Christmas Gift Blog

When I was young, Christmas at Grandpa Earl’s house meant each grandchild would be receiving the same gift.  I remember precisely when this started – it was the Christmas after I turned 10.  There was a big fight the year before between my uncle and his wife because she thought grandma and grandpa had spent more on the holiday gifts they gave my family than on the gifts they gave her family.  Grandpa was very upset by this so he vowed that from then on, each grandchild (there were 14 of us) would received the exact same gift!  With kids ranging in age from one to fourteen, this wasn’t going to be an easy task.  But grandpa was pretty creative, and some of the gifts we received were the most memorable of all!

The first year this “equal gifts for everyone” thing started, we each received a Christmas Bear.  I liked mine, but my brother and boy cousins were not as happy.  Another year we all received a Battleship game – this time the boys were pretty pleased but the girls weren’t.  I think all the grandkids would agree that the best gift we received was the year we each got a giant Hershey’s chocolate bar with a $20 bill wrapped around the foil.  It was sweet – in more ways than one!  Although some of us wouldn’t have minded the same gift (especially if it was the cash kind), Grandpa never repeated his gift from one year to the next.

As time went on, Grandma passed away and the grandchildren got older, it became harder for Grandpa to come up with “equal” holiday gifts that would be a good fit for everyone.  He still stuck to his tradition every year, and as we got older we received fruit baskets, gift cards and snow shovels.  When Grandpa passed away three years ago, I vowed to continue his tradition and have had some fun coming up with unique ideas each year.  Since all of his grandchildren are now grown with children of their own, somehow the $20 around the Hershey bar just doesn’t work as well.  My cousins and I are now scattered across the country, with jobs ranging from a pharmacist to a tree-trimmer and kids ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years old.  The best luck I’ve had, especially since 6 of the gifts must be shipped, is searching online for “unique holiday gift ideas”.  In the past three years I’ve sent out personalized photo frames, ornaments for the Christmas tree, and a plaque with a commemorative poem and a photo of our grandparents.  This year I’ve decided on a holiday gift basket filled with gourmet snack items.  It’s my own little way of paying tribute to a man who is greatly missed by all of his grandchildren!