The Best Gift I Ever Gave

SWAGG is a free mobile app (download here) that lets you shop smarter using your mobile phone. Buy, send or swap SWAGG GIFTS and organize your old school plastic gift cards.

For every download of the app between now and Dec. 31, 2010, SWAGG will donate $1 to Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) , up to $125,000.

Clever Girls Collective and SWAGG are sending a pair of movie fans to the Sundance Film Festival! Download the SWAGG app and then visit the Ultimate SWAGG Getaway Sweepstakes site to enter to win a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival. Entry deadline is January 3, 2011, 11:59pm, PST.

I love Christmas! I love the time spent with family, the smell of pastries baking in the kitchen, the sound of the gift wrapping being ripped by eager hands and the exclamations of delight when they see their gifts.

Like most parents, I take mental photos of those moments to pull out and remember during the quiet moments. Those images fill me with joy.

There are a few past Christmases that come to mind when I think of my children. Those memories aren’t filled with a slew of expensive toys. In fact, the gifts, the moments I speak of may not even seem like much to others but to my kids and I, they are priceless.

When my teen was younger, he wanted to be a spy. He talked about it all the time! It reminded me so much of my own youth when I thought I was going to be the next Latina Nancy Drew, or as I saw it Migdalia Drew! Those were good times! It expended my world and made me read more than I would have otherwise. It also made me feel I could do more than what I saw others doing around me. Wanting to expand my son’s world, I decided to get him a gift that would work with that theme.

I went to Staples and brought him a silver attache case that locked. I filled it with magic markers, post-it notes, a pair of sunglasses, tape, an “adult” pen, a passport case and a few other small trinkets. It didn’t cost much but it was filled with everything he would need if he was ever called on a secret mission.

On Christmas day, I watched as he tore up that wrapping paper. I saw his eyes light up as he saw the case. He snapped open the case, opening it up slowly. I can still recall the slight pause as his eyes moved over the items inside. Slowly, with a small smile on his face, I saw his little hands reach for each item before placing it back in the case. I waited with baited breathe. I wanted him to be happy. I always do.

He was. He was very happy.

Till this day, he still talks about that gift. It’s his favorite gift thus far. It wasn’t expensive. In fact, it was just a case filled with a few office items that I purchased at Staples. Yet what made it special was that I listened to what he wanted. I listened to his dream. I didn’t scroff at it or make it seem any less acheivable because he was young. I listened and I heard.

This year, I plan on creating new memories with my sons. I also plan on helping a few others make some memories of their own by using SWAGG. SWAGG is an app that has partnered with the non-profit Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). For every download of the app, which is FREE by the way,  SWAGG will donate $1 to SU2C up to $125,000. Inspiring isn’t it? It can also be one of the greatest gifts you ever give this year.  

Visit the SU2C site for more info https://www.standup2cancer.org/ but hurry it ends on Dec. 31, 2010!

Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective , which endorses Blog With Integrity.