Best Christmas gift you got as a kid?

I was going to write a post about my favorite gift(s) this 2010 holiday but couldn't decide on just one! I'll just say something corny like getting to see all of my family and everyone having safe travels. It may sound corny, but after the terrible ice storm we had last year that put into perspective how much we take advantage of family, holidays and safe travels.

Anyway, while Ryan and I were shopping at Toy 'R' Us for science kits we ran across a constellation projector. Previous to this shopping trip I had done a man-on-the-street type interview with 60 area high school students asking them what the best gift they ever got as a kid was. It made me think about what my answer would be. I could say my trip to Europe was pretty awesome. I also got American Girl dolls and a Barbie van hand-delivered to me from Santa himself! (I still don't know who that was).

But, the coolest thing that I miss the most was this globe that projected constellation patterns all over my room. It was awesome. I scoured the internet for a picture to explain and all I could find was this from hammacher.com. I wasn't even really that into stars and I'm still not. It was just awesome to gaze at them from my bed - especially in the winter when star gazing isn't ideal.

The most popular answers I got were a trip somewhere, a pet or a Barbie Jeep that you could drive. I bet ten girls said that Jeep was their favorite. Those answers got old. I liked the ones who said something small, but meaningful - like one girl who said her grandma got her a glow-in-the-dark Barbie gel watch.

What was your favorite gift?

Maybe I'll ask Santa for a projector next year. :-)