The best present you ever received.

[red_tom]

And none of that my children, my partner's undying love, the forgiveness of the almighty, the day my scrofula went away or any other clever stuff . We're talking action men, swiss army knives, puppies or anything else that came wrapped up in shiny paper (well, not the puppies but you get the idea).

Mine would have to be a Commodore 64 for Christmas in 1984. It wasn't even just mine, I had to share it with my two brothers but it just blew me away. I've been a geek ever since.

 

[domtyler]

I remember the year I got my Spectrum, I knew I was going to and woke up at about three in the morning, ran downstairs to the front room and... the dog had shoot in the hall and I stepped straight in it!! I can still feel it squidging up between my toes and the smell was absolutely disgusting.

 

[wafflycat]

A weekend in Vienna for my birthday from husband
My recumbent trike from husband
My road bike from husband
My new waterproof jacket for winter/wet cycling from husband
My watercolour specially commissioned by my husband, done by my school art teacher, which is much treasured.

 

[spen666]

my "London Underground" Fluorescent vest to wear on days like today as I ride past the queues at the bus stops

 

[alecstilleyedye]

ipod, xmas 05.

 

[Big Bren]

Sometime in the early 80's, I got a shiny silver Mongoose BMX for Xmas. It had electric blue mag wheels and trick pegs front and rear and I bloody well loved that bike for years afterwards.

More recently, I bought a 1976 VW Camper as a joint present for the whole family; it delivered us the best family summer we've ever had and got me plenty of cool points with Mrs B, since she's dreamed of owning one for years.

Bren

 

[barq]

The best present I ever got came in two halves:

Firstly the Apple Mac I was given in 1991/2. I'd owned a computer before then but it had been too difficult to use, and I was too young to work it, so it was a bit of a failure. You know Macs are famously easy to use so it was great for me as a kid, because the learning curve with PCs was a lot steeper back then.

Then, the next year I was given a modem. It was all dial up bulletin boards and fidonet in those days. The opening of the first post-modem phone bill was not such a happy day though.

*Sucks through teeth and remembers when all this were fields*

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Xmas '65, 2, YES TWO ! Scalextric sets, pit stop buildings and crews, stands, starting man where you pulled the the string to move the flag, the fans etc. etc.
I had 9 Aunts n Uncles on me Dads side and 8 on my Moms side and they all bought me Scalextric that year.
The best bit ? Aunt May n Uncle Aubrey got me the Bentley ! wish I had it now !
The worst bit ? I couldn't play with it 'cos I couldn't get my Dad or Uncles off the bloody thing ! (I switched the plug off mid-race and ran outside before I got a belting !)

 

[buggi]

i still get the same stuff from my mum every christmas...

1. a necklace with a "precious" stone that's so big it's obvious it's not precious.
2. a jewellery case of some sort (last year it was a jewellery wallet for a change) i've now got more jewellery cases than jewellery.
3. scarf or gloves or both
4. eye shadow pallet (i really hate those)


and my nan always gets me one of those plastic rain hood things that old ladies wear and a fold up shopping bag that old ladies use.

i haven't got the heart to say anything.

 

[Melvil]

Digital Camera, from my girlfriend (see why below!):

 

[Bokonon]

My first road bike, must have been my 11th birthday. Where I grew up there was a 6 month window between BMXs being 'out' and MTBs being 'in' during which 'racing bikes' were the fashionable thing to have, and it happened to be then that I got a new bike. It was that bike that really got me into cycling. When I outgrew it my dad tried to persuade me to get a mountain bike (because that is what everyone else had) but I found them slow and cumbersome so I bought another road bike, and four more since.

Actually, that first road bike has ended up costing me quite a lot of money

 

[chris42]

I had an evil knievel toy. A motorbike you put into a stand, wound up and it did jumps! tantastic toy

http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=firebox&action=product&pid=1430&src_t=wnw&aff=1272

 

[barq]

Wow - that was a seriously expensive Christmas pressy back then - well done

Yep, that was a really big deal back then. Never had a present like that before or since. Actually they sold it a few years later and got a good chunk of the money back so it all worked out rather well!

 

[JamesAC]

A balloon flight over Derbyshire for my 50th Birthday.

Driving a steam train on the GCR for my 60th birthday

I wonder what 70 will bring??

 

[walker]

When I was young I had a knight rider Scalextric, with Kit and some other car, was the best.
Since then nothing really stand's out. I was bought loads of Electric car kit, which I raced for a little while till I got bored, but that was all good fun while it lasted