With Christmas just a few days I away, I got to thinking about all of the cool gifts I’ve gotten over the years. The funny ones, the thoughtful ones, and the ones that twenty something years later, I still think back on and can’t help but smile.
What if someone asked you to think back to the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten? Could you do it? I could, no problem. When I was seven years old, I was an excited, sensitive, and mostly sweet little girl with a ridiculously loud squeal/squeak when I got excited. (The picture above is actually from my seventh birthday, but the excited squeal is clearly in action.) This made Christmas pretty fun for our family of three, as I was easily excited by everything under the tree, from a hot pink wind suit (I thought I was sooo hip) to a yellow boombox with a cassette player. (The fact that it was a “boombox” dates me considerably.) Watching home movies of those days, I laugh as I squeakily exclaim with every present, “It’s just what I always waaaanted!” But the best Christmas of all, the best thing Santa ever delivered, was a tiny little 3x5 piece of paper. That Christmas gift would change my life forever.
In our family, we do get our stockings after we’re done opening all of our gifts under the tree. My dad handmade all of our stockings so they’re extra special to me. So, on Christmas morning 1991, I headed for my stocking after opening gifts with my parents. I pulled out all the goodies from my stocking, and although I can’t remember what I pulled out, I’m betting it was pink and glittery. I wasn’t hard to please. After I pulled everything out, my mom said, “Did you get everything? I think there’s something else down there.” I reach waaaay down into my stocking, felt a thin piece of paper, and pulled out a fuzzy black and white picture. I stared at it, confused, then looked up at my mom to ask what it was. “It’s a picture,” she said. It didn’t really look like a picture, and I certainly couldn’t tell what it was a picture of. “It’s a picture of your new baby brother or sister.” “Reeeeally?” I squeaked. I still wasn’t sure what I was looking at, but my mom explained that I was looking at a sonogram and that I was getting a baby brother or sister who was snuggled in her stomach, growing big and strong. Thinking back to that Christmas morning, makes me smile and cry at the same time. Weeks earlier I had sat on Santa’s lap at a family friend’s Christmas party and asked for a little brother or sister. Although I didn’t know it at the time, Santa and my parents already knew what was in store, and a baby brother was on the way to me.
Seventeen years and seventeen Christmases later, no present or stocking stuffer has ever topped what Santa brought that year. My little brother, my best friend, and the coolest person I know. Thanks Santa, you rock.
The July after Santa left the picture in my stocking. Look how precious he is :) 
Who knew that fuzzy little black and white picture would turn out so awesome? :) 
He’s a bit cuter than that blob in the sonogram :) I’m such a lucky big sister. Thanks Santa! So what about you? What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever gotten? I’d love to hear!
