One recent Christmas I was stuck for what to give to my two sons that would be more than just a tool or a trinket that would be taken home and put in a pile of other gifts and soon forgotten who gave it to them as just another part of their Christmas haul. I try to make the gifts I give something more than that whenever I can. Especially as the kids get older, and inevitably, so do I, I want them to have treasures that mean something to them, and not just the memories of the things we have done together.
Much to their chagrin, I spent their childhoods with a camera in hand, always photographing them, and aggravating them with having them take the time with me to get a photo of some sort. Wherever we would go, whatever we were doing, they got captured in their least favorite medium, photographs.
That year Christmas I realized that it was the time to give back to them for all their fuss over the years. They were both married, and have young families, one with a son, and the other with his wife. I got each of them a hard drive and made a folder on my computer to copy all their photos into. Then I copied that folder to each of their hard drives. That is what they got for Christmas.
There are gifts you give where the people you give them to come up and say thank you for. And there are gifts that you give that they not just rave on about for a time after, but they give you that look. No words. Just that expression that says more than words. Call me selfish, but that is the gift I give to myself whenever I can.