25 Days of Christmas: Day 14
It’s day 14 of our 25 days of Christmas, which means there are only 10 more shopping days until Christmas! Hopefully your shopping is done and you are making some plans to relax and really enjoy the holiday.
Christmas Gift Post Contest
Don’t forget to read the two entries for the guest posting contest and cast your vote before Sunday evening. The winner will receive a one-year subscription for Benchmark KB!
Christmas Basket Winner
We have a winner for our Christmas basket, with a grand total of $150. The winner was selected from all who participated in the Christmas basket and in making comments on our topics. This winner was chosen using the random.org number generator. I’m happy to announce that the winner is Sarah Barton! There’s a little extra shopping money on the way to you, Sarah!
Finding the Perfect Christmas Gift
You’ve made your list, checked it twice, and if you’re Santa, you even know who’s been naughty or nice. Now it’s time to go on the hunt for the perfect gift.
I have a challenge with finding the perfect gift for some of the people on my list. Children tend to be pretty easy, at least when they are young. As they get older, it gets to be more of a challenge to find that present that will light up their eyes when they open it. With my niece’s oldest daughter, who is 14, we simply have an agreement that we will go shopping. That way I know she has something she loves, and I get the added bonus of spending a little one-on-one time with her. She’s also great at acting surprised when she opens her gift at the family Christmas gathering.
Her father, however, is a very different story. My nephew is one of those men who just has everything. It’s tough to shop for him. All too often, I have opted for simply getting a “couples” gift, knowing I have something my niece will love and also knowing he really won’t mind. His birthday is also in December, which makes it a double challenge. You can’t really do a “couples” birthday gift. 
He is also an Oakland Raiders fan. Of course, that means when people buy something for him, they try to get Raider things. I honestly think he has just about everything that has been made with that Raiders logo on it, and if he doesn’t, I sure don’t have any idea what it is.
The thing is, he’s also a great guy and has been so good to me. If I ever need anything, he’s there. He and my husband have become friends, which also means my husband wants him to have something special for him (but of course, he sure doesn’t want to shop for it). And so I look.
I bet you have someone on your list like that. Actually I think that “perfect” gift is what we are in search of for everyone on our list.
This year, I really had given up. His birthday came and I went to the store where I usually see Raiders things. Nothing. Not one thing. And so I caved. We gave him his birthday card with a note that we are taking him out to dinner for his birthday. What else can you do for a guy who has everything?
When I came home that evening, something just made me even more determined to not make this year’s Christmas a “couples” gift year. I got online and started looking, with even more determination that I WOULD find the perfect gift. Two hours later, and you know what? There it was! The absolutely perfect gift for him. And it’s Raiders. And it’s something I’m absolutely certain he doesn’t have.
Now, imagine that feeling. You’ve had it. All that searching and finally, when you’ve just about given up hope, that perfect gift just jumps out at you.
How about it? When have you had a time when you found the perfect gift? I look forward to hearing your stories.
Christmas Trivia
And here’s a new Christmas trivia question for today: You are familiar with the song “Good King Wencelas.” He was king of which country? Happy hunting!
Related posts:
- 25 Days of Christmas: Day 13
- 25 Days of Christmas: Day 5
- 25 Days of Christmas: Day 20
- 25 Days of Christmas: Day 18
- 25 Days of Christmas: Day 11
Tagged with: 25 days of Christmas • the perfect gift • writing your life story
Filed under: Fun Things • Holidays
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I don’t think it could be England, Wales, Scotland, but it could be a country in that area because otherwise why would the English (British) have it in one of their Christmas carols? How about Finland? That sounds like a good guess to me!
[Reply]
Here’s what I found online:
The “Good King Wenceslas” in the traditional Christmas song is thought to be Wenceslas, a Duke of Bohemia. He ruled from 921 to 935 AD and was made a saint. (Bohemia is in Central Europe and is part of the present Czech Republic.)
[Reply]
Kathy:
Since your cousin’s birthday and Christmas both fall in December, have you ever checked to see the possibility of a Raiders game being played close enough to home for him that you could give him a pair of tickets to that game so theyw ould just have to take care of lining up a babysitter and have the cost of gas and refreshments at the game? I think that would be a great gift for “they guy who already has everything ‘Raiders’ you could think of”…unless he already has maybe season tickets? LOLOL
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Not a bad idea. Until two years ago, he had never traveled out of Colorado. We did get him to Barbados for my wedding and a whole two weeks off, though!
