The Best Things in Life
Thursday, December 1, 2011 at 11:20AM 
For any parents heading into Christmas gift-buying during this horrendous economy, here's a thought: many times, the best gifts we give our kids are not the biggest or most expensive ones.
The most meaningful gift I have ever received is currently worth $2.99. One year when I was a kid, my family was having a particularly tough Christmas financially. We lived in a 2-bedroom apartment with my Dad, Mom, 2 sisters and Grandpa. Needless to say, no one got a Wii or an LED TV that year.
On Christmas Eve, my sister passed out the gifts around the tree (that was her job and it still is- even though she's 27 now). My gift was an envelope. Taking turns, everyone opened their presents and it finally got to me. I opened my little envelope and found a note. The note was a clue. The clue led me to another clue in a different part of the apartment. That clue took me to another clue. In my PJ's (Dukes of Hazzard- I still wear them every so often), I scurried from clue-to-clue, covering all 700 square-feet of that tiny apartment.
Finally, I came to the end of my Christmas scavenger hunt. The final clue led me to a tiny cardboard box back where I had started, near the Christmas tree. I picked open the box and found inside a 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco rookie card. During my entire childhood, collecting sports cards was a hobby my Dad and I did together. He knew what I owned, what I needed and what I LIKED!
I did not know how much that card cost my parents, I still don't. I didn't care, I still don't. What I loved was the idea that my parents had thought about me and made me feel special. I knew I had gotten the best gift of anyone that Christmas. It was more than a collector's item. It was a symbol of my parent's love for me. I still have that card and I always will. I have received expensive items in my life and those are nice, but it doesn't always take something pricey to leave an impression. Maybe it just takes a three-dollar baseball card.
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