Hey folks,
Got a giveaway I think yule love! PSA 10 Santa Jynx.
How do I get in on the fun? Post a story about the most meaningful Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten or most meaningful winter holiday experience you’ve ever had.
I’ll run this for a few weeks and post here when I wrap it up. Bare your soul, unbare your mantel. 
This is awkward, but I can’t think of anything tbh, haha. I’ve never been on a Winter holiday in my life (I’m more of a Summer person). I have been to Snow World once to snowboard. 
And although me and my family do celebrate Christmas, it’s usually without many gifts tbh. My birthday is on November 12th, at which point I already get some presents. Sint Nicholas fest (a Dutch holiday similar to Christmas) is on December 5th, where I get more presents. At this event we used to come together with a portion of the family every year (me, my parents, and my little brother; my grandparents; my aunt and uncle; their sons, including daughter in laws and children). We put our names in a grab bag a few weeks prior and each grab a name. And then do something similar as Secret Santa based on a small wish list and a budget, with a rhyme attached to each present (I usually make at least one rhyme of two pages, and everyone in my family therefore prefers to not being pulled by me, haha 
). So for me Sint Nicholas is more about presents, and Christmas is more about good food, even though we come together with the family at both holidays.
The best gift I received from the Sint Nicholas fest is probably a Pyraminx and 4x4x4 Cube, which were basically the start of my twisty puzzles collection. The years prior I usually asked some of those wooden or metal puzzles (or Pokémon packs every once in a while if I didn’t knew anything else - which was before I came back collecting). Those wooden/metal puzzles I would solve once or twice and then never look at again… Twisty puzzles I’ve played a lot with when I first started collecting back in 2012, though (these days not so much, and I’m actually downsizing my collection a bit).
I also remember receiving Pokémon packs at age 7-10 during Sint Nicholas, and my little brother as well. We’d usually open all packs, and then pick a card one by one (which is why my little brother had Shiny Gyarados, Shining Steelix, and Crystal Nidoking… But I had Shining Magikarp and Crystal Kingdra, so it wasn’t that unevenly divided tbh). My little brother actually recently donated his collections to me, so it was nostalgic to look at those particular cards again after all those years.
Greetz,
Quuador
I was very poor growing up, and one Christmas my parents couldn’t afford to buy presents at all. Me and my sister were on an “Angel Tree” of kids that needed gifts for the holiday. I got a Barbie doll with an orange dress, which I loved. However, because my hometown is predominately white racist people, they assumed because I was on the tree I obviously needed a black doll. My dad always hated that doll and I never understood until I got older why that was.
My significant other grew up down the street from me in a similar financial situation, so as adults with disposable income we make a point of picking up as many children from trees like this as possible. Rarely do we buy presents for one another, our “gifts” to one another are going out together and shopping for the kids we pick up.
To this day, I wish I could talk to the person who gave me that doll to explain: 1) the blatant inaccuracy of the assumptions they made but also 2) the long-lasting impact their kindness had on me as a person.
Having my dad home from Iraq for Christmas in 2004 was the best gift ever. It had been since early 2003 since we had see him in person. Our only connection was by crap satellite phone with occasional video much later.it was definitely the most emotional Christmas best gift ever.
About 15 years ago, my uncle Roger started designing and making his own motorized Christmas decorations to adorn his yard; he’s a machinist/welder by trade. After the 1st year, my grandparents started helping him, and pretty soon his yard was drawing so much attention that he opened a path through his front and back yard for people to visit and tour his display. On the third year, his display further evolved as my parents and my older brother and I also volunteered to help. My brother and I do most of the heavy lifting for setup and teardown; with my brother also covering fire-supervision duties and me running the media pages. It’s been a full family affair that brings us together, as we spend our evenings hosting thousands of visitors each night in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Since then, my uncle has opened his garage to guests with free arts and crafts, free cookies and hot-chocolate donated from local business, and a yearly toy-drive for charity. He also has a bonfire in the backyard each night, where people can chat and share stories with other quests. My uncle is not wealthy by any means (it fact, he doesn’t even have a high school diploma), but this is his passion, and he works about 80 hours a week to fund this hobby.
Here we are years later, with a 4th generation added to our family tradition (my niece and nephew, ages 8 and 10). If truth be told, I’m not sure how much longer my grandparents will have with us, but they never miss a night, and I am truly grateful that our family gets to share Christmas together in such a spirited way. It’s a ton of work and the expectations are always high each year, but I think it’s reaffirmed to me the meaning of Christmas. It’s about coming together as a family, enriching the lives of others, and remembering the gospel message.
I think the most meaningful Christmas gift for me wasn’t even intended for me…back in 2013, my parents were getting my brother a DS for Christmas and wanted ideas for games. I knew that any young gamer has to have a Pokemon game, so I convinced my mom to buy him Pokemon Diamond for Christmas as well. He wasn’t too interested in the game unfortunately, but he let me play it as I never had the opportunity to play through an actual Pokemon game, just bits and pieces here on friends systems. I absolutely loved the game, it was so much fun and I played it as much as my brother would let me. Probably clocked several hundred hours on it trying to get all the Pokemon I could!