[Reply]
I always have had trouble finding things for my husband at Christmas. Last year I thought I had it made because he had made comments during the year about a couple of things that he would like to have. I managed to get the items that he had expressed an interest in during the year. I was really excited that I had remembered the things that he liked. Christmas Eve rolled around and as he opened the gifts he asked why did I get him the things that I did and I explained why-he did not even remember his comments and never expressed an interest in what I got for him. So this year he will be getting gift cards to Lowe’s and Home Depot because he is always going there.
Congratulations to Sarah for winning the Christmas basket.
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Linda, I had that happen with my first husband. That and he always seemed to guess what his present was. I finally told him if he correctly guessed any more presents, I was returning them! That stopped that. And sometimes I think gift cards ARE the perfect gift for someone!
[Reply]
Yeah, Sarah! Congrats on winning Benchmark KB. I won last year, and it ahs been a tool I do NOT want to be without. (Speaking of which, Kathy, when this is getting ready to need renewal, will I receive a notification from the company? I need to be sure I don’t let it fall by the wayside–I would miss it too much. I know that I can “exist” without it, but it sure has saved me time not having to drag out reference books every time I need assistance!)
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Sherry, I imagine they will send a notice, but you might want to drop them an email and ask that question. Sarah actually won the Christmas Basket. We still have two KB subscriptions that we will be giving away this month, one for the winner of the guest post contest and one for all of those who have participated in commenting this month!
[Reply]
Sherry Evans Reply:
December 15th, 2010 at 7:03 am
Oops! I said the wrong prize? Sorry. Congrats on winning the gift basket, Sarah! You’ll have great fun deciding what to do with your winnings, and I’m sure you’ll have lots of tough choices to make if you have a family–will it help towards gifts, towards special foods, or towards something special for you to celebrate how special you are and how much you sacrifice all the time for others in your life? HMMMMMM
[Reply]
Sherry Evans Reply:
December 15th, 2010 at 7:06 am
Oops! Sorry, Kathy! Sarah, I’m sure you’ll have a great time deciding how to use your winnings in the Gift Basket. Will it be for gifts, special foods, or something just for you because you deserve something special after all you do for others all year long? HMMMM
[Reply]
Sherry Evans Reply:
December 15th, 2010 at 7:07 am
Now that was good! It was going really slow and I thought it didn’t post…so I tried to say nearly the same thing (a second time) and wouldn’t you know both posts showed up? DUH!!!
Sherry Evans Reply:
December 16th, 2010 at 4:35 am
Kathy:
I emailed them and have already received a reply. Whew! The subscription doesn’t expire until May 26th, so I have lots of time to save up that money (or use some of our tax refund for it since my income and home office deductions contribute to a good part of that refund). Anyway, now I’ll have to go back to the website for Interfix and get into the Benchmark KB part to find out exactly what the cost IS to renew! (I haven’t done that since last May, I guess, when I was first researching it because of your banner ad about it.)
[Reply]
I was reminded earlier just thinking back to gifts that my ex-MIL always gave her grandsons. (I hope I haven’t mentioned this before–I don’t think I have.) Anyway, from the time I married my first husband at the end of the year 1972, my MIL always gave her 6 grandsons undershirts, underwear, and socks for Christmas. The girls were more difficult and MUCH more “personalized” to buy for. When the boys hit 16 (the 2 oldest–the oldest son of her daughter and the other the oldest son of her oldest son), she asked me if I thought she should give them something more grown up. When I said to her I thought they might like some aftershave or cologne (I had noted that both of these boys were shaving already, as was her daughter’s other son and her son’s foster son), and she thought that was a good idea, so it just meant choosing one she thought each of them would like–and none of them got the same kind, which was a challenge in itself. On Christmas Day when the whole family gathered for a huge 2:00 Christmas Dinner at my (now deceased) ex-brother-in-law’s house, dinner was done (except for dessert and coffee), and everyone was gathered around the living room to open gifts, ALL of the kids (teens included) began shredding the wrapping paper I had adorned each package with with SUCH GREAT CARE! LOLOL (For many years, my MIL would have me wrap everything while she just sat in her rocker/recliner and told me which gift was for which person–except for mine, of course, which she wrapped herself, I guess). Anyway, to our surprise, these 4 strapping young men all looked at Alice, and Mike (the daughter’s oldest son) said, “Gramma, where’s the underwear? I was COUNTING on them!” (We got the same reaction from ALL 4 of those boys…and it was a real eye opener for Alice and me. It was a tradition that “stuck,” and as much as they appreciated smelling nice, they really needed those underwear, undershirts, and socks! LOLOL) Just goes to show that no matter what the age of those kids, you just shouldn’t mess with some traditions! LOLOL
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Oh I’m afraid that is what is going to happen at my house this year when I don’t make stockings for every single person. The kids have always laughed at me putting an orange in their stocking. This year the family has just grown so much that it has become cost prohibitive to keep doing it. Hopefully they won’t be disappointed.
