What's the most thoughtful gift someone has given you?

With Christmas coming up, I guess Kwanza or whatever the fuck that Jew holiday is too, I was thinking about the whole gift-giving season and was wondering what's the most thoughtful gift someone has given you (or possibly the most thoughtful gift you have given to someone else, though I don't know how you would know it was unless they told you, or you had some preconceived notion on how it would be a really good one)? Maybe also who gave you the gift, and why it was a good match for you to get that certain gift too.

I don't even really celebrate my birthday anymore and the last time I got a Christmas present, who knows when, so I don't remember the last time I was ever given a really good, thoughtful gift. I only remember receiving gifts of money, but that doesn't take any thought and is fucking half-assed and lame, or else I would share one with you guys. I think I have given thoughtful gifts before, but damned if I know.

Edit: Topic implies only the most bestest gift, but if you have more than one experience to share, feel free to pass it around. And Merry Christmas to all you guys.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The only present that has ever made me cry was a photo collage my sister made for me - all pictures of she and I growing up.

I wouldn't cry about it now, but at the time, I had just left home, was an hour away from her, and I hadn't been away from her for more than 2 days in my life. I was really angsting over the loss of my family, so that one kind of hit home with me. =/

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I got a huge white tiger puppet for birthday, bigger than myself. That was pretty amazing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Some girl who thinks I'm absolutely insane to travel the way I do got me a compass. Circumfrance of a quarter, flat surface with the needle in the center. It's a pewter half sphere, and around the needle is the Tolkien quote, "Not all who wander are lost." The back is a clumsy engraving of the western hemisphere of the planet.

Couldn't find north for shit, but it meant the world to me.

How ya doing, buddy?

Around 1996, my dad got me a sheet of uncut postage stamps that commemorated the greatest classic comic strips of all time. He put it in a frame and gave it to me for Christmas.

Uncut stamp sheets are inexpensive and the frame was nothing special. But it was significant. My dad and I don't share a lot of interests - he's scientific and I'm artistic - but the stamps showed that he respected my pursuits.

Cash just can't convey that.

I was speaking idiomatically.

In 1999 my cat Snowball died and I was beyond upset, a few days later my cousin gave me a snowball tree to plant by his grave. It is there now and growing bigger every year.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It wasn't one gift per se but there was one christmas a long while ago, right after my mom's company was dying and they let her go in, I think, September. She sat my brothers and I down and told us that it would be a pretty small christmas that year because the money was tight. We all understood but were still a little upset. I'm the youngest and I was pretty young at the time so I reacted the worst. My oldest brother, who had just gotten his first job, spent all of his money getting extra special gifts for the rest of us so our christmas would be better. I didn't really appreciate it fully then but I really do now.

FELIPE NO

There have been a few:

One person got me a nice mug after the one I got for Christmas broke. Yeah, the mug cost maybe 2 dollars, 3 tops, but I used my old one like crazy. IT was something I totally didn't expect but was happy with it when I got it.

My wife got me a new MP3 player when my Meizu and my iPod both broke within a month. I was really upset over it, so she said she was going to cheer me up by getting me 'something from McDonalds'. She came back saying that they didn't have the food I wanted (which is realistic here), only to have gotton me a new Mp3 player similar to my old one in her purse.

Another was by a close friend. It was a toy dog that looked like a beagle. I can't currently get a pet, which is hard on me because I have had pets for years (especially beagles).

My wife also got me some video gamish stuff last Christmas as part of a surprise, with some really sweet notes on them. A video game merchandise shop had just opened up so when she saw it, she thought she'd surprise me.

Those are just some of them that i can think of off the top of my head.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

My best gift ever was from my Ex-girlfriend.
She was with me when my dog that I had from childhood passed away, and had taken a photograph from my stash while I wasn't looking of me and said dog.

Then, 5 months later on Christmas, I received a 2x1.5ft professionally sketched, framed portrait.

Wow...was I moved.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Once when I was ill and practically bed-ridden for a week, my erstwhile boyfriend gave me all of his Metal Hammer magazines, copied plenty of his CDs for me and bought me lots of pineapple juice, not to mention spending most of his time keeping me company. It may not seem like much but I appreciated it one hell of a lot.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The best one that comes to mind is a birthday present that Temari got me. In school (and at home) I would just leave my spare change on my night table/desk, and it would be an absolute mess. I'd let a year's worth of change pile up on there before doing anything about it. Knowing my sloppiness, she bought me a coin jar for my birthday. It wasn't much, but I was blown away by how thoughtful it was.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I can't remember all the gifts I've been given, and most of them are usually fairly thoughtful, because I usually refuse to take something I don't need, but I'd say some of my best gifts were from GFFers. That is, taking out of account all the shit my mom and dad have bought me over the years, particularly the car.

Back in high school I'd carry a pocket watch. I don't like wrist watches bumbling about and getting in the way of stuff I'm trying to do. It wound up stolen, and this was before I had a cell phone. Maybe a year later or so Sass bought me a nicer one with "Zephyrin" actually engraved on the cover. Pretty nice. I still have it, but don't much use it anymore because I have a cell phone and there isn't much room in my pockets will all the other crap I gotta carry around. Maybe if I get a man purse...

Then Lurker, among other things, knew I was out on my own for the first time, so she got me an ornament for when I get my first Christmas tree.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

It would have to be a scarf that one of my close friends made for me about two years ago. I was really surprised when it was handed to me for Christmas since I wasn't expecting anything. Everything seemed to make sense though because a few weeks prior, I had been asked about what colors and combos I liked, and the scarf had everything I had mentioned before.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Um, that would have to be a gift I received quite recently, actually. In the last couple weeks. I had a mysterious package in my mailbox, saw it was from Gech and threw it outside, expecting it to blow up. An hour or so later when I decided it was safe, I brought it inside and carefully unwrapped it. It was a 'thank you' for the box of food I sent him... and inside was the cutest little stuffed toy guinea pig I've ever seen. Granted, its the only one I've ever seen. But still. He thought about it once he found out my guinea pig had died, and sent it to me. I was like <3 awwwwww.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I take it back, this is actually the most thoughtful gift I have ever recieved.



It belonged to my brother, it was a second skin. Torn, tattered, ripped to shreds in some places, it's actually older than I am. The night before he flew out to Baghdad he stowed it in my gear.

And now? People don't look for my face, they look for the jacket. I have not been able to express just how much it means to me, and I hope I never am.

FELIPE NO

Hmmm..

Probably the little person growing inside of me. I think that's a pretty thoughtful gift from my husband.

otherwise, I tend to appreciate every single gift given to me, seeing how I was raised in a poor environment and didn't get much in general.

How ya doing, buddy?