Eventually I was using my brother’s DS too much, so I bought one of my own and got Pokemon Y. Going from the graphics of gen 4 to gen 6 was insane, and as I was playing Pokemon Y I slowly started watching card opening videos on youtube, buying packs of cards here and there from stores, and picking up old favorites on Amazon and trollandtoad. I had collected cards back in middle school, but it had been years since I sold my collection of mostly played condition cards.
Reflecting on how much collecting cards and being a part of the Pokemon collecting community has meant to me since 2013-2014, I have to wonder whether things would be the same if that holiday season went differently…
When I was 6 years old my parents bought me an LA Rams football helmet. I loved football cause my dad had season tickets and we attended, as a family, every home game in the Los Angeles Memorial Coloseum. I swear I never took that thing off. I wore it to dinner, I wore it to play, I wore it to church, I even wore it to bed.
That all occurred in 1960.
Can I exchange the Bandai card for a helmet?
Christmas 1998 was the no. 1 Christmas. Pokemon mania was in full swing. N64 was top of the charts. It was peak 90’s.
My brother and I would spend $5-10 on each other for Christmas. I wanted these 1998 Pikachu & Raichu Hasbro battle figures ($4.99 at the time). I thought the Pikachu was perfect. We put our presents under the tree before Christmas. I remember feeling the present every day and trying to sneak a peak through the bottom tape.
After a long sleepless night, it was finally Christmas morning! We turned the corner, and a Nintendo 64 was staring us in the face!!! It was completely unexpected! While the N64 was unimaginable, I went straight to my brothers gift. We opened each others first; I got him a talking Charmander. I opened mine, and there they were, the Pikachu & Raichu Battle figures! I have them next to me in my office!
Here is a picture of that moment, opening that exact gift, with the N64 in the shot. It is one of my favorite photos from my life:
@smpratte, My brother and I were also surprised with a Nintendo 64 that Christmas . . . I think it came with Waverace as a bundle. It wasn’t long until we (and the neighbor kids) were sucked into Goldeneye!
There was this one crazy Christmas Eve night when I was little. I still believed in Santa at the time, and I would always set up the cookie plate and have trouble sleeping through the night. It seemed like every 30 minutes I would be peeking around to see if Santa had come.
This one particular night, I don’t remember how old I was at the time, I swear I heard Santa arrive. I went to make my usual tree check and was walking back when my parents caught me walking around. It was pretty late, and all the lights had been off in the house for a while now. Anyways, my parents told me to come into their room and at the same time I heard loud thumping on the roof. I freaked the heck out and we closed the door to their room, all of us inside. After the noises stopped, I went to the living room and the presents had arrived!
Still to this day I don’t know how they did it or what happened. My family never really had other family or friends in the area we lived, so it’s still hard for me to believe they got someone else to do it. The timing was so wonky too. I was just doing my own thing, and they were doing theirs, or so it seemed. A few years later I discovered a receipt that would tell me the truth about Santa, but even till today it’s probably the most “magical” thing that’s ever happened to me on Christmas.
I can’t think of one special Christmas gift. I’m just grateful when people remember me and want to get me something. I’ve always loved Christmas time though, as a kid and now as an adult too. Being an adult of course gifts have gotten less important and I just love the lovely time. I like to spend Christmas eve with family members, eat well and have a good time and see their reaction when they open gifts I’ve got them. (here in Finland the tradition is to celebrate Christmas and open gifts on the 24th). And of course I always hope we’d get snow for Christmas, it’s really not guaranteed here in south coast anymore. Snow gives that extra boost for a good Christmas vibe 
So I want to get in on this fun of story sharing. I don’t even care if I win; I just hope that I can bring some light to some people and share my story.
So in my family… we’ve had a lot of hatred, disagreements, & just a lot of anger.
Also with that being said… within my family we have a lot of health issues. I’d always been terrified of going to the Hospital because I’ve always had nothing but bad experiences at Hospitals; even though now I’m going to College to get my Nursing degree.
So on the topic of Health. So here we are one Christmas that my family has finally decided to come together and that we were all packed and getting ready to head out of town. My Mother ends up pulling in the driveway one evening towards Christmas Eve/ Day before we were about to leave. Three men with masks in a random van happened to pull up in my driveway behind my Mothers car; and she at this point didn’t look behind her or anything. She just assumed it was okay to get out of her car, that it was safe. For some reason, and I cannot explain this to you; I went to the door that evening to greet her. I’m 6 years old. I immediately yelled out to my Mother to GET BACK IN THE CAR AND LOCK THE DOORS. And she quickly, to her realization saw the men getting out and nearly getting ready to approach her. As they saw me opening the door and yelling to my mother they quickly got back into their vehicle and left. We never to this day know who they were or what their intentions were, but I think they were very clear. So what’s this got to do with health you may ask. My father had been in the Hospital for 2 days getting monitored for his Heart. She was just getting home from seeing him and I was so ecstatic to see her. I’ll never know why to this day I went to the door THAT NIGHT of all nights; but something inside me spoke to me and told me get to the door and welcome your mother. Thank the Lord I went because I saved my mothers life I believe. She then herself ended up in the Hospital needless to say with a severe Migraine. (My Mother & I are both 3rd & 4th gen Migraine) sufferers. So it’s never been easy. I’ve spent MANY Holidays/ special events in the Hospital next to my Mom while she was getting medication through IV to break these severe migraines we suffer from. It really has sucked.
