Gift wrapped
Special to the Enterprise |
It’s the biggest gift-giving day of the year, and for many local residents, one of the presents unwrapped this morning will be the stuff of memories for decades to come.
But while everyone can share a story about the best present they ever received, in the spirit of Christmas we asked locals to share the story of the best present they every gave. And, because seems to go hand in hand, a few locals also shared stories about the worst presents they ever unwrapped.
It’s the thought that counts
“The best gift I’ve given was when I was in college and very broke. I gave my mother a little used book on the relationship between mothers and sons. On the inside cover, I wrote to tell her how important she’d been in my life, what a great job she did raising me, and how important she was to me. It didn’t cost much, but it meant a lot to her, and to me. She still has it to this day.”
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Jason Glass
Superintendent of Eagle County Schools
Upright hit
“The best gift I’ve given was the first year we were married. I bought my wife an upright piano, which she still loves. I guess that seems like the best gift I have given her. That was 17 years ago.”
Jeff Shroll
Gypsum Town Manager
Restored belief in Santa
Julie Lingle works at Colorado Mountain College and is mom to Vail Christian High School junior Amanda.
“The best gift I have given — not sure but when Amanda was in second grade Santa brought her a bike and she told me that she had been thinking maybe Santa didn’t exist but now she really believed because she knew the price of the bike and there is no way her parents would spend that kind of money on her. I loved that.”
Julie Lingle
The cool bike
“The present I most remember giving is when we completely surprised our son Holden with a trick bike. It was what everyone was riding and he had no idea he was getting it. He really wanted one but we kept telling him he already had a bike. It was that look of complete and utter surprise on his face that got to me.”
Jon Stavney
Eagle Town Manager
Gift that keeps giving
“My husband and I agree the best gifts we ever gave were iPods to our children. Suddenly, drives to Denver were infinitely quieter!”
Kris Friel
Eagle County Communications Director
No zing factor
“The worst gift I ever got was during my senior year in high school. I got luggage from my parents. I probably should have appreciated it more, but for a 17-year-old boy, it had no zing factor. Luggage. Yeah.”
Greg Phillips
Aviation Director at Vail/Eagle County Regional Airport
Nothing says Christmas like fruitcake
“We had a gift exchange at the fire station for a number of years. There was a fruitcake ( the same one every time) that made the rounds. I got it at least twice. Not sure what ever happened to it. It’s probably in someone’s freezer waiting to be a special gift for that special someone. Merry Christmas!
Mike Vaughan
Vail Fire Department Marshall
Scary panda
The best Christmas gift I’ve ever given was a reindeer sweater. The worst Christmas gift I’ve ever received was a panda stuffed animal with glowing, moving eyes. So scary.
Matt Genelin
Eagle Valley High School senior
Down on his luck
Tom McKay is the director of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Eagle and his best gift ever story is related to that operation.
“The best thing we ever gave anyone was an $8000 car that ran really well. We gave it to a guy who had been brought to our attention by Tsu Wolin Brown of the Salvation Army. This guy had lost his job because he didn’t have a way to get to work and he was just down on his luck. Typically we don’t donate like that because we receive the things we sell from donations, but in this case, we contacted the car donor and she was all over it. Then we had some mechanics who volunteered to work on the car to get it running even better. When we went to the county motor vehicle department with the guy, he literally broke down crying, and we all stated crying too. That really was the best gift ever.”
Tom McKay
Home for the holidays
Valley native Stefanie Cramer recently lost her husband, Rob to cancer.
“The absolute most selfless gift I ever got for Christmas, was the gift of home. Last year at Christmas we were in North Carolina, and Rob said it was time to go home. He knew he wasn’t going to be here for another Christmas, and he wanted to make sure we were home when the time came to say goodbye. He wanted to make sure we were surrounded by family and friends. And he did it — we were home by January. The very last Christmas gift he ever gave us was making sure we would not be alone for our first Christmas without him.”
Stefanie Cramer
Independent Contractor, Medical Billing & Coding
