A few years before my mom died, I gave her one of those blank books with the pretty covers and asked her to write her memories in it. I wasn't living at home at the time, and the way memories happen is they just surface when they want. I didn't want to miss the ones I wasn't around to hear. I got the book back after she died. While I've forgoton about a lot of the typical gifts, the book is something I will always cherish.

Another gift I love is one someone gave to me on my first birthday. It's tells the story of a baby from birth to first birthday with text and pictures cut out of magazines. I don't recall ever meeting the woman who did it - she was very old when I was born and died before I could get to know her. But I still have the love she put into that book to remember her by.