The best gift...

I think my best gift as a little girl was my Tiny Tears doll. She was a rubber doll, her arms and legs moved, and she had a curly dark toupee glued to her head. And, she drank from a bottle and cried tiny tears from little tear ducts by her eyes when squeezed. Somehow she managed to survive my childhood and I gave her to our daughter, Melissa, who promptly soaked her head and her hair came off. Sadly, what made her unique was gone and she became 'just another doll', soon to be forgotten.
I often muse about what each of us have allowed to be discarded that made us unique and memorable. Life does shape us, alter us, and manipulate each of us to change from who we really are, and, often, we gradually morph into what someone else, or a lot of someone else's, want us to be.
I grew up on a small town (Peotone, Illinois), with a  population was twelve hundred. I had grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who all lived in close proximity, so I was blessed with a lot of affirmation. Well, except from one person. My mother.  I now see how the withholding of affection and affirmation from her changed me.  
Over the years we either morph into who we think others want us to be or we become defiant, acting out of what has hurt us. Some do both.  Other's develop significant, often  undiagnosed personality issues. Whether rejection is real, or perceived, it casts a huge shadow over us. And, if we continue to move through life acting out of something negative, we will pass the mantle on to the next in line.
My own story, while still evolving, is, by God's grace, to have chosen to not let those issues define me. The victim role is a tough one, and usually wears the people around us out. But, if given to God-really given to Him-He will restore you and  use life's bitter pills by creating empathy. 

The best gift, outside of finding Christ and His unconditional love for me, was to embrace empathy and the power it has, if used. 

I have a granddaughter, Peyton, who was discovered to have cancer at age twelve. Peyton loved to dance, so that was the biggest heartbreak at the time, when she just didn't have the energy to do it anymore. She was strong in many ways, but wasted into a shadow of who she was before the cancer. And, of course, she lost all of her dark brown, straight hair. She is now seventeen, vibrant and full of life, dancing and defying gravity. And, her hair grew back. She is a beautiful brunette with a head full of curls; more beautiful for the testing. And, that reminds me of my Tiny Tears Doll, whose identity was in her tightly wound, glued on curls. Had I known then what I know now, and been a wiser mother, I would have made up a story, and made her a heroine of overcoming virtue. 
The best gift we give ourselves is knowing who we are, accepting our humanity, and then offering others the value of YOU. Only you can do it!