Do you remember the best Christmas gift Santa ever gave you? Of course you do! After all, you didn't spend hours drafting the perfect wish list and being nice — OK, mostly naughty — for nothing. One of the best parts about the holidays will always be opening gifts and experiencing the true meaning of joy.
I received my favorite gift when I was just 6 years old. I was obsessed with Pixar's classic film A Bugs Life, and I bugged my mom to buy me the film's action figures: a blue ant and a brown grasshopper. I had no clue she would really get them for me until I woke up on Christmas morning to find the two critters sitting underneath the tree. Not only were they exactly what I wanted, but they were even bigger than I expected. And did I mention they could talk to each other? What more could a boy ask for?
With this in mind, I asked the POPSUGAR staff to take a heartwarming trip down memory lane and share their best childhood gift memories. Reading through these stories will instantly put you in the holiday spirit and make you miss being a kid. Check them out here.
1Cabbage Patch Kid
Image Source: Jenny Sugar
"We didn't celebrate Christmas growing up, but we did celebrate Hanukkah, and I'll never forget my favorite present — my very first Cabbage Patch Kid. Her name was Babs, but I renamed her Molly. My mother always tells the story about how she waited in line for over an hour at Toys "R" Us to get it for me (aww). My brother, Brian, got one too! I think his was named Matt."
— Jenny Sugar, contributing editor
1 / 9
2Golden Earrings
Image Source: Alessia Santoro
"I can't remember which gift was my favorite as a kid, but I do remember the gold stud earrings my dad gave me with my birthstone (aquamarine) in them. I was too young to wear them much at the time — which was for the best as I was a rough-and-tumble kind of girl who would have lost them on the playground — but I still have them, and they were definitely a more meaningful gift than any of the toys that are now long gone and forgotten."
— Alessia Santoro, assistant Moms editor
2 / 9
3American Girl Dolls
Image Source: Grace Hitchcock
"Here's a picture of my sister and I on a Christmas seasaw with our American Girl dolls. I had Kirsten and she started with a Bitty Baby. She actually pulled the string on the back of Bitty Baby's neck and her head popped off."
— Grace Hitchcock, senior audience development associate
3 / 9
4Vintage Dollhouse
Image Source: Nancy Einhart
"My favorite gift was definitely my dollhouse: an old-school wooden one with six rooms. I was obsessed with buying new and vintage furniture for it, and I decorated it using wallpaper samples I got from the home store. I had very little interest in playing with the dolls, just decorating their house! As an adult, I consider decorating a hobby of mine, so the dollhouse was really the gateway drug to that. Also, I'm pretty sure I was the only kid with a cocktail bar in her dollhouse."
— Nancy Einhart, VP and executive editor
4 / 9
5Polly Pockets
Image Source: Samantha Netkin
"I celebrate Hanukkah, which means eight nights of Polly Pockets as a kid. My favorite was the Polly Pocket ring, but one Summer I left it at camp and never saw it again. I've been trying to fill that void ever since."
— Samantha Netkin, network editorial assistant
5 / 9
6Tea Set
Image Source: Aimee Simeon
"My favorite Christmas gift was a beautiful velcro pizza, made complete with mushrooms, and pepperoni — it was perfect. It immediately became my best friend and I probably "ate" it every single day after school. I couldn't find a picture of myself and my pizza, but here I am with a tea set, complete with a croissant and eggs. My parents were definitely fans of gifting me food toys. I guess they just knew that they would be raising a foodie."
— Aimee Simeon, network editorial assistant
6 / 9
7Lifelike Doll
Image Source: Stephanie Wong
"When I was 7, I desperately wanted this lifelike doll but it was ridiculously expensive. Every time I went the the mall, I'd beg my mom to buy it for me. Finally, on Christmas morning I saw the doll under the tree and I was so happy. I named her Alexandra and I pretended she was my baby. Fast-forward to six months later, for some reason I got super freaked out by her and thought she was alive. I was so terrified of Alexandra that my mom had to put her away in the closet and I never played with her again. Oops, sorry mom!"
— Stephanie Wong, assistant social media editor
7 / 9
8Rollerblades
Image Source: Eleanor Sheehan
"I refused to let my parents teach me how to ride a bike — I was determined to learn on my own — so when I got rollerblades for Christmas when I was 4, I didn't want to take them off my feet. Literally, my mom told me I tried to sleep in them for several weeks after Christmas."
— Eleanor Sheehan, editorial intern
8 / 9
9Barbie Dreamhouse
Image Source: Rebecca Gruber
"Hanukkah 1980 (or 1981). I had been talking about the Barbie Dream House for so long that my parents probably had no choice but to buy it for me. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be and was so excited to actually get it! It wasn't long before it was filled with my dolls and plenty of early '80s Malibu furniture. Little did I know that my cousin, who lived 500 miles away, was receiving it that same night too and our dads were up on the phone the entire night before trying to put the toys together. My father still tells me it would be easier to build a real house than to follow the directions for the Barbie one. But I loved it — and was devastated when my parents sold it at a garage sale a few years ago!"
