Presents! Gifts! YEAH! Part One

Every Christmas, my family gathers around the dinner table and eats an elaborate turkey dinner. About ten minutes in, my grandmother (who, by the way, is one of my favorite people out of all the people ever) inevitably interrupts the feasting with "Is it time for presents?!" And it's not that she can't wait to open her presents - she just loves the excitement of it all. I think I get my love of gifts from her.


To be clear, I'm not really the best gift giver in the world. I tend to forget birthdays fairly often, even sometimes with Facebook reminding me. Fail. However, when something strikes me as perfect for someone, I get very excited about gift giving, and I thought you Lobsters might enjoy some ideas. Here are my top three favorites:


1. For my sister's birthday many years ago, I sent a letter out to a bunch of people we love asking them to write a short story or memory from their life and to send a picture that related to it. I compiled them all, scrapbook style, creating "Chicken Soup for Jenna's Soul." This gift was slightly ruined because Sissy found the letter I sent out before she received the gift, but it was pretty great nonetheless. 
2. Speaking of sister, she and I have been recreating childhood memories via poorly scripted/poorly acted short videos that we compile on DVDs for our parents. I highly recommend this. We have a great time making them (we think we're way funnier than we are), and my parents claim to love them too. 
3. For my best friend Mikkele's birthday this year, I wished that I could surprise her with a visit. As I am not made of diamonds and gold, that was not possible, and I decided to make her a video instead. And then I thought about how most of her closest friends live no where near her, and maybe they would like to make her a video too. So I sent out a Facebook message to anyone I'd ever heard her mention and asked them to send me a birthday video. I compiled them all on a DVD and edited it because I am a fairly new Mac user and find that stuff exceedingly fun. It ended up being like a really weird variety show - there were poems, songs, words of wisdom, a prank, a dance (well...me sitting in a chair dancing to Britney, but that still counts), dramatic readings, a tongue twister recitation, and even a fake cooking segment. 


Zoe also wanted me to mention a little mini garden set that I mailed to her. I painted little pots and sent seeds and a tray to arrange them on. She had recently been expressing her interest in cooking, and I thought she might enjoy her own personal herb garden. This was cute, but not quite a gifting masterpiece. But I'm sure glad you liked it, Zoe. 


I think part of the reason these were so fun to give was that I had a blast making them, and I felt like they gave a little glimpse of how much I love the recipient. Lobsters, what is the best gift you've ever given?