12 Days of Christmas/Most Meaningful or Best Gift You Have Received-Day 3

Today's topic for the 12 Days of Christmas Blog party, hosted by Aly and Molly, 

 is to tell about the Most Meaningful or Best Gift we have received.  I actually have two. Most meaningful:Growing up we did not have a lot of money.  My mom and dad were just normal working-class people trying to raise two daughters.  They both worked hard to make sure that we had everything we needed and most of the things that we wanted.  Like most kids in America, when the Cabbage Patch Kids came out my sister and I each wanted one.  I think they were going for $40 or $50 and this was back in the early '80's where $40 or $50 was more like $100.  Being kids, though, we had no clue how much things costs and we just knew that Santa Claus was going to bring us each a Cabbage Patch doll. Now, my mother is a fantastic seamstress.  (She's a good writer, too, click on her link)  She came up with the idea of making us "Cabbage Patch" dolls.  She went to Wal-Mart and bought doll heads that looked like CBK's and then she sewed and stuffed the bodies.  She then made our dolls several outfits each.   Well, on that Christmas morning we were so happy!  We had no idea that our dolls weren't "real".  We actually thought we were lucky because our dolls came with all kinds of different outfits. At the time, this didn't mean a whole lot to either us of us but now that I am a parent and have 3 kids to buy for I can appreciate how much time, effort and money went into those two dolls.  She would work all day long at a regular job and then somehow sneak in making us these dolls at night.  It was definitely a gift of love and it is now so cherished. Best GiftEach year we do Christmas Eve with Scott's family.  This was new to me when I first started dating him because my family has always been together on Christmas Eve.  The great thing about his family, though, is that they have welcomed mine and one particular year my mom and dad were at his sister's house, too.   We had been dating for a couple of years and, of course, I was at the point where I really wanted a ring.  I mean I really wanted a ring.  I knew that it would come at sometime but I was just hoping that sometime wasn't 10 years down the road. Another factor was that I had a son, Kanin, who I had when I first met Scott.  Scott is Kanin's only Daddy and had been since he was 5 months old but we were at the point where Kanin was calling Scott Daddy and I wanted to solidify all of our relationship so that not only would my heart not be broken but Kanin's, either. We were out at Debbie's and had finished eating and opening Christmas presents.  Scott said that he had one more gift to give and it was to me.  He came out with a scrapbook.  I thought that was great because I love scrapbooks.  This scrapbook was filled with all kinds of things:  our 1st trip together, Mother's Day at Busch Stadium with Kanin, Kanin's first Rams game.  On and on just all kinds of memories. I kept flipping the pages and when I got to the last page, there was a blank page and on it read "Will you marry me?" Yes!  It was such the perfect proposal.  It was intimate and sweet but it also included our family.  That was, by far, the best gift I have ever received.