What was your best ever Christmas present?

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Only thirteen days till Christmas! Are we excited? Panicked? Wondering whether, in a pinch, our loved ones will appreciate gifts from the motorway service station (sorry Carole, that might be a bit close to the bone given your worst ever Christmas present!). These are the best Christmas presents we've ever received, and I have to admit, more than one made me misty :-)

Christmas with Mr Darcy author Victoria Connelly says, "I remember being given two beautiful dolls when I was little - one with fluffy blonde hair and one with long red hair. Girls and dolls - you can't go wrong, really!"

A Merry Little Christmas author Julia Williams remembers, "My mum gave me a tapestry of a knot garden last year that she'd spent a whole year making for me, after I'd written about knot gardens in The Summer Season. Last Christmas was pretty sad for us as my mother in law died just before, and when I got that present I cried and cried. This year am going to give my girls photo albums of pictures of them with mil as a keepsake, so I expect we'll have

--> more tears, but in a good way I hope."

Married by Christmas and Santa Maybe author Scarlett Bailey says, "When I was about nine my Dad gave me a dollhouse he'd built for me all summer long in secret. Still my best present ever."

My So-Called Christmas Carol author Tamsyn Murray says, "The best Christmas present I've ever been given is the Tiffany & Co necklace I'm getting this year (HINT HINT)."

Winter Wonderland author Belinda Jones remembers, "Last year my brother gave me this weighty gift box and inside was a jar of Marmite with a solid silver lid! Strange to think that jar of Marmite is probably one of the most expensive things I own!!"

Mistletoe in Manhattan author Talli Roland recalls, "The best Christmas present I’ve received is my little laptop on which I’m now typing! I was really struggling with an old clunker, but couldn’t get my head around the cost of a new one. Then my husband surprised me on Christmas morning with a brand new, lovely netbook. Given my laptop is my life, it was such a great gift."

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe author Abby Clements says, "When he was starting secondary school my brother got a lead from my parents for Christmas, and a few days later the three of us kids picked up our pet dog, a labrador puppy called Biscuit. She brought a lot of fun to our family for over thirteen years. Not my present, strictly speaking, but we got to share."

When I Fall In Love author Miranda Dickinson remembers, "The best Christmas present I was ever given was two years ago when my lovely Bob proposed to me on Christmas Day. He iced 'Marry Me' on a gingerbread star and hung it on the Christmas tree!"

With Love at Christmas author Carole Matthews says, "Best Christmas Present - my ex-husband gave me gifts for the Twelve Days of Christmas. Every day there was a different gift representing each day. On the eighth day I had a box of After Eight mints and hidden inside one was a diamond necklace. This is the same man who, years later, bought me a Dyson vacuum cleaner."
 

The Twelve Days to Christmas author Michele Gorman says, "I'd love to say it was my little sister, Nicole, who was born on Christmas day when I was three, but apparently I took one look at her in her bassinet next to the Christmas tree after my parents brought her home and asked whether Santa did returns. So I have to be honest and say it was my first bike. I loved it, with its colourful banana seat and streamers on the handlebars. Incidentally I also grew to love my sister very much, even though she didn't have any streamers at all."

Tell us, what was the best Christmas present you ever gave or received?