Remember the gifts that you got last year? I mean, do you specifically remember the gifts that you got? Do you remember even one gift? No? To make sure your gifts are not lost in the land of forgotten gifts, here are several suggestions for giving a memorable gift.
Choose unique, homemade, or cool tech gifts. I remember getting McGuffey’s Third Eclectic Reader from my grandmother one Christmas. It was both a reading book and an educational book. It was written in the 1800s and it had so much information about writing, reading and English, yet it also had stories and poems. This unique gift taught me many things, and I really enjoyed reading it. Oftentimes, the gift teaches you about the giver, and this gift gave me the impression that learning was important to my Grandmother.
In regards to homemade gifts, I have a friend named Robert Waters who has a tradition of giving homemade gifts – some of which have become legendary, such as a stuffed skunk! This handmade gift was given to immortalize a humorous camping incident Robert had waking up to find a skunk in the tent. As the story goes, that night, some mice had found something to eat in Robert’s new coat pocket, and they chewed a hole in it. Robert was not happy about that, so the next night when he heard some animal scratching around in the dark, he grabbed a light with the intent of taking care of a mouse or two. Instead, he found a skunk.
The skunk had found a package of Nutter Butters that it found very enjoyable. Because it had snowed several inches outside, the skunk was inclined to stay in the warm, dry, tent laden with tasty morsels. Robert knew that skunk was like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. He tried several tactics to get the skunk out of the tent. Instead, he woke up the others in the tent.
They tried several questionable ideas to get the skunk to leave, but he settled in under the grub box. It became the solitary focus of the group to remove the skunk. Even a blow torch was employed at one point with unsatisfactory results. Gas on the other hand was a smell that the skunk could not stand. So with a little gas under the grub box, the skunk removed itself from the tent. Ta-da!!
A family member found the opportunity to have a skunk stuffed as a homemade gift to commemorate the legendary event, so that the tale (or is it tail?) will live on for more generations to enjoy. Sadly, my friend Robert has passed on, but he told me this was one of the best gifts he ever received.
As for the cool tech gifts, my wife has surprised me a few times with some really cool ones. Rechargeable headphones were one, and a solar power phone charger/battery is another. I enjoy the headphones almost daily, but the phone charger was handy on more than one camping trip.
So there you have it. Three ways to make your gift memorable, get a Unique gift, make a homemade gift, or find a cool tech gift. Have a Merry Christmas and may others enjoy your gifts.
