What is the BEST Christmas present you've ever received?

[ArblemarchTFruitbat]

Inspired by the 'worst' present thread, would anyone like to share their happier present-unwrapping moments?

Mine would have to be the train set I received when I was four. Not electric but it was a really elaborate one with tracks that you could put together in an infinite number of ways, and came with little trains to push around. I loved trains (still do) and I was over the moon!

There's a picture of me playing with it wearing my 70s long party dress (which always made me feel like a princess even though I was a very plain child) and a silver paper crown and it sums up the joy of childhood Christmases for me.

My first cabbage patch kid. Last year my friend gave me a pair of book ends that he had, that I coveted. He was going to buy me my own set. But gave me his instead. I was do touched.

One of my favorite gifts as a child was a toy laptop back in the late 1980's that I got from Santa (I think it was Vtech) . It had a small grey screen like a calculator and no colour or images. It had lots of maths and spelling games though and I loved it. I spent so much time on it.

I loved a set of magic markers I got too (the ones where there's a white marker that changes the colors or erases or you can write secret messages with it).

My favorite gift as an adult was a Yamaha Clavinova from DH.

Alas @MadinMarch we weren't very well off so mine was just the bog-standard version - wrought iron gates sound rather posh! I was teased about playing with it by my sister who I expect found her equivalent present less fascinating.

When we moved house it was probably thrown out by my parents who had a major clear-out beforehand as I was considered too old to play with it anymore. It was like creating your own perfect little world - I still find miniature items absolutely enchanting.

A Tiny Tears. Oh how I loved her, and my second best present was her brother Timmy a couple of years later.

A trip to Barbados for my 40th and test match. I can't wait to go back.

A lovely long-haired doll I fell in love with months before Christmas when I was 5. My parents said it was too expensive but then it appeared magically under the Christmas tree.

Also Hawaii Barbie when I was 8. Still remember the excitement unpacking her!

Not mine, but one of the most special my mum ever received.

I'd usually go with my dad to help him pick out something for Mum as he was a bit 'hopeless' at buying for her. But one year he INSISTED that we buy Mum a string of real pearls and a new Bible with her name in gold lettering on the cover. I thought it was pretty random, he didn't explain, just said "That's what I want to get her". So we found exactly what he wanted for her and all was well.

Come Christmas morning my mum opened her gifts and promptly burst into tears and said "How on Earth did you remember this?". They had just celebrated their Silver Anniversary that September and it turns out that pearls and a Bible with Mum's name in gold were the exact same things he'd bought for her for their first Christmas as a married couple in 1947.

Reading all these memories is making me feel really Christmassy!

maddiemookins16mum So much thought and effort from your mum to make your Christmas special!

As a child it was the doll's cot I got which had gorgeous pink frilled bedding - pillowcases, covers etc - which I thought had been made by the elves, but which I now know were made by my mother. In close second place were the clothes my grandmother sewed and crocheted for those same lucky dolls.

As an adult it was a bureau with shelves above it, the shelves have glazed doors with leaded glass and there are 2 drawers below. It was second hand from a charity place and my two sons bought it, transported it to my MIL's house who stored it in her garage until Christmas Eve when they went to collect it and assembled it after I had gone to bed. I woke up to it in the morning and was thrilled!!

When I was 7, my parents were renovating our house. There was so much to do, so I had to share a small bedroom with my 1 year old sister. On Christmas morning, they asked me to open the door to one of the spare rooms...it had been transformed into a magical bedroom with a full size dressing table and mirror, beautiful bedding and curved blue velvet headboard and lovely bed skirt. And the best thing ever was the pretty drapes hanging down from a canopy over the headboard. Totally heavenly and I had no idea they'd been decorating my new room

Rainbow Brite doll and horse Starlite. Only have Starlite left and he has been passed on to my DD.

@PoshWatchShitShoes What a lovely thing to do!

A regency tea caddy.

A Sindy caravan which had a blue roof you slid off and could use it as a swimming pool!!

@sashh

On a similar thread a few years ago someone said, "Dove soap", she was in a woman's refuge and had very little with her.

Since then I have sent small presents to my local refuge, usually make up, last year and this they have not been able to accept presents so I've made donations, but the poster who got the soap inspired me and if you are on this thread, thank you.

Anyway, my best present, I was 10 and got an electronics set. I loved it and built circuits for years.

Including an alarm to tell me if someone was coming up stairs and I needed to put the light out.

That's just reminded me to give a donation as I always used to gather donations from friends and deliver to Women's Aid. Thank you.

My husband bought my entire wish list on Amazon - it was full of my most wanted books. Was an amazing present that lasted more than a year!!

When I was seven I was desperate for Tiny Tears, I’d burst into tears when I didn’t win one in the school Christmas raffle the week before. I came down on Christmas morning to open my presents and had to put on my bravest face when she wasn’t there. Then my mum “heard something” in the garden and asked me to open the curtains. There she was, along with a bike for my brother. I spent the whole day cuddling her and changing her pissy knickers. Best day ever!
As a grown up my best present was tickets for the ballet, Romeo and Juliet in Paris, from DH. He’s very good at presents.

A karaoke machine in the late 80’s earth 90’s not the fancy things you can get now it was a massive thing and I was absolutely buzzing!!

I don’t get much now £100 off my mam to buy clothes or whatever I want and my dad sometimes sends me money if he has any bless him. My brothers and sisters sometimes buy me and it’s normally smelly sets or Primark gift cards lol the rest of the family don’t buy me I’m too old now 35 lol..

My favourite adult thing I can’t think of really probably an iPad that I’ve used two or three times lol

@prettyteapotsplease
When I sayfaux 'wrought iron' gates, they were actually plastic...
I don't think there was any superior model available.

My dd! Born on Christmas Eve

@ChristmasEveBabyMumma

My dd! Born on Christmas Eve

I think you win the thread

What is so wonderful about this thread is that the BEST presents are not expensive or showy or designer nonsense, but things that mean something, or are made with love.

@MissMatty2hats

When I was seven I was desperate for Tiny Tears, I’d burst into tears when I didn’t win one in the school Christmas raffle the week before. I came down on Christmas morning to open my presents and had to put on my bravest face when she wasn’t there. Then my mum “heard something” in the garden and asked me to open the curtains. There she was, along with a bike for my brother. I spent the whole day cuddling her and changing her pissy knickers. Best day ever! As a grown up my best present was tickets for the ballet, Romeo and Juliet in Paris, from DH. He’s very good at presents.

My nan bought me a tiny tears - I didn’t like dolls and wanted roller skates, but she wouldnt buy them as They were ‘dangerous for girls’

I hated it, and chewed its nose almost clean off.

I got my skates a few years later and they were the best present ever!

I had Tiny Tears
And Teen Tiny Tears
And even Teeny Weeny Tiny Tears!!
I bloody loved them!!

Similar to maddiemookins16mum, I remember when dsis and I were about 7 and 5, my grandad had made doll's cradles and my nan had knitted clothes and blankets and we had the best kitted out Tiny Tears in the world! It was just marvellous. Mind you I had loads of Aunties so we would always get multiple selection boxes and those wonderful plastic kits with a pretend hairdryer, pretend lipstick, comb and useless mirror. I though they were the best! As an adult, dh bought me the Ancestry DNA kit which was most thoughtful for him. Usually we just give each other a list.