[Reply]
I wanted to give a very heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated to the Christmas basket and to Kathy for setting it up and planning these fun activities for us for Christmas.
I wanted to offer a more detailed thank you because I hope everyone will remember that what seems like a small thing to one person can impact another so very much.
As I’ve shared before, my husband was discharged from the Army in June. We had 2 weeks notice. It was one of those things in life that happen to “other people.” Our cushion ran out almost 3 months ago and his depression and PTSD symptoms have become worse by the day. He hasn’t been able to find a job, like so many other people. Seeing us struggle and figuring out how to “rob Peter to pay Paul” each month has been dragging him further and further down. Right now he is in the hospital for the 3rd time. He probably won’t be home for Christmas but he is where he needs to be. Its been an emotional roller coaster and I go between wanting to help him and wanting to slap him and scream at him to “snap out of it!” His self-esteem is tied into providing for the family and 6 months ago he was leading a squad of soldiers and now he is washing the dishes and taking kids to school. Its been hard for him. So this Christmas we’ve been worried about whether or not we can pay the rent at the end of this month and present shopping was not an option at all but my attitude has been that “this too shall pass”..and IT WILL! I’m not complaining because I’m so grateful for what I do have and for my faith that this is just an unpleasant chapter of our lives that will come to an end. So many others are dealing with the same thing or have dealt with it. We’ll come out stronger on this other side of this challenge.
For the past few weeks I have thought to myself so many times that I just want to be able to buy each child 1 present they would really like to get. The younger 2 still believe in Santa and I wanted to keep that alive for them. I was calculating bills over the weekend and realized there was no way I was going to be able to get them anything at all. Believe me, I know a lot of people deal with this and we’re not special but it was still upsetting. That is what you’ve all given me with your donations to the Christmas basket. You gave me the best gift I could possibly get this Christmas, the ability to give my children each something they have asked Santa for. I can look forward to seeing a smile on their faces.
Thank you, all of you. You have no idea how grateful I am. I hope in sharing what I did you won’t think I’m complaining about life as it is right now because I just wanted you to know how much receiving this means to me and what a difference that will make to us right now. Thank you so much! I am extremely grateful that you’ve given me the ability to do something nice for my children at Christmas. THANK YOU!
[Reply]
Kathy Reply:
December 14th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Sarah, what an awesome sharing you just did with this post. And made that Christmas basket worth it for every single person who participated. Hang in there, girl. We often don’t know why things are the way they are in life, but what we do know is that we grow from them. (Although I have had times in life when I’ve said I don’t want any more growth opportunities!)
[Reply]
Sherry Evans Reply:
December 15th, 2010 at 7:21 am
Sarah:
Due to OUR recent expenses (and ones coming up in the rest of December and all all the way through next May), I am ashamed to say that I was not a contributor to that gift basket. But I go along with Kathy and Linda when I say I think you are an awesome woman and mother. If all children had a mom like you, then even when times are tough (and we DO know that those times eventually DO get better, even though not as quickly as we maybe would like) it’s not the THINGS that you give to them but instead it is the YOU that you give to them that is really imnportant. There isn’t ANYTHING I can think of that is more important to children than the real “sharing of life together” with them. When they feel shut out emotionally or especially left out of things because of what adults feel they don’t understand because they are “just children,” you’d be surprised how much they DO understand and what they can pick up on. The one thing a child will never forget is how everybody stuck together, made the best of things, and came through the bad times TOGETHER…and the LITTLE things that made you all a real family and no mstter where you live together, it will be a REAL home. You’re not my sister, but I’d be proud to have you for one. You’re a very special person, and I’m glad to know you. I wish I could do more, and I don’t know what else I can say…I’m truly at a loss to express myself (if that’s possible).
[Reply]
Sarah, Thank you for sharing your story. You are a remarkable woman and are dealing with each thing as it comes along. I really do understand the conflicting emotions about your husband and his situation at this time. My son is bi-polar and it is, indeed, an emotional roller coster for all of the family. He does okay for a while and then decides to go off his meds and ends up in the hospital for a few days until they get him stable. The best place for your husband is right where he is. Are there any support groups in your area where you could go and talk to people that are going through similar circumstances?
I am so happy that you will be able to do something nice for your children this Christmas.
This is not meant to be a flip statement, it is phrase that my sister and I have come up with this year because she has had so many physical and mental problems. We just say that she is going through a “bad patch” and that it will get better. It has been that way with her, that is not to say that she still does not have bad patches, but we all know we can come through them and are stronger as a result of it.
[Reply]