17. A special gift you have given or received
This topic kinda blows my mind, because when I think about gifts I have received, I get emotionally overwhelmed with gratitude. Best I focus on the material items, I reckon.
Oh but the heirlooms and the quilts and the books and the fabric!
Okay, I gotta focus on Christmas…
For a special gift I received, I’ll go with the Christmas my parents bought me an enormous stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh Bear. Oh my gosh, y’all it’s huge. We still have it. It lived with Bubba for a long time and then Bubba let his sisters take custody of his stuffies, so giant Pooh Bear, now a naked Pooh Bear, lives in Moo’s room, where, really, he could basically be a back support/arm rest pillow for her.
I got that Pooh Bear when I was 18.
After all the presents had been opened, my dad asked me to go look in the coat closet and that’s where I found Pooh. Such a whimsical, timely gift. One of my favorites fersure.
I strapped him in the passenger seat and drove him back to college with me. He never once complained about my driving, perhaps because he knew I’d always have hunny on hand.
joeyfullystated 
Love it! Just goes to prove that sometimes the best gifts are the ones you don’t expect! 😊
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We have a huge Pooh bear too! My hubs bought it before my first son was born. We took pictures of my son standing next to it each year to see how much he grew. Now it’s in a BIG box in the basement somewhere. I guess we’re neglecting him now.
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Neglecting the bear, not my son. Just thought I should clarify…
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Haha, I never doubted!
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I had a stuffed dog named Gus where I hid my babysitting money. I left home at eighteen (long story). When I finally returned Gus was a moldy, shapeless artificial fur ball about to be trashed but I found twenty dollars in his belly before he died. I’ll never forget Gus – I needed that money.
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Interesting.
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I lived on Ashdown Forest in Sussex, the setting for four hundred acre wood, for over half my life. A A Milne wrote the pooh stories there, for Christopher Robin, his nephew (who a friend of mine actually met, when Christopher was in his eighties).
If you lived round there it was practically compulsory to go to pooh bridge and play pooh sticks.
It’s still there, l visited my family in October and took my daughter, Audrey there.
Of course, we had to visit the little shop at the House At Pooh Corner too, and buy her her very own Pooh
Oh, and if you do ever manage to get there, BEAR in mind that there isn’t a stick for miles, you have to take them down the hill with you. ;~}
There are some photos of our visit here…
http://diaryofaninternetnobody.com/2015/11/07/stream-of-consciousness-saturday-return-to-the-old-stomping-ground/
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Nifty! I had read a great deal about it, but I never encountered anyone who was from there. Thanks for sharing — I loved the photos 🙂
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, is also from Crowborough, the town where I grew up.
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What a sweet story. You are never too old to be given a stuffed bear and you are never too mature to be surprised.
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Very nice. I am smiling at the mental image of you and Pooh riding back to school.
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😀
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A girl never gets too old for a Winnie the Pooh bear. 🙂
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I had a lovely plush white cat that I was enamored of for a while…I think I was a tad younger than 18 however…By then I had swapped my desire to squeeze things to ……oh well I won’t go on…family blog and all…
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I love that your parents gave you Winnie the Pooh at age 18. What fun parents they sound like. It doesn’t seem to have become very worn out! 🙂
Being then handed down through the kids really makes this classic Pooh a treasured guest. Moo has a cute collection, Joey.
My favorite gifts for several years were the Little Women Madame Alexander dolls. I received one each year, Marmee(the mother), Beth, Amy, Jo, neighbor boy Laurie, and Meg. I would get a clothing item or book but this collection is still in their boxes. I wanted to get a glass case like my Mom did placing her collectibles in. Just never did. Fun memories here, Joey. ♡
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Sounds like a lovely collection 🙂 I love Little Women, but I’ve never been big on dolls. Moo loves them, especially American Girls.
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