Tuesday, December 22, 2009

$1 Christmas present - best ever

Ever since 1951 my sister and I have been exchanging one of those little money gift envelopes - you know the ones... the ones you put the dollar in and the president's face shows through a oval cut-off window?

Way, way back in 1951 my older sister gave the envelope to me. For whatever reason, I saved it, and I gave it back to her the next year. With that little exchange, we started a tradition. And we've not missed a year - ever.

For the first couple of years she wrote the year on the back and who gave it to whom. From that time on, the one who gave it wrote his (or her) name and the year. By 1987 we had filled the back of the little envelope with names and years. Then we started writing them on the inside flap. We're now halfway through the second column.

The same dollar has not made the trip every year. She started it out with a silver certificate, and somewhere along the way a $1 bill was traded out for a $2 or a $5. Then that disappeared, and a silver certificate appeared again.

Anybody else have a gift that you have exchanged with a relative year after year?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice Gus. Have a very Merry Christmas! Peace on earth and goodwill toward all.

I know what I'm getting... coal.
Doh.

FatParalegal said...

One year, my cousin, who was 6 at the time, scrawled in ink on a gift box to her older sister "To Sue, From Wendy."

Grandma, not one to waste anything, saved gift boxes to re-use the following Christmases.

This must have been a hardy box that my cousin used because for the next 10 years, we would wait to see who got the gift in the "To Sue, From Wendy" box that year.

One year, I finally said to Grandma, "I think it's time to retire this box already." That was the last we saw of the "To Sue, From Wendy" box.

Nobody remembers the gifts, but we all have very fond memories of the box.