Farm and Dairy readers share ‘best gifts ever’

We asked Farm and Dairy readers to share their best gift ever. We enjoyed reading each one. Thank you for sharing your memories with us.

The best gift ever

I smiled reading the Farm and Dairy request for memories of a favorite Christmas gift received. When I was 9, the three-speed black Raleigh bike was the winner, but more recently it was my thoughtful husband’s gift of a Farm and Dairy subscription (honestly!).

For years my Dad subscribed to Farm and Dairy and my brother and I have happy memories of Dad in his favorite chair reading each issue. After my parents both passed away, the last item we took down from my Mom’s kitchen bulletin board when we sold the small farm was a Rev. Hoy column from Farm and Dairy’s Religion section. Hoy’s thoughtful comments and good advice had been posted there for years.

It is tough reporting what I like best about your publication. My husband and I enjoy every section. Judith Sutherland has long been a favorite (I have one of her old columns about Thanksgiving tucked away in a recipe book) along with Kymberly Foster Seabolt (who lost all common sense buying that used hot tub!), Mr. Shalaway, Alan Guebert and Baxter Black.

The 4-H reports, county fair winners, conservation and gardening articles, along with the Antique Collector and auction news are all well written and interesting. I even enjoy the ads — love the Dickinson Cattle Co. Texas Longhorn Cattle photo.

Well, I did have a tough time seeing the Vacation With Us photo of the couple who were on the Isle of Man. I was certain we would be the first as we have made several trips to my grandmother’s home in this off-the-beaten-path destination!

So although removed from my Mentor, Ohio, childhood home where my 4-H project was raising purebred Shropshire sheep, each issue of Farm and Dairy brings agricultural news from the Buckeye State and surrounding areas to Frederick, Maryland.

Thanks for a great publication, and thanks to my husband for the gift subscription (to which he has added a subscription for my brother in Inez, Texas). They both will receive a surprise Farm and Dairy T-shirt from me for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to you and your talented staff!

— Peg Bruckart, Frederick, Maryland

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My best gift was a princess phone for my room. I thought I was the bomb.

— Rebecca Montz, Madison, Ohio

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My best gift ever was a signed autograph photo of Neil Diamond! He is my favorite artist ever.

— Emily Kremer, Minster, Ohio

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My own show halter for my show cow.

— Tanya Marty

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I am 89. I was born during the Great Depression.

I awoke on Christmas morning to find the model train set I had asked Santa for. The train set was embellished with homemade stuff, which I know had been made by my aunt’s artistic boyfriend.

He made a water tower out of a can. He made all sorts of other stuff such as a signal bridge the train went through. It really made my day.

— Elwood Guda, (born and raised in Cleveland) Gainesville, Georgia

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As an 82 1/2-year-old lady, Christmas in the 1940s and early 1950s was not like the Christmas today. One of my most remembered Christmas gifts was from the early 1940s when I was about 5 or 6 years old. You see back in those years, money was very tight, although my dad had a good job as a conductor on the railroad. He was an alcoholic.

He would only give my mom (I call it an allowance) so much money to run the house. When we complained to him, he would say to us what more do you want, you have a roof over your head, food on the table and a bed to sleep in. You have no reason to complain.

For some reason, I wanted a baby doll for Christmas (I was not one to play with baby dolls and to this day it is unknown to me why I wanted one). My mother could only scrape up enough money for a doll with only a diaper and a little glass baby bottle. She was very sad.

My two neighbor ladies saw how this was bothering her, and they offered to make some doll clothes for this naked baby doll. I called this doll Baby Patty. I still have her and the baby doll clothes, and I have never forgotten the ladies who came to mom’s rescue that Christmas.

My second best gift ever was when I was a freshman in high school. It was a stretchy bracelet and heart-shaped locket set.

They were made of 12 karat gold with a pearl heart and centered with a chipped diamond. They were beautiful. She told me to be very careful when wearing them and not to lose either piece of the set as she saved all her extra money that year to buy them. She also said every time I wore them I was to think of her.

I still have the set and they are just as beautiful as the Christmas I received them.

Years ago, Christmas was not always merry and bright for many families. From me to you, have a wonderful holiday season.

— Vivian Evans, Navarre, Ohio