Presents

I wrapped presents this afternoon. Joe conveniently took a walk, so I had time to figure out where I'd hidden the gifts, wrap them up, and sneak them under the tree. I hope my guys like them! I'm still missing one gift - I ordered it right after Thanksgiving, but it's still in transit from China. I hope it gets here by Christmas but I have my doubts.

Eh. It's okay - the giftee will get it eventually.

Anyway, I got to thinking about some memorable presents over the years:

• A Revlon doll. She was so beautiful! I think I might have been seven or eight.
• A Barbie, a couple of years later. She had the short, curly hair as opposed to the ponytail, but I loved her anyway.
• An Infant Jesus of Prague statue, complete with outfits for the various season in the liturgical year.  Also, removable crown!
• Mousetrap game. Mom bought it, hid it, and forgot about it. I happened to see where she put it. When it didn't appear under the tree, I slyly asked if she wasn't able to find it in the store. She gasped and went and got it!
• A CB radio - my brother got it for me so that I'd have it for emergencies on the road. It came in very handy.
• Two fat doobies from my college friend, festively wrapped with a red ribbon.

Joe always gives wonderful gifts. He has a habit of stashing especially amazing gifts until everything else has been opened and then springing them on me. I should expect it by now, but I'm always taken by surprise. Sonnyeboy gives great gifts too, although he says he never knows what to give me.

But one of my most favorite gifts ever was one my Pop gave me. He never gave us presents just from him; besides, Mom did all the Christmas shopping. In this case, though, he made the effort. I'd had a couple of flat tires and Pop had come to change them. My car had a decent jack, but it had a short, hard-to-use tool for removing the lug nuts.

So he bought me a tire iron. I loved it. In fact, I still have it.