Is there a gift that still makes you smile, even long after you received or gave it? One that you'll never forget? Collector friends have shared their stories of Gifts You'd Rather Forget, as well memorable and treasured gifts -- the ones that tugged at your heart strings and still do years later. Although I don't remember the doll I got the year this picture was taken, it's apparent it was a huge hit!
A Handful of Quarters
One gift that I'll always remember is a gift to my son from my mother and he has yet to receive it. In the late 1980s my mother passed away about ten days before Christmas. She was very poor and it was a hardship to give anything, yet the beginning of December she sent my son a cardboard Santa box with a handful of quarters in it. He was around 8 years old at the time and loved getting money to use at the arcade. I knew how hard it was for her to come up with that money and after she died, I just couldn't bear for him to toss those quarters into a game machine. So I put the Santa on a shelf in the Christmas closet and every year, when taking out the decorations, I would see it and think about her.
Maybe I'll give him the Santa this year.
