What's the best present your mother ever gave you?

[WandsOut]

Mother or mother figure -
What was the gift that you'll always remember even if you don't have it?

Mine took me shopping and bought me a little tiny rotary watch which I loved. I lost it in a house move and I'm so sad about that. But I have the memory of it and her smiling as she put it on my wrist.

A strong sense of self worth and self respect. Also, a cracking 1970s halterneck evening gown.

My life!

A sign for the kitchen that says "Eat cake because it's somebody's birthday somewhere".

Honestly - a hairdryer. I had it for 13 years and I was gutted when it broke, haha.

Life and love

She always bought me nightwear as a stocking filler and I have a pair of wincyette (sp?) pyjamas with sheep saying “I love ewe” all over them, and my very snuggly dressing gown that she bought for me just before she died 12 years ago. I’ll be very sad when it is unwearable but it’s still going strong now.

When I was 21 and very immature, I scolded my mother for not being like “Cheryl’s mum” and buying me Christmas gifts like antiques and jewelry and so on.
Cheryl’s mother, now that I look back, was insufferable. She bought Cheryl gifts that would impress others - not out of love. She also bragged about their “tax bracket.” Ugh. But at the time, I was enthralled.
That Christmas, my school-teacher mum gave me an antique little secretary - a little desk with a drop down writing table.
I love that secretary and I cherish it. And years later I apologized to my mum.

My Mum is a fairly typical working class Mum and she didn't have much money but she went all out at Christmas and I had everything I wanted and more.

We went shopping and I would see things I liked I town and she would buy them and "Send them off to Father Christmas".

Too many great toys and games to mention. I did rather like my tape to tape stereo system and record player though.

With regards to wisdom passed down, she once took me to a circus in the days that they still used live animals. I'd seen the elephants being lead in there each day from a truck into Blackpool Tower and was dying to go and see them. She bought a ticket for me and her. When we were there I went down to "meet" the elephants and the handler was really mean and had a whip to hit them with to do what he wanted them to do. When we were seated she asked me what I thought of the circus and I said I loved the elephants but that man was mean and the animals looked really sad and it felt cruel. She just said "That's why I wanted to bring you here".

That's stayed with me somehow. I saw things differently after that.

Myn first violin, which was a joint birthday/Christmas present. I had been borrowing one from school for a few months and it was obvious that I had taken to it. How fortunate l was.

My life. My first car also help me with my down payment for my first flat

The best gift was a soft toy (a large mouse in a pretty dress in a Brambley Hedge style) which I fell in love with age 7. It was in a gift store as we were leaving a zoo one summer, miles from home. She said I couldn’t have it because it was too expensive. I was quietly heartbroken. To this day, I still don’t know how she managed to buy it for me - I’m sure she didn’t have time to sneak back to the shop.

That’s how my mum was - always so clever and thoughtful. God how I miss her now she’s passed away.

Stopping talking to me??

So many things, small but with thought and love behind each one.

Just now saw the small plastic snow globe that she bought me probably coming up close to nearly 50 years ago which though it's lost nearly all its water is on display in my lounge as part of my Christmas decorations. Alongside it a china snowman thimble probably 45 years since I received it.

She never had much but she was always kind and thoughtful and her family meant everything, like it does to my Dad . This will be the 24th a Christmas without her - still hurts

The realisation that she has always actively hated me and had only waited for the first big chance to cut me dead because she felt I'd one upped her in her twisted way of thinking. I’m not being bitter btw! It was genuinely freeing and gave me the perfect chance to escape from her, which I took and it's such a joy to be free to this day

Raised me to be strong and capable like her, little did I know how much if need those traits when I lost her when I was 27 and 35 weeks pregnant with my first baby
Miss her every moment nearly 5 years on

She moved to the south of France! Not quite far enough but it’ll do!

Taught me how to cook brilliantly (she is AMAZING)

An absolutely gorgeous Shetland Sheepdog puppy, which started a lifetime of being owned by a Sheltie.

Dying. She was awful.

A National Trust life membership.

DM is notoriously bad at presents (she acknowledges this) but two things stand out:

1 - a Dutch guilder.
We lived in the Netherlands for a while when I was b a young child (KS1 age). I loved it. As an adult, I work in a field that requires me to visit, or to receive Dutch visitors from time to time. As a resident of W Yorks, married to someone who hates flying, the Hull - Rotterdam ferry is our gateway to Europe. The pre-Euro guilder represents those childhood years in The Hague, which seem to have influenced so much of my life.

2- a Barbour jacket
She always said hers was the most useful garment sh has. Turns out she's right.

Also ....

3 - a genuine understanding of "feel the fear and do it anyway". It took e a long time to get it, but it's very powerful once you do.

I will always remember one Christmas I opened a sack full of toys then at the bottom was a note to follow the treasure hunt . Bits of paper trail led out to a snowy garden and a swing! It was reallly special. Not just my mum though my dad would have erected it . I also loved my baby Sasha doll my mum got me another year.I still love Sasha dolls and Pippa dolls.

This makes me realise that my mother hasn't given me any presents since I was a small child

Even as a child, she only gave me educational second hand gifts

So I guess the answer is - nothing

A Girls World, god I loved that.