In chronological order, a few things that were "extra special" when they were given (this is not exhaustive): Christmas 86 or 87 - Tonka front-end loader: my k

In chronological order, a few things that were "extra special" when they were given (this is not exhaustive): Christmas 86 or 87 - Tonka front-end loader: my kids today still play with that thing (though the paint's peeling, and there're rusty spots all over, they have a blast with it) birthday 1991 - a Tandy 102 laptop: it's what I learned to program on (with all of its 40x8 screen glory, 6.2 file naming, and 21446 bytes of storage (including file names)) birthday 1996 - Applied Cryptography 2d ed: my grandpa took me to Borders to pick out a book (or several) for my birthday. I assured him I not only was interested in that book, but that I'd read it. When my grandparents came back to visit for Christmas, I told him not only that I'd read it, but how much fun I'd had doing so (and what all it was about) Christmas 2007 (or was it 08?) - my first netbook and Acer AspireOne: great battery life, decent built-in camera, solid wifi, ad would even run (a couple years later) Haiku. Took that puppy with me to Singapore to keep in touch with friends and family back home (including my now wife) Father's Day 2018/2019 - flame socks. My kids picked them out because they'd be sure to keep my feet warm in the winter, since there are flames on the side :)