Over the course of your lifetime, you’ve likely received countless gifts. Some big, some small, most forgotten. But nearly everyone has that childhood memory of that one favorite gift that they’ve gotten at the holidays that stays with them forever.
Here are a few of our favorite stories about some favorite gifts.
1. Chris Vergano, Mayor of Wayne
“For me, it was my red Schwinn bike I got as a young kid. It’s unbelievable, I’m 62 years old and remember it like it was yesterday!”
2. Michelle Vernuccio, President, North Jersey Chamber of Commerce
“Oh this one’s easy. Every year I got the new Holiday Edition Barbie. I would display them all over my room and I still have each one of them.”
3. Melissa Cipriano, Owner, Cipriano Law Offices, P.C.
“I got this great record player when I was young and a whole bunch of records that I would listen to all the time. They were all the popular 80’s songs.”
4. Henry Madalian, Owner, Madalian Wellness Center
“I Loved the Rock’ Em, Sock’ Em, Robots I got. I could play forever. I just needed to keep finding people who would agree to play”
5. Don Seaman, Editor, Wayne Lifestyle
"I was probably around eight or nine when I got a dartboard. I’d opened it up and set it aside, not thinking much of it. But after the chaos of Christmas morning had subsided, I realized that I hadn’t seen any darts. It was then that my mother pointed out that she noticed something strange in the fireplace.
There, mostly covered with ashes, was a random gift. Leading out of the fireplace was an even greater surprise - boot prints trailing ash towards the tree.
Of course, when I opened the present, I found it to be darts.
It wasn’t the best gift but it was my favorite because it was something beyond the darts and dartboard. It was the gift of Christmas magic. I knew that Santa was real...even if he was a little butterfingered.
And somehow, a few decades later, wouldn’t you know it? The same thing happened to my kids. Seems like Santa never really fixed that clumsiness. I guess I’ll have to ask my grandkids one day."
6. Phillip Barone, Publisher, Wayne Lifestyle
“Well, there were some really great ones: Rage Cage Hulk, Hot Wheels Criss-Cross Crash, 1985 Voltron, Ewok Village, and Transformers Optimus Prime but I think my favorite was my Shogun Godzilla. I saw one recently at Pandora’s Box…the temptation was strong!”