In this season of giving, my thoughts in recent days have been on Christmases past. I relished in the memory of a Christmas gift my husband and I gave our great-nephew many years ago. He was 4 or 5 at the time. The gift was a toy helicopter about 16-inches long and 5-inches high.
While we thought he’d like it, we had no idea how much. To this day when I close my eyes, I can still see him rushing down my mama’s basement steps, jumping with excitement with the toy helicopter in his hand and a giant smile on his face. It was a picture of a child filled with pure joy.
Recalling that moment always makes me smile, and this time it gave me the idea for this holiday related column. I asked individuals I’ve interviewed in the past what has been one of the most memorable Christmas gifts they’ve ever given and/or received. Here’s what they shared. May it trigger some fond holiday memories of your own.
Tonya Roberson, director of community engagement, program development and academic support and adjunct faculty in the College of Health and Human Services at University Park-based Governors State University, remembers a gift she gave her mother.
“My mother, Dorothy Roberson, is an 85-year-old cancer and stroke survivor. All my life she has always been a very sharp dresser, a fashionista you might say. No matter how sick she was or when she was going through chemo or whatever, she was going to have her hair cut nice or have a nice hat on whatever. She would maintain her style and wear what made her feel good.
“I love jewelry, and every time she would see me, she would always compliment me on my finger jewelry and say, ‘I want my hands to look like yours.’
“So last Christmas, I brought her rings for all her fingers. She had a variety to choose from. When she opened that gift, she was so excited. She started screaming, ‘I love them, I love them’ and trying them all on. She was so happy. After she had a hand full of rings on, she held her hand out and said, ‘Now my hands look like yours.’
“This moment was so special to me to see my mom at her age, still striving to be and look the best that she can and show the world that you are never too old to be fashionable.”
Anthony Harris, financial adviser and owner of Orland Park-based The Harris Group Wealth Management, remembers a gift for his daughter.
“The most memorable gift that comes to mind is a Barbie Dream House that my wife and I purchased for my youngest daughter several years ago. It was a multilevel, fully furnished, bachelorette spread, complete with an elevator and garage. It took me a few hours to assemble all of the tiny pieces, but my daughter’s reaction was priceless and unforgettable.”
Harris also recalled receiving a white Huffy Spirit of 76 bicycle.
“My bike was all jazzed up with tire reflectors, mirrors and streamers. In my little mind, I was Evil Knievel. I really loved that bicycle. When I think about what the economy was like back then, with out of this world inflation, it makes me really appreciate the efforts of my parents to make me happy.”
Syntyche Barnes and Antonio Barnes, owners of Midlothian-based Juiced by Shic!, surprised their kids one Christmas.
“We had all the kids hold up a sign with a different letter on there and they all raised their sign at the same time,” Syntyche Barnes recalled. “It said something like, ‘We are going on vacation. Pack your bags.’ We took them to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. We left on vacation New Year’s Eve. They were extremely excited.”
Syntyche recalls a gift she received.
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“In the past couple of years, I got two French Bulldogs two Christmases in a row. I was totally surprised,” said Syntyche, a mother of six. “With the first I was extremely happy. I had wanted a French bulldog for a while. With the second one I was still surprised, but I also thought, ‘Oh my God. I got another kid.'”
Antonio also recalls receiving a bag full of Sega Genesis games, with about 60 games in his bag.
He was a young teen at the time, a big gamer and loved the gift. But what also made this unforgettable was his parents ultimately took all the games away from him due to his later misbehaving. As punishment, his parents said for a certain period he couldn’t play with the games. But Antonio got caught disobeying them.
“His parents snuck upstairs,” said Syntyche Barnes, who’d heard the story several times over the years. “They heard this ding, ding, ding and saw him playing. He had had a bunch of different warnings.”
As a growing lesson and to keep their word, they took the games back and bought floor tiles, Antonio said, now laughing at the memory.
Antonio said he doesn’t recall what he had initially done to be on punishment in the first place. But he will never forget that lesson.
Jada Curry, mayor of Lynwood, recalls a PS5 they gave their son.
“The reason why it stands out is it was the latest gaming toy, and every kid wanted it and every parent was trying to get it. My husband and I would get in line or get on the phone, and we’d be trying and going to the store, and we just could not get this thing. We said we’d better come up with a Plan B. Literally the next day a friend called and mentioned he got a PS5 but didn’t want it. He sold it to us at the same price. When my son opened this PS5, he was the happiest kid on the planet.”
Curry also recalls a gift received.
“My daughter is a schoolteacher. I had been begging her over the years to go back and get her master’s degree. She wasn’t interested. But she finally enrolled in her master’s program. She FaceTimed me last week in tears. She said, ‘I’m done. Merry Christmas.’ That for me is the best gift ever.”
Lynette Stokes, president, South Holland-based South Suburban College, has a special memory.
“Something that was most memorable in the last couple of years was personalized hot beverage mugs that I gave to my sisters. You would have to know the significance. I grew up in the foster care system. I was in seven different foster homes. They are not my biological sisters, but sometimes the best family is the family that you choose. This was the last foster family I was in from the age of 17. They are my sisters.”
On the front, the mugs say “Sisters are we and forever we will be!” On the back are likenesses of each of her three sisters and Stokes, reflecting their different body shapes, hair color and length, and their names.
“They called and said, ‘This is so special, I love it.'”
Stokes also has a memorable gift received.
“It was the birth of my granddaughter, who is 10. She was due on Christmas. My daughter lived in Atlanta at that time. She was having early contractions. I flew there Dec. 23. I got there. Christmas came and no baby. I was just like, give us a New Year’s baby. New Year’s came and went. Nothing. She came about 7 in the morning on Jan. 2. She didn’t come Christmas Day, but she came during the holiday season. That was the most memorable Christmas gift.”
Francine Knowles is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown