I’ve received a lot of great Christmas presents through the years. When I was six I got the Ghostbusters Proton Pack and Ghost Popper. When I was eight I saw Gleaming the Cube and my life was changed. I had to get a skateboard just like Christian Slater. Santa came through with an awesome pro skateboard. Christmas morning I was out riding that thing (well, at least trying to) even though it was 20 degrees outside. When I was ten I received the Christmas present that every boy dreams about: a Red Ryder BB Gun. I shot lots of Crystal Pepsi cans and even went on a few “hunts” out in the fields behind my subdivision. I never bagged anything unless you count the centipede I bifurcated at point blank. At least I didn’t shoot my eye out.
I loved all those presents. But the one Christmas present I remember most fondly was the electric guitar I got in 8th grade. Oh man, was that an awesome present. I guess my lust for an electric guitar began in 6th grade. I discovered music and became a budding audiophile. Favorite bands? The Beatles and Oasis (yeah, Oasis.). In 7th grade my friends and I wanted to start a band. I needed a guitar.
I asked for a guitar that year, but Santa said no. It was devastating and only fed my hunger for one. I remember that for an entire year I would go to the music shop a few times a month to look at guitars. My longing for a guitar was so great that I was excited to get this lame inflatable gag guitar at a carnival because then I could practice fingering guitar chords.
Finally, after a year of waiting, Christmas morning arrived. I walked out to the living room where Santa dropped off our booty. Perched on my “present couch” (each of my siblings had a couch that Santa would drop stuff off on) was a Peavey sunburst guitar with accompanying Peavey amp. It was a glorious sight to behold.
Despite being 6:30 in the morning, I plugged in the guitar, cranked the amp “up to 11″ and strummed a window shattering power chord. I was in teenage boy heaven.
The Saddleaback Leather Company Holiday Giveaway
Saddleback Bags make the ultimate gifts. My whole family pitched in and bought my dad a Saddleback briefcase for Christmas last year, and he thought it was the best present he ever got. These bags can make even the Scroogiest McScrooge giggle like a little boy on Christmas morning. Instead of getting a bunch of useless doodads from your folks and relatives this year, get them to all go in on a bag for you. Or ask for a Saddleback gift certificate to get you at least part of the way there. Hey, borrow against next year’s gifts if needs be!
Or, you can try winning a briefcase in our giveaway.
The Prize
A medium leather briefcase in your choice of color is up for grabs. Thick, full grain boot leather. 100 year warranty. A $519 value. How do you like them fruitcakes?
How to Enter
Simply leave a comment on this post sharing the best present you’ve ever received. Deadline to enter is Wednesday, December 8 at 11PM CST. We will randomly draw one comment to be the winner and the envy of all mandom.
Good luck!
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The best Christmas gift I ever received was when I was in 6th grade. My parents bought my a German Shepard who I named Sargent. He was my best friend companion for 12 great years. Thanks for the friendship Sarge!
My dog Freckles. RIP ol boy
The best gift I ever got was a book written by my cousin Bud about our family’s history. He did some real digging and recovered stories and memories that were just about lost forever.
This will be an excelent present for whoever gets it. AoM comes through yet again.
Best gift I ever received was my Nintendo Entertainment System back when I was a kid.
Best present ever? It was probably an RC car called the Bandit. I remember playing with it for endless hours as a kid.
My little brother was born on Christmas day 24 years ago. He is one of my closest friends and that has to be the greatest gift I ever received for Christmas.
The best gift I ever received was the Sega Genesis I got when I was a kid
My step-daughter accidentally broke my necklace. She felt real bad about it for a long time. One day, she presents me with a new necklace. She had saved up her money and bought me a replacement. I’m divorced now, and she lives out of state with her mother. To this day , that’s the best present I have ever received.
My best gift was my first gun. At the age of five my mother and father bought me a single shot .22 with a scope on it.
-T.W. Webb
The best gift i received was the original Playstation!
I recieved a fixed blade buck knife several years back. It’s a super economical gift that I use all the time.
Materially the best gift I’ve received is my Canon dSLR. This camera has given me an avenue for creativity that I didn’t know I needed. It helped to pull me out of a depression that was threatening my life. I use it to provide images for friends and family and to express myself.
Spiritually would have to be my God, and my family. I’ve been unemployed now for 17 mo and they both keep me going.
Has to be the Kitchen-Aid Mom got for me. Pizza dough, cake batters, cheese spreads, pie fillings (Key Lime) etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc etc
Bill Buzan
come by facebook and Play AFT
Best Christmas present ever was from my best friend…an antique pipe box/stand to display my favorite tobacco pipes collection. I have already been the envy of manlihood. :)
But a leather briefcase has been the object of my lust for several months now. *fingers crossed!*
Best present was my wife getting me a ticket package to the Texas Rangers. Oh yes. that was a great surprise. Great summer of baseball.
