dog a pat. And then Woody, the dachshund writer who has a little help from his friend, Leigh Ann Florence, was signing books with his paw. I got to take a photo with Woody and it's on my Facebook page. I posted one of me with Santa too. I could have given him a long list from all the books I'd have liked to take home from the Fair.

 

So, from all appearances yesterday, it seems that books and readers are still doing fine in the state of Kentucky at the Book Fair.

"I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book." ~J.K. Rowling 

Jan Watson was at the Fair yesterday too. Remember, you can be in a drawing to win autographed copies of her latest releases, Skip Rock Shallows and Tattler's Branch by leaving a comment on a post here before November 27. Those are the books Jan had at the Fair yesterday and the people who carried them home are in for some good reads.

 

The Christmas Spirit Goes On

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The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Sometimes I have a good idea and having readers share favorite Christmas memories with me was a very good idea. I have enjoyed the stories so much as I read about the things and events that have meant the most to my reading friends. One thing that dominated the stories was the memory of times with family. That's what made Christmas special for so many. A grandmother's or father's gift that shone with love. And isn't that what Christmas should show? "For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son..." Christmas is when we celebrate that first gift of love to us. 

I couldn't share all the stories, but please be sure I did read all of them and felt the joy in the telling. Since we are still in Christmas week I wanted to share forward a few more. First from Denise. " My husband and I were married in 1992. Only one of my grandmas was able to come. My other grandma was older and lived 500 miles away. She sent me a beautiful quilt for Christmas. Not everyone would think it was beautiful; Grandma always made-do with whatever fabric was on hand. I guess you could call that quilt a " quilt of many colors"  like Jacob's coat. Grandma never had much, but if you needed something, she'd give you all she had. Love was always in abundance."" 

I know about the love shown in quilts. The quilt my aunt made for me the year I was born is one of my most treasured possessions. It's good to receive great presents that show love, but it's also good to give gifts of love the way Gina and her son did on one special Christmas.

My favorite adult memory is from the first year I had a job where I made " good"  money. My son and I had so much fun buying my sisters and parents gifts that year. We didn't have to worry about money. Since my son's father had died when he was a baby, and my dad had been such a great grandfather to him, my son picked out a gold " Dad"  ring for my father and I bought my mother a beautiful music box from Neiman Marcus. It was the most expensive gift I had ever purchased for anyone, and she was so tickled by it she cried. It made our Christmas complete to know that our specially chosen gifts meant that much more because they were appreciated. My son still recalls that Christmas now and it's over 10 years later, so I know it was special to him too!

Last, let's hear from Beth who had a Christmas that didn't go quite as she planned. " My favorite Christmas gift is a diamond pendant that my husband bought for me when I wasn't really expecting anything that grand on that year because things were very tight money wise and then I ended up in the hospital on Christmas eve with kidney stones. So I say that year I received some rocks I wanted and some I didn’t."  

It's good that Beth can smile about something that couldn't have been fun at the time. I've had some Christmases like that. One when my youngest was almost two and I had so anticipated his fun opening his presents. Then he had a virus and was too sick to care what was under the tree. Another time I had the flu and couldn't take part in the festivities. But those are little things - disappointing, but not all that hard. The really hard times are those first Christmases after a loved one dies. Christmas and all the special memories of times together make the hurt of the loss keener. So thank you all for the happy, fun memories, but if you're one who had to get through a Christmas that couldn't live up to expectations because of a missing loved one or financial problems or sickness, then you are in my prayers. May the coming year ease your heart, fill it with memories of love and bring back the joy of Christmas in 2012. 

I'll draw for the winners of my giveaway before the year is out. Wish I could give you all a gift because you truly have given me a gift by sharing your stories. Happy New Year!! I'll talk to you in 2012.

The Love Behind the Gift

We had Christmas today with our two sons and their kids. The daughter comes next week. With adult children who don't live nearby, it's sometimes hard to get everybody's schedules arranged to have them all home at once. That's what this mama would like best. That's the way it was when they were little. All together. But kids grow up and have their own families. Their spouses have family to celebrate with too. I'm just glad I get to see the grandkids and my kids and my in-law kids too.


That's one of the best things about Christmas for me. Family. And I had plenty of family today even if all the kids didn't get to be there. My house was Santa Claus avenue today. Lots of presents for the little ones and the big kids too. Now boxes are stacked everywhere. Empty boxes waiting to be recycled and stored for another gift or ready for the trash bin along with those tough plastic ties they use to imprison toys in impossible plastic packaging. They must be afraid those toys are going to come to life like in Toy Story and revolt or something. Then there are the remnants of ribbons and torn bits of paper that look like confetti rained down on the floor not to mention the crumbs of cake and sticky spots of spilled drinks here and there. In other words it looks like we've had a family Christmas party.

And since we're talking about boxes - we sort of were, anyway - I want to share with you another of my favorite gift answers for my giveaway. In the giveaway the reader is entered in an extra drawing just by naming a favorite gift or Christmas memory. I shared one story last Thursday about a family who lost all their presents on Christmas Eve but still managed to have a good Christmas. This week's story is different. A smiling fun memory about a grandmother.


My reader says her grandmother always made her grandchildren nightgowns or night shirts every year and she had plenty of grandkids. Then to make the gift more fun she used various and sundry boxes to wrap them in. Like a cracker box or an oatmeal box. My reader said they always had fun comparing boxes and wondering what Grandma would come up with new each year.


I wonder today what my grandkids will remember about coming home for Christmas. That it was noisy. That there were a lot of presents. That the punch was good. (I remember that from when I was a kid. One of my favorite things.) That grandma always, always gave them a book along with some other stuff. That grammy loved them beyond measure. I hope they have good memories the way my reader did about her grandma's present in the funny boxes. Sometimes it's not the present or even the box that's most important. It's the love behind the gift.


Merry Christmas!! You are a gift to me.