Blasts from the Past

Suffice it to say that I am a sentimental fool averse to change. In 2003 my parents chose to remodel their 1930s breakfast room and book room by knocking out the wall between the two. On this wall was a tiny pass-through door where the telephone had sat through the decades. I was devastated when I learned that the whole wall would be gone, especially that little door. When the renovation was complete, even I had to agree that it was fabulous. That Christmas, after the rest of the family had left and my parents and I were sitting by the fire, they presented me with my gift. In a pine frame, my mother had mounted the tiny door. It was my most unusual Christmas gift, without a doubt, but also the best one.
Adelaide Stevens
Nashville, Tennessee

When I was young, I sold all my original Strawberry Shortcake dolls at our garage sale for a quarter each. Twenty years later, I have not forgiven myself. But several years ago, my mom surprised me with a basketful of original Strawberry Shortcake dolls, purchased off eBay one at a time. They still smelled great.
Kitren Farrell
Worcester, Massachusetts

My husband contacted the owner of my childhood cabin, which is no longer in our family, and purchased a window shutter. When I was growing up, a tradition at our cabin was to paint a picture and sign your name on one of the shutters. The shutter my husband received, without even knowing it, was one on which I had drawn a picture and signed my name. I think I was just 10 years old at the time. After years of marriage, my husband gave me the most unusual and heartwarming gift.
Leora Gendreau
Spokane, Washington

Pretty Ugly Things

About 20 years ago, my then boyfriend told me he wanted me to “always have a part of him.” So for Christmas he had his freshly pulled wisdom teeth made into dangly earrings. He had to search about a dozen jewelers to find one who would agree to do it.
Donna Staples
New Haven, Connecticut

My boss gave all the women in his department ornamental teapots from an expensive boutique at the mall. Mine was shaped like a pineapple. It was ugly, a hideous shade of green and yellow, and matched nothing in my home. Being practical and strapped for cash as a newly single mom, I returned it to the store, but I could only get store credit. My friend had a recurring nightmare that the boss found out she had returned the teapot and was mad, so she opted to keep hers (it was shaped like an orange).
Jean Day
Highland Lakes, New Jersey

One Christmas my grandma sent me a package because she couldn’t be there with our family. It was an air freshener covered by a plastic clown doll. The clown wore a bright, diamond-patterned dress that covered the air freshener. It had a pointed cap on its head made of the same fabric, and in one of its hands it held a bouquet of plastic balloons. My parents and I looked at one another, stunned, when I pulled it out of the box. After a moment, we all burst out laughing until tears came out of our eyes. That was the most unforgettable present I’ve ever received.
Lishia Rolbiecki
Burnsville, Minnesota

Food for Thought

A three-pound box of uncooked frozen bratwurst arrived in the mail one year for Christmas. What could usher in the holidays any better than obscene amounts of frozen meat in natural casings?
Krissy Higgins
Louisville, Kentucky

When I was 14, I spent the summer in Sweden, and for Christmas that year, my grandmother gave me a box of Swedish pancake mix and a jar of lingonberries, a traditional dessert in Sweden. I always look back on it and laugh — mostly because that same year, for Christmas, she gave my brother a computer.
Lauren King
Los Angeles, California

My mom has always been into healthy eating, so as kids my brother and I never got sugary cereals — but that didn’t stop me from asking for them. So one Christmas when I was probably six or seven, she wrapped up a box of Fruit Loops as one of my presents. I thought it was the best present ever.
Kristen Moore
Ventura, California

In my circle of friends, after 10 years, I still hold the prize for the most unusual holiday gift. I received a fabric-lined basket of dried, polyurethaned dinner rolls, along with a 10-pound wheel of fresh blue cheese. I’m not quite sure what message my former in-laws were sending me.
Sharon Kennelly
Westford, Massachusetts

The most unusual gift I ever received was given to me at Christmastime in the 1940s. It was a pint of hand-packed vanilla ice cream wrapped in Christmas paper with a big, red bow on top. When I didn’t answer the door, my young friend handed it to my daddy and quickly made his exit. Not being aware of the contents, Daddy put it under the tree and later told me there was a gift there for me. I picked up the dripping package, and everyone laughed as I went through the house leaving a trail of melted ice cream.
Judy Patterson
Louisville, Kentucky

A marshmallow Peeps maker, due to my grand love affair with the pastel-colored chicks. My boyfriend’s gift-giving skills have improved tenfold over the years.
Allie Lyttle
Gregory, Michigan

For Christmas one year, my ex-boyfriend gave me a box of Nut ’n Honey cereal. When we had celebrated our “anniversary” that November , he had given me a can of honey-roasted peanuts, saying, “Honey, you drive me nuts.” I replied, “Is this nuttin’, honey?” So he tried to do me one up by giving me the cereal. After that, it was sort of the gag gift to give between me and my friends.
Gail Meeker
Hiram, Ohio

Christmas 2006 — a 20-pound half wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano that I got from my boyfriend’s sister. I literally hugged that wheel of cheese.
Allison Pilmer
Alameda, California