The Best Christmas Ever!

I remember the best Christmas ever. My first year after college was the first year I ever had a dollar to my name. The only logical response of course was to blow it all on overly elaborate, and occasionally ostentatious Christmas gifts.

The biggest winner in this march towards self-defeat was my godson, who at the time was 1. I stepped up and bought him the biggest friggin stuffed dog I could find (pictured above). The thing weighed was over 3 feet in length and a number of innocent Christmas shoppers were injured as Sparkes and I transported it from FAO Schwartz to our apt on e89th St.

I remember sparkes' girlfriend completely melting and I also recall a female friend of mine being completely unmoved by my preposterously sized gift.

I recall asking my father to come pick me up and him wondering why I just couldn't show up on NJ Transit. His face when seeing me step out of my apt with an oversized bag was a rather dramatic "oh noooo!". Thankfully his response was offset by the boy's.

When I arrived at my grandmother's house that Christmas eve, my little cousin, who was also the mother of my godson asked genuinely (and possibly hopefully)
"Is that for us?"

HAH...Great moment! A few years later I noted that the boy still slept on the dog and he kept for a quite a long time. I dunno why, but that's one of my fondest Christmas memories.

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