Ho ho ho!

Hey, did you just roll your eyes at that title? I know it's early. I used to get really mad about all the marketing of Christmas months in advance, now I'm excited like a little kid. My daughter loves Christmas, we watch her Wiggles Christmas videos year-round and her favorite bedtime song is Silent Night. So I can't wait to start decorating the house and playing Christmas songs.
Thinking about Christmas makes me think about gifts, wouldn't the retailers be so pleased. The best gift I ever received came from my brother. I was a freshman in college and he gave me a tin candy box full of - not candy, but quarters. There was $80 in quarters in that box. Besides being a huge wad of cash to an 18-year-old, I never had to scrounge for quarters for the laundry. Made me very popular in the dorms as well. When that box ran out, I realized what a pain it was to always be hoarding quarters, praying that the change machine worked, asking disgruntled cashiers if they could cash a $5 for me.
The quarters are long gone, turned into nearly-clean clothing and damp-dried sheets. But I kept the box, and whenever I look at it, I remember what a great gift that was.