What Did Bob Get Me???

(By Tori)
Two of my strongest Christmas memories involve my brother. Neither are single memories but a collection of the same thing year after year. First is that Bob didn't treat kids with the special careful attention that adults often do. Our gifts to him were subject to the same scrutiny as ones from adults, and he applied his uncanny ability to detect what it was through the wrapping paper to our gifts as well. Imagine my chagrin after painstakingly picking out Bob's gift thinking how surprised he'd be, only to have him pick up the wrapped package and announce, "feels like a Miami Vice calendar!" Because of this (and Laura's tendency to squeeze and rattle packages), our family has established a tradition of employing elaborate disguise techniques while wrapping our gifts. This tradition carries on today ... I was so excited to hear Natalie describe to me last year the clever way she put her mom's perfume inside a slipper and wrapped the whole slipper as a gift.

The other Christmas memory is how excited I would be to see what Bob got me. Bob and Auntie Dot were both amazing gift givers, able to pick out the neatest gifts. Always unique, fun, or cutting edge, or some combination. Bob made sure that Jen and I didn't ever have the dreaded shared gift. We would often get the same thing, but always our own and in a different color so we wouldn't have to fight over whose was which. Some of the coolest things I had growing up came from Bob. :)

In recent years as Bob's disease progressed, Christmas shopping became increasingly difficult for him. For a number of years I would take him out shopping, and later as he began having more trouble, I would help him decide what to get. It is a tradition that I treasure, remembering the fun we had, and feeling honored to be a part of his gift giving. He was such a giving person, that Christmas shopping was such a natural thing for him ... thinking of someone he loved, then picking out something he knew would light up their face when they opened it. What a neat thing to be a part of.

Merry Christmas everyone!