The best present I ever got was the year my wife got me a museum quality early medieval 2 handed fighting axe for my arms and armour collection. I love my wife.
Definitely a wooden-frame futon when I was in college.
I have a tie for the best presents I have ever received: oxblood Doc Martens and a ticket to see Eddie Izzard live.
The best gift I’d ever received was a trip to Hong Kong to visit family over the Christmas holidays.
The best gifts have been Jesus, my beautiful wife(17 years this Christmas), and my son and daughter. Other than those was the original Atari game system.
The best gift I ever received was my first electric guitar. My dad had it hidden behind the sofa and brought it out only when I was on the brink of utter disappointment. I still remember the smell when I opened the box — wood wood and lacquer with a distinct ‘metallic’ overtone. It wasn’t a fancy guitar — just a single pickup, small scale, no-name electric — but that guitar was the key to an entire fantasy world that I still get transported to every time I pick up a guitar and plug it in. Even 25 years later.
I’ve had a lot of good ones. I’d say growing up, one that sticks out in my mind was in 1988, I received a Nintendo Entertainment System. Pure magic. I’ll spare everyone the details, but I remember everything about opening it, setting it up and turning it on for the first time.
By far the best present was a classic Weber grill a few years ago. Still use it every week to this day.
While it may nto be the best present i have ever received, my most memorable Christmas present was a Nintendo 64. I remember wanting it so bad and can still remember the feeling got on Christmas day of playing Mario Kart non stop.
The best gift I ever received was also the simplest: time well spent with my brothers and parents. Sure, we didn’t always get along. but they are family, and that is what counts.
Refurbishing my dad’s Lionel train set that he had as a boy in the thirties. Was packed away for years so I cleaned the tracks up and took the locomotive to a specialist train dealer to check out and get a new transformer. Set it up under the tree for Christmas morning and the joy it brought was inmeasurable. He said it was mine to have and to pass on to my chirldren.
It was the late Sixties and my mother offered a “bundled” gift of a portable Olivetti, a Canon Ftb SLR and my very first Moleskine notebook. I never thought much of brand before that Christmas, but each element of the gift was thought out carefully for quality, durability, reliability and performance. Mom knew I had Gypsy dreams and I soon began a wanderjahr trekking through the Philippines, Formosa and China. At my side all the while was the Olivetti, the Canon and the Moleskine. After my expatriot years, I enrolled at Mizzou’s legendary School of Journalism. There I honed my writing skills on that battered keyboard, improved my inner eye through that old viewfinder and kept my deepest secrets in that weathered & worn journal. Mom’s gift bundle covered many miles and memories; many inferior bags came and went during those years. Had I only possessed one Saddleback to team with my Olivetti, Canon and Moleskine, my travels and treasures would even be sweeter today.
Most definitely my first new bike, no longer riding my sisters’ old bikes.
A Remington 870 12 Gage when I was 16. Many great times have been spent with that gun!
Best present: Atari 2600 when I was 12. Changed my life. :-)
Received my second “best” gift a little early this year. My healthy baby daughter. First “best” gift was my son in 2008.
Have to say it was the gift certificate from my wife and daughter for flying lessons!
A rosary.
Best present I ever received was a very nice mountain bike when I was 12. I was excited to share a hobby with my dad.
Well, I’d say the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten was a coffee mug that my Dad sent me from Iraq when he was deployed there in 2008. He called our family farm Christmas morning and told me that I was the man of the house while he was away, and that every man needs a coffee mug.
I grew up overseas and Christmas was never overly populated with gifts, except for one year when we were back in the U.S. and someone donated some toys. I received a remote control car and a single shot BB gun pistol.
We woke my parents up at around 5 in the morning that year and they made us sleep another hour. That had to be one of the longest hours of my life.
A Wenzloff & Sons dovetail saw. Best hand saws anywhere in the world and made in the USA.
22 yrs later, I just pulled the 12-string my parents gave me in high school off my office wall and played the first song I learned on it: Poison’s “Every rose…”. It’s a thing of beauty. (The guitar, not my singing.)
Best gift ever was the Rolling Stones record “Let It Bleed”
I’d have to say the best present I ever received for Christmas was a Ghostbusters proton pack and trap, when I was about 6 or 7. Not only is that one of the best movies ever, but my parents would later tell me that they spent days driving around the state looking for them.
Merry Christmas to everybody!
The best present that I’ve ever received was a picture book and photo album from the love of my life while I was deployed last Christmas!
My parents got me an acoustic/electric guitar after I had been teaching myself to learn on a very cheap beginner’s electric guitar for a few years. It set me free, having that acoustic guitar.
Best Gift, my first camera when I was seven. It was a Kodak box camera. Loved that camera! Wish I still had it.
