Best gift:
My wife and I thought about all the "stuff"we have in our house.
She collects many disney things, her favorites are tigger and beauty and the beast. So....
Her sister(she has 3) went through a very ugly divorce this past year, turns out her alcoholic husband smashed all the furniture when she finally got away from him, but her two daughters, 11 & 12, were sleeping on the floor in their apt. We contacted a local furniture supply place, and the day after thanksgiving, sent the money to the guy. We also went to kmart and got sheet and comforter sets for the girls and Fed Ex'd them off. Two days later, they were snug in their new beds. We also got their mom a boxsprings for her mattress. Two days later, they called my wife while I was at work to thank their aunt Donna for their beds.
And then I thought what would mean the most for my wife at Christmas, she got a call on her birthday(October)....
My wife also was able to go to her uncle's funeral last month, with another sister. (last minute flight deals are not cheap). They also got to go to her mother's grave for the first time since the funeral 4 years ago and place flowers. I figure I'm finally learning a little more about Christmas and the "gifts"
Worst gift:
We hear word through mouth the sister with the two daughters is "honky-tonking" to find any man to marry her, at the local "north forty". Seems she's got her eye on somebody's cousin's son who wears "tight jeans"(that must be a prerequisite in Arkansas for a good husband and father). Two months ago my wife bought a ticket to go to her wedding (she met some guy at "the club" and two weeks later planned to get married. He was living off of disability at $900 a month.) Two days after my wife bought the ticket, the sister called, and said she kicked out the guy. I asked my wife-what happened to "I'll love him forever", and then she decided to go anyway, and the sister allready had found another guy who they took along to bingo, he wouldn't pay for his date(the sister) to pay, so all the sisters(they too had prepared to come for a wedding) had to chip in, and he sat inside the bingo hall at night wearing sunglasses(another prerequisite in Arkansas, I guess). Later, upon returning after dropping off Sam, my wife tore into her at the hotel.
Last I heard, she dumped him. Turns out my expectations were too high when we didn't get a phone call/thank you or get a card from the sister for christmas.
My wife and santa got me a book authored by Neil Peart. He is the drummer for Rush. A few years ago his daughter was killed in a car accident on her way to college. Then one year later, his wife died from cancer. Overwhelmed with grief, he quit the band, assigned someone to take care of his business, and drove his motorcycle 55,000 miles on a journey of healing. That's what the book is about. It's called Ghost rider.
I'm hoping to get some inspiration on my continuing quest for spirituality in my life (and understanding about my wife's sister)
. I'm also quite fond of the sapphire bracelet from my husband and the Cookies from Santa plate my 4th grader made me.
She did get me one birthday present. (My b-day is December 20.) It was a baby outfit and also some Johnson & Johnson baby soap and shampoo. The thing is that I use more "natural" type products, and she knows it too. I'll be taking this stuff to a crisis pregnancy center, along with the free formula samples I've gotten in the mail and the disposible diapers people have gotten me. One of the gifts I got her included a sample pack of different baby products from Burts Bees, which is a company that makes natural health and beauty products that I love. She looked at that stuff like it was as weird as I thought the stuff she got me was. I should have asked her if she just wanted to trade those gifts back. 
