SEVEN FOR YOU â—½ TIPS
Favorites
Our Panel of Women
For a few years now, our February offering has been a list of our favorite gifts we received and ones we gave, this past Christmas season. I love hearing about cool gifts and I bet you do, as well. After all, it’s the season of gifting again for your Valentine, a friend, for the kids, or just for yourself! Yourself is a good idea! See if you find anything you must have as we share:
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My favorite gift to receive was watching the joy on my son's face on Christmas day as we helped my mom go through the old storage sheds on her property. He inherited the junking/antiquing bug from both my mom and me. My parents collected so many things, and they were just sitting in the shed. Watching him get so excited about finding a 1958 Hot Dr. Pepper device made my Christmas.
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A Hot Dr. Pepper device was a marketing tool to encourage people to drink Dr. Pepper in the colder months. It heated up your Dr. Pepper...but the device is pretty frightening looking. They have one in the Dr. Pepper museum.
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My favorite gift I gave was huge, as in large and heavy, but also a huge hit! My son and future DIL just bought a home with a game room and media room. They love to entertain. My DIL loves Star Wars, so when I saw this stunning computerized pinball Star Wars game at Goodwill for $150.00, I had to buy it for them. It looks brand new and is worth over $1,000! Some sell as high as $6,000. I called my son to pick it up right away. It wouldn't fit in my car. They were so happy! I've been called the queen of thrift, and I wear that crown proudly. - Cathy
My favorite gift I received were some pink day lilies. I decided to remove the orange day lilies from my garden, so I found a gardening friend to come dig them up and take them to her garden. When my husband ordered my pink day lilies (5 of them), they showed up and I immediately planted them. Four days later, guess what showed up....5 MORE pink day lilies!
For some reason, they double shipped my day lily order from two different plant suppliers. That automatically makes that my favorite gift! I also love the new OXO salad spinner I received. It's SO much easier to use than the old contraption I owned.
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I think my favorite gift I gave has to be a little, but very powerful, flashlight that I bought my husband. He picked it out and he loves it. He's blinded me with it numerous times, shown the neighbors, shown his coworkers, and just keeps talking about how much he loves that flashlight. And I’ll tell you one thing: my favorite mode on that flashlight is the "moonlight" mode, of which he rarely seems to use! - Laura
We were all together in November having a Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration when I received my favorite gift for Christmas. It is something I would never buy for myself, never think I would enjoy, and never think I would desire to display at my home. His name is Hamilton. All my kids and grandkids were with me when I unwrapped the box that housed Hamilton. They all knew what it was and were so excited for me to get it! Of course, I graciously complimented the gift and told them how much I loved it, all the while thinking this goes on my front porch? He’s really cute, but it’s just not something I would have picked for myself. As I sat holding this big plastic goose (and yes, I said goose) all my grandchildren were deciding what to name him. They decided on Hamilton. This goose comes with many different costumes for each holiday and seasons throughout the year. So, my grandkids asked me to dress Hamilton in his Thanksgiving costume. We all laughed and took pictures of Hamilton in his “turkey” costume!
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Then came Christmas time at home and Hamilton’s costume was the Grinch that I love. Of course, the grands are calling, wanting pictures. Hamilton has now become one of our family! And I love him! He motivates such interaction between us all! And I must add this here, he is a silly old goose!
I really didn’t have a favorite gift that I gave, especially since we did Christmas in November but I did do something different this year that might become a favorite. We gave everybody money, even the smallest grands. All my kids have been teaching their kids about money so it was a very fitting gift. And all my kids and grandkids love to shop! We’ve received pictures of all the toys they picked out! One granddaughter couldn’t hardly wait to go spend her money. And she’s four. I guess the shopping starts early! - Carole
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I was so excited to give the most comfy pajamas to my daughter and DIL this year because I know they don't really buy those for themselves. The ones I gave are so soft, I found them on Amazon, and my daughter already shared that she loves them so much! I too love the luxury of a pajama set on cozy mornings.
I received the softest robe in a red stripe (I did pick it out, though!) from my husband from the company Tommy John. It's honestly the best robe I've ever had! Do I sense a theme here? Comfy, cozy, luxurious and soft...for winter. Yes! – Marcy
The favorite gift I gave this year was to my two year old grandson, Collin. I gave him a kid's basketball set. It was so fun watching him play with his daddy, uncles and grandpas over the Christmas season!
The favorite gift I received was the gift of my husband, Bill, retiring. So glad to have him around for the holidays and not running back and forth to work while our extended family was in town. Grateful that he was home with all of us instead. Not a traditional gift, but definitely the best gift! – Glenna
I love giving and receiving gifts at Christmas. But, the biggest problem is, of course, giving and receiving the gifts that are really wanted and needed. My husband is always hard to buy for. He usually asks for one small thing even though several of us want to buy him a gift. This year I bought that gift for him and I guessed at a couple of related items. I was thrilled that he liked them all. And one was this knife set.
As for my favorite gift, I received a Ninja smoothie maker. I asked for this because I am trying to boost my protein intake. It will now be easy to try new flavors and combinations making protein rich smoothies. I am really excited about it. - Gina