The best present I ever received was a trip to Disney World when I was eight. Me and my family spent the week of Christmas there, and it was great. Even though I was young, I still remember it very well and can’t wait to take my family there one day.
my best gift was the MP3 player that my boyfriend bought me out to the blue. It was great because he did a ton of research to find me the nicest one he could afford.
Best christmas present I have ever received was when my father fixed up his old jeep cherokee, so I could have a car after moving back from Washington DC. Would never have been able to get back on my feet if he hadn’t done that!
One of the gifts I remember best was the Big Trak. I think I was 10 or 11 probably.
The best present I ever received was to find out my dad was going to make it following a massive heart attack. His bypass surgery was one of the first ones performed. He is now gone but I cherished the additional time we had with him when I was younger.
The weirdest Christmas present I have ever gotten was a Garage door opener. The best present was my Dad’s cancer going into remission!
The present I ever received was my first Bible. Its the only present that has granted me constant comfort, food for thought and is still the biggest influence in me becoming a real, honorable and resilient man.
Last year, the 12-year-old boy I work with as part of the Big Brothers program in Memphis asked my wife what I would like for my birthday. She told him that he doesn’t need to get me anything, just sing for me. Did he sing me “Happy Birthday”? No. He WROTE me a song and sang that to me. I still get a bit emotional when I think about this shy boy singing to me in front of his family and my wife and me. Pure joy.
The best Christmas gift I ever received was ticket to a Boston Bruins/Montreal Canadians game because it was a set of three which meant i got to share the experience with my father and brother.
The best present I received was the Nintendo NES. Man, did I love Contra. Up up down down left right left right B A Select Start and you were ready to go for hours!
The best present I ever received was a Fisher Price Monster Truck that I drove around when I was 6. That thing was a beast. I remember there only being enough space for one person so my 4 yo cousin got on the back of it and we cruised around for a few minutes until it popped a wheely because there was too much weight on the back!!! Hahaha!!!
My grandparents gave me the best present ever. A young lad, I received a Nintendo Entertainment System. To this day, I clearly remember hugging that box on the floor and repeating “Thank you” over and over again to no one in particular.
When I was young my great uncle gave me a bag of small, wooden, hand carved, military vehicles. They were unpainted but had stacks of detail. There were loads of them… jeeps, tanks, APCs…… they gave me tons of enjoyment. If only life were that simple now.
A Sony MD player from my ex-girlfriend which I totally love to bits in the early millennium since it was the coolest thing to be seen with before iPod was around. Best present ever. She’s happily married to her neighbor now. Then came iPod. I own neither.
A “36 Coker Unicycle. Potentially deadly, but so manly.
My most memorable present was the record player I got when I was 10 years old. After unwrapping everything else, I sat in my room with the big headphones on and listened to my older brother’s LP collection. When I came out hours later, I discovered that my brothers had put together my new LEGO Town because they didn’t get any toys!
The best gift that I had ever been given was a pocket watch that belonged to my Great-Grandfather. I was just a teenager when this was given to me and at that time it didn’t have much value to me. Now looking back years later, I now realize that it isn’t just a watch, but a piece of my family’s history. I hope that one day I’ll be able to pass this heirloom along just as it was passed to me.
The best present I ever received was when my mom and dad gave me a round trip ticket to fly and see my aunt, uncle, and cousins who had moved from Atlanta, GA to Allentown, PA a few years earlier. Our two families were realty close. I was just a kid and went all by myself to see them over the Christmas holidays back in the mid 70s.
A swiss watch, and a pocket knife with my name engraved on it. I keep both with me at all times
I like Nathan E’s answer! My wife surprised me with a 1 generation iPhone…It was completely unexpected. She even waited until I opened my other gifts, and then went upstairs and came back with the gift. I couldn’t believe it! My wife is so awesome.
Tickets to a Tennessee Titans game
The most memorable present I received was a .22 pistol I got when I turned 10. That I now owned an actual gun was an incredible feeling, no plastic snap-guns for me, no sir! Of course, I couldn’t actually keep it or shoot it whenever I wanted, but it was mine, all mine.
i gotta say that the best present i ever recieved was when i was eight years old, and i came downstairs to find a dirtbike sitting in the living room for me. nothin’ better.
I remember being shocked at getting an Atari 2600 when I was 12 or so. I remember my parents going on & on about expensive it was and how they couldn’t afford it, so it was shocking to find it under the tree Christmas morning.
The best present I can remember getting was a Gregory weekend warrior backpacking pack; it’s lasted through a lot more abuse than it eer deserved.
Best present I ever got was a BMX bike when I was 9. Boy did that thing get well used over the next 6 years.
