Socks and Other Blessings

http://blog.absolutesocks.com/2012/12/skid-free-socks.html

We hang socks from the mantle at Christmas time in hopes that our sock will get magically filled with our favorite candy or some cute little gifts on Christmas morning. Few people hang up real socks, those kind you actually wear on your feet, for Santa to fill these days. But sometimes those real socks that keep the feet warm or look cute might be gifts you've given or received. Maybe you've knitted some socks yourself. Most youngsters aren't too happy to get socks, but my son-in-law actually asks for socks for Christmas. So socks can be a gift of love and caring and a chance to have some fun with gifts as this story from Lynn shows. 

My Christmas story..... For a number of years, my granddaughter was heavily into ballet. As you probably know, ballet can be brutal on the feet. So during those years along with a few regular Christmas gifts, I would send comfy socks, some infused with aloe to relax in and wear around the house. Camouflaging the gift so she wouldn't guess they were socks was a challenge sometimes. 

One year in particular, I sent a metal tube with a beautiful Christmas scene. The first item out of the tube wasn't a pair of socks, but connected to that first gift on a long stream of ribbon were ten different pairs of comical and/or comfy socks, each with a special wish. She was delighted. 

After a few years in succession, I thought I'd be tricky.  Instead of sending her a bunch of socks, the socks went to her mother (a very talented and caring teacher) along with funny notes. I think my granddaughter enjoyed laughing at her mother's surprised look. 

Oh yeah, I couldn't pass it up though. I gave my granddaughter a really funky pair of socks that year that looked similar to the ones seen on the cover of The Cat in The Hat. Each had individual sections to comfort each toe. So that's my Christmas story. I hope in years to come it will be a pleasant memory and a story that my granddaughter will impart to her own children at Christmas time. 

Thanks, Lynn, for sharing your "sock" story. Sounds as if socks made for some fun times around your Christmas trees and showed your love for your granddaughter.

Isabelle tells about a time when she had her eyes opened to how love can make a gift one you will never forget. Her story happened almost eighty years ago, but it's one that taught her a lesson about the true meaning of gifts at Christmas. Here's her story. 

"I don't remember any special gift I've given, but I vividly remember one I received when I was about 8 (I'm now 87). It was Christmas vacation, and I had my tonsils out then so I wouldn't miss school! I sulked and felt abused and wouldn't let anyone console me. On Christmas day, (this was during the Depression) I got up to a beautiful dollhouse my grandfather had made me out of scrap wood. My grandmother, a tailor, had upholstered furniture out of scraps. My aunts and mother and dad had made the furniture out of cardboard. It was a wonderful gift, and I am still abashed when I remember the effort and love with which they had worked while I was stomping around the house. It was an episode I've never forgotten and now I take things as they come and just feel blessed. I've a happy family, (they might disagree over politics and such), but children, grandchildren and great grandchildren always stand up for each other."

Thank you, Isabelle, for that sweet story. And a happy family is truly a blessing and a wonderful gift for a grandmother to have. 

Those are the stories for tonight. I'll be drawing for the winner of my Christmas giveaway prizes on Tuesday night. So if you haven't entered, you've got a couple more days to throw your name in my giveaway hat. You might win a prize of a pillow or books. Be sure to tell me if you "never win." That will give you a chance to win a book and snowman pin. Details on my website news & events page. 

As always, thanks for reading. I always enjoy hearing from you too. Wishing you a very happy New Year!

The Best Gift - a Happy Family All Wrapped Up in Each Other

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


The Gift of a Happy Family

Christmas is almost here for me since we are celebrating our family Christmas early. Some of my family has to travel a ways to get home and so a weekend celebration works better. Besides, the families with kids want to have time for Christmas morning around their own trees. Our children don't stay kids for long, but Christmas morning can be such a fun and joyous time with them while the magic of Christmas shines in their eyes. 

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time." ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

A Box of Rocks
How many of you have teased those in your family by telling them they aren't getting anything for Christmas but a box of rocks? Or a lump of coal in their stockings? Or even worse, a bundle of switches? Kim has a story for us about that box of rocks that gave her family some laughs.
 

"This wasn’t the best or the worst gift we ever gave, but it certainly created the most laughs. My dad was a big deer hunter and always got at least one so we could have venison throughout the year. One Christmas, my sisters and I saw three concrete statues of white-tailed deer. So we pooled our money and bought them for Mom and Dad to put in the back yard. Of course, we had to wrap them in a big box. It took all three of us to carry it from the tree to their chairs in the living room. When we dropped it (literally – that sucker was heavy!), Dad said, “What is that? A box of rocks?” Which made us all laugh, because technically that’s what it was. From that Christmas on whenever someone got a really heavy present, someone would always ask if they were getting a box of rocks."

A Gangs of New York Gift

Kim's dad enjoyed that "box of rocks." But sometimes when we're thinking about what to get for a mom or dad, we forget that our sisters or brothers might be thinking of the same gift. My sister-in-law and I bought my husband's mother the same thing for Christmas so often that it became a kind of family joke. After a couple of years, you'd think we could have figured out that a phone call might be in order to see what the other one was getting for my mother-in-law. Maybe we thought she needed two of whatever. Instead, on Christmas Day, we just hoped she picked our present to open first. :) Annemarie tells about something the same happening in her family that still has them laughing.

"I have a fun story that isn't really a best or worst, but one that could have been disappointing but instead caused a lot of laughter and a family story. A few Christmases ago my Dad sent out his Christmas list. He is always hard to buy gifts for because he doesn't really ask for much. There are 4 of us siblings and we all want to get him something he likes and hopefully not a repeat. That happens occasionally because there isn't a lot on his list. Well, that year I picked up a book he had on his list and a video "Gangs of New York".

   Christmas Eve came and we were opening gifts and it was my Dad's turn. He opened a few gifts and then one from my youngest brother.....yes, it was "Gangs of New York." So I was disappointed that we had a repeat of the gift. The next gift he opened was from my sister and it was...."Gangs of New York".

    So, now I'm trying not to laugh out loud because I knew what was coming. Sure enough, my present was next and we all had a laugh when he opened it and it was " Gangs of New York." When my other brother's gift turned out to be the same video we were all in hysterics and the phrase "Gangs of New York" became a family catchphrase that really takes away the disappointment of a duplicate gift. We all remember that Christmas when my Dad received 4 copies of the same video. And to this day hope that our gift will not turn out to be a "Gangs of New York" gift.

More than Gifts

It might have been the same gift, but it showed they were all wanting to please their dad. And isn't that what we all want when we're hunting gifts for our loved ones? We want our gifts to show our love. And then we find out that, although we love giving gifts and getting those loving gifts, Christmas is more than gifts. 

 

Take it from the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas. "Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" (How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss) And that's because of the perfect gift born in a stable long years ago. A perfect gift of love. 

Merry Christmas to all of you! And thank you for the stories you've shared with me. Your stories and comments mean so much to me. You still have time to enter the giveaway if you haven't. You can see more about in on my website, www.annhgabhart.com. Check out the News and Events page there. Enter by sending me an e-mail or by leaving a comment here with a way to contact you if you turn out to be one of the winners. 

And keep hunting for that great gift. You've still got a few shopping days left!