Christmas Giving 2019

We had a lovely Christmas (and it isn't over yet -- our older son and his family will be here in a couple of days).

My sister and I were talking about our childhood Christmases and visiting with family and as we recalled, the emphasis on the visiting had to do with showing what we had received. In retrospect, it seemed very strange.

This year, my favorite gift that I gave was to my older granddaughter. Our family is deeply invested in Pride and Prejudice, watching the Masterpiece version a couple of times a year and going to see local productions. It is already deeply ingrained in Caroline. So this little book filled her with delight!

My son-in-law teaches American history. I no longer remember how I stumbled on the Pez series of Presidential dispensers, but I was thrilled to make the discovery and purchase for him the most obscure presidents. Who knew that such a thing could be found?

My wild and wonderful friend Karla had posted on Facebook an article about a group who went out to breakfast together and each left a $100 tip for the server.  She wanted to get a group together to do this locally on Christmas Eve. 

What a wonderful time we had! There were four of us and Karla had chosen a hole-in-the-wall kind of place with a downtrodden waitress. We had a yummy meal and excellent conversation and Dayle and Sheila got to know each other. We'd put our Ben Franklins inside a card that we'd written "Merry Christmas" on the envelope and tried to get out the door before the server opened it. We almost did. Her tears were the best part of Christmas this year.

Comments

Cousin Emily said…
Not sure if I've said this before, but you seem to have such a rich inner life. What joy you must feel to be blessed with that!
Janet O. said…
I love your gift giving prowess. The Guinea Pig Pride and Prejudice is now on my "gotta find it" list. I love the book and have 5 or 6 movie versions. Would love to see a stage production of it.
Those Pez dispensers of obscure presidents--I'll bet those were well received.
A beautiful story of your Christmas Eve dinner!
Quiltdivajulie said…
What a wonderful post - and how grand that your group so totally made that server's day.
Karla said…
Nancy, you bring joy to all those around you, i thank you for that. I too really liked the 1st annual $100 breakfast. Amazing how the whole process brought great delight; from the anticipation in the days before, the breakfast company, the thrill of the gift and the “after glow”. Looking forward to the 2nd annual breakfast.
Barbara Anne said…
What special and perfect gifts you found and I love the idea of thrilling some waiter or waitress with such a wonderful tip.

My special find was a new copy of the only CD Jimmy Page (guitarist of note; founder of Led Zeppelin) made in 1988 as a gift for our younger son. He was way past thrilled!

Hugs!
Wow what wonderful gifts - especially chosen for the recipients. I hadn't heard of this idea of gifting a big tip like this. So many times things like that would fall in the list of "I should do that" without the follow through. How wonderful that you actually did it!
HunterHI said…
My son and I had a quiet but happy Christmas in Florida. In Michigan, my daughter, husband, 3 grandchildren, and one partner got crisp $100 bills in home made holders. Each came with a short freeform poem of my view of each and where they were in their life. I tried the haiku form but couldn't be that brief. lol I used the day to quilt.