Most of my Christmas presents were dissapointing, my father would always wait untill Christmas Eve to do the shopping, he would go to (when it was still in this state) T.G.&.Y just before closing and he would buy whatever was reduced – by reduced i mean damaged and broken, he would comment how much he saved but it was on things we wouldn’t have wanted and was ussually things that the store would have tossed out the next day having been damaged in the Christmas rush.
A perfect example was the year he brought each of us a box of Chocolates (i never had much of a sweet tooth) and me a broken hard stuffed Snoopy Dog with it’s nose pulled off, it had a broken neck so it’s head couldn’t be possitioned upright.
One year he suprised me by giving me eight ‘Star Wars’ Action Figures and an X – Wing Fighter.
That was a great one, as was when i was given a B.B. Gun that came in handy very often.
And a later occaision when i got a Briefcase i needed – i used it till it fell to pieces (litteraly), if i won this case it would be comming full circle.
The best present I ever got was a keg of Guinness and several bottles of Bailey’s and whiskey.
A 1974 Honda XL70 dirt bike!!! Best gift I ever remember getting. Totally surprised me and I didn’t get off of it for 2 weeks straight:)
My best present was the Empire Strikes Back AT-AT toy.
There is no better joy than unwrapping the Empire’s most feared planetary attack vehicle. It made me wish there was a Luke with Pee-In-His-Pants Battle Action toy.
The best Christmas gift I ever got was a 250 GB Maxtor One Touch External Hard Drive. It has proven itself very useful in backing up my home and work computers.
My best present ever was my grandpa’s zippos from when he was a marine in Korea. They still work of course!
The best gift ever would be one of those amazing Saddleback bags.
Stainless steel card case from my daughter. It’s been over ten years and it’s still in my pocket.
The best Christmas gift I ever got was from my parents. I was seventeen years old and a senior in high school. They gave me a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers, and $400 cash. I spent every penny on performance parts for my 1969 Chevy Nova.
No question. The best was a bicycle one year when i thought for sure we weren’t getting anything since we didn’t have any money.
The best gift I ever received was a pendant my son made for me of his fingerprint, with his own hands. I wear it every day.
All of the Rocky movies in one boxed set. Amazing marathons to follow over and over.
1978…Star Wars Landspeeder…still have it…awesome! (And it would fit perfectly in a Saddleback briefcase.)
The best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten was a pocket knife from my father when I was 9. For the last 20 years it has been in my pocket every day.
The best Christmas gift I ever received was a Nintendo 64. My brother and played it all night.
When I was 14, my parents got me my first 35mm SLR. Out of all the gifts I received as a kid, it’s the only one I still use.
Best present I got was last year. My folks gave me tickets to go back to South Africa for my cousins wedding. First time I got to spend time with family in a country I hadn’t set foot in 16 years.
Not a Christmas gift but the best gifts I have ever received are my two sons. My second son is only two weeks old.
The best present I have received has to be my silver wolf torq. Not only do I love it to death, but I’m pretty sure that it’ll be an heirloom. Thanks mom!
Snow outside on christmas Evening, while sitting in the warm livingroom, Candles, a nice strong Bock-Beer and my loved-ones!
The best Christmas gift I remember getting was when I was 14 years-old, I received a Colorado Avalanche Starters jacket from my parents.
Best gift I ever got was the Kenner Toys Millennium Falcon Play set, The ship that made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
Through the years I have fond memories of a new bike, first stereo and so on. But truly the best gift of all was my daughter being born Thanksgiving 2002. She shares her birthday with my Grandmother 70 years appart.
I’d have to say the best “gift” gift I ever received was the very large grill sitting out on my deck that my wife had everyone in my family go in on for me to surprise me when I returned home from deployment as a Christmas present.
The best present i had was when my dad saved up and booked my mum on an overseas holiday to vietnam… So, why was this so good? Don’t get me wrong, I love my mum, but when she had left, my dad turned to me and went “Time to go get your motorcycle license and a bike! We have to do it now, or we won’t get it past her when she’s back!”
I’ve been riding for 10 years now, rain, hail, snow, storm, blistering heat, around europe, and across australia…
Best. Present. Ever.
A Saddleback Medium Leather Briefcase. (A little visualization never hurts).
My dad gave me his old Cub Scout pocket knife when I turned 10 years old.
The best present I ever received was my Commodore 64 computer. It set me on the path to my career. I never work because I do what I love.
The best present I ever received was socks. Because I needed socks.
Someone listened to me and bought me socks. They didn’t buy me stinky water, nor candy. They didn’t give me a stuffed monkey, or a finger puppet shaped like a sheep. They gave me two presents that day. The proof of their attention, and socks. Thank you for your kind attention. Have a pleasant and healthy winter season, and may you have everything you need.
Best present ever was an n64 and goldeneye when they first came out. that was endless entertainment.
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