But I will say this. My BEST Christmas present of ALLLL time, the year I turned 21, I’ve been suffering from DEEP DEEP depression and Anxiety all my life and still do to this day. Nearly took my life a few years back. Nevertheless. My dream was to ALWAYS own a Cocker Spaniel Puppy. 21 Years old. My Father is working out of town. I’m living at home with my mom; I have basically one friend who’s 11 years older then me and doesn’t live near me. I’m suffering from Major depression, I’m missing having a Father figure in my life. Missing out on my Senior Prom as he’s been gone for nearly 5 years at this point. Just so many things he missed and me not having him around/ in my life. So around comes Christmas of 2011. Me and my mother randomly went into this place and they had an ad for American Cocker Spaniel Puppies for sale. Now if you’re a person who knows anything about Dogs. American Cocker Spaniels… ARE NOT CHEAP. We by NO means are NOT wealthy people. We are struggling every single day to get by. Everything of ours is behind. Months behind. We’re struggling. (To this current day as well.) So 2011 we’re talking about this puppy. I left my Mother the most beautiful note about this puppy and how much it would change my life and how much I wanted her and what I would do for this little girl and what she’d do for me and my loneliness. I’m an only child if you can’t tell. So I wake up Christmas morning to my Mother saying to me… “Let’s just go take a drive and look at this puppy one more time.” Believe me now guys. This is not a normal thing for my mother to take me someplace and ACTUALLY BUY me something I TRULY want more than anything else in my life…
So we get to this farm. The owners come out to meet up. It was my little girl; and her sister. Those were the only two left of the liter. And she was the one I wanted. So we get there, and they both have a sold sticker on them. I immediately start bawling my eyes out because I know in my head that it’s been a few days; it’s a crazy busy time of the year, and this puppy is a high demand puppy. She’s gone, she’s sold. Someone else has gotten her. My Mother asks the owners if they could bring her out one more time so I could see/ hold her. And I was bawling remember at this point… And I told my Mom I didn’t even care/ want to see her anymore; even though the owner was already going to get her for me. She puts her in my hands; I look at my Mom; and my Mother tells me… She’s yours. I could not believe that my prayers, hopes and dreams had all been answered in a single second of my life. My whole life changed for the rest of my life. She has been the Miracle that’s held me together for the past 8 years. Short small story to go along with this that’s quite funny. My Dad always said that if me and my Mom ever got a Dog… he was moving out. The instant he saw her. He literally melted. He fell in love with her instantly. To this day, we still give him crap saying… "We’re still waiting for you to pack your bags and leave… ya know since we got a Dog and all… 
" So this was my best Christmas I can remember. I can tell you this. I have had a horrible time growing up and I feel as though I was robbed of a LOT of my Childhood with all the time I spent in the Hospital with my Mother and Father and Grandparents (as they were my daycare providers when I was younger when my parents went to work). So I was EXTREMELY close to my Mothers parents. They were my family like no other. I loved them more then anything. And sadly I lost them at a VERY young age. So I feel as though I was robbed of a lot of my childhood by spending so much time around Hospitals/ medical centers. And I never got to go see my Dad’s mother and father / his side of the family for any events… Birthdays, Christmas, Easters, Thanksgivings, etc… Because I was always dealing with my parents fighting over what we were actually doing for that Holiday. And it ended up being that we basically spent most of our days/ time at home.
So if you can take ANYTHING away from this LONG BORING story… Understand that this Dog has changed my life like you’d never believe. I love her to DEATH. She sleeps on my legs or chest EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. I cannot sleep now without her near me. She is my WORLD. Let me tell you. If you’ve never had a Dog. Or maybe you’re just not a Dog person… They’re TRULY man’s best friend. At least my girl is. She’s the sweetest most adorable, cuddly pup in the universe. I love her to death.
This is my little Angel: American Cocker Spaniel; and her names Amber.
I’ve never received a christmas gift :Pepehands:
There is really only one that comes to mind when I think back on all of the years of Christmas. The one year my brother and I woke up extremely early, extremely excited, walking into the living room to find more presents than we had ever seen at Christmas time in our lives. I guess my parents had done more well that year than they ever have. I remember seeing that a lot of the gifts were to my brother and I both. We ripped open the first present our parents wanted us to open first, and within the first few seconds we realized we had gotten an Xbox 360. We we’re going insane with hype, jumping up and down and hugging, and thanking our parents, lol. We then started opening up everything else, and realized we had also gotten Rock Band the game as well. I remember my entire family playing Rock Band, and switching from the guitar, to the drums, to the mic. It was amazing. It’s been a long time since that Christmas, and it’s been fun remembering those good times while writing this. Happy Holidays everyone.
