Seth Tilden

The McCrea's Candies Team on the Most Memorable Gifts They've Ever Received

A truly great gift is priceless: It lets us know we are seen. Understood. Loved. The McCrea’s Candies team shares their stories of the most touching holiday gifts they've ever received. From thoughtful gestures to everyday items each came wrapped with a memory that will last forever.

I received a stuffed bunny from my boyfriend.  It was his childhood rabbit.  He gave it to me for safekeeping.  I sleep with it every night.  Its worn and it’s been loved.  The fact that he trusted me with this special item makes me very happy.

 – Cat Harrigan, Sugar Chef

 

My most-memorable gift is the Planet of The Apes game I got in 1974.  I loved the movie. Still do.  An absolute classic with perfect camp and earnest yet ridiculous plot points.

I remember asking for it, probably begging, since I was eight.  Then, in anticipation, literally and carefully opening all my presents early in secret, to see if I got it.  (I was so good at resealing the wrappings I couldn’t stop.)  That’s when I discovered the anti-joy of having to pretend to be surprised for each gift later.  It was horrible.  Sometimes the anticipation is the gift.

I admitted this to my Mom like 20 years later.  Seriously, it was many years, and she got mad at me as if it just happened.  I guess I deserved it.

Jason McCrea, Founder and President

planet of the apes best gift i ever received

 

I loved the Easy Bake Oven I received when I was seven.  I loved to cook and bake.  Upon opening it, my sister and I made holiday cookies and cakes for the entire family.

Courtney Gonsalves, Fulfillment

 

Every year my grandmother gave me a book and every year I looked for it.  It was the least dramatic gift under the tree, but it was very calming and made me feel peaceful.

Jim LaFond-Lewis, Chief Operating Officer

 

Every year, my siblings and I put together some brief wish lists for the holiday season and for years, I would always jokingly put down “a box of cash.” A couple of years ago, my brother fulfilled my lifelong wish and gave me a box filled with $1 bills—not exactly the millions I had been hoping for but awesome nevertheless.

 Julie Ayotte, Director of Sales

 

My favorite gift is the one I got this year from my coworker, Drita.  She hand-knitted me a pair of socks.  This handmade gift means the world to me.  I can’t wait to sit in my new socks with a cup of tea, a good book and snuggle on in.

–  Liz Gallagher, Fulfillment

handmade socks; best gift i ever received

 

I once received a drafting desk.  The gift itself was exciting, but even more memorable was the fact that I put it together all by myself.  I used it for years with pride.

–  Cheryl Bornstein, Director of Logistics

 

I loved my first two-wheeler bike.  It was blue with those big handlebars.  I was used to getting hand-me-downs and this was the first new thing that was just for me.  I rode that bike everywhere.

 Lucy Perry, Sales Support

 

My mom forbid my cousins from buying me Barbies. No dolls with high-end fashion clothing and endless Penthouse, Barbie Mobile, and high-heeled shoes causing constant longing and modeling values she found hollow. Bummer.

Not a bummer at all!!! My cousin got me this awesome family of dolls and made it the coolest gift ever by playing with them with me (she is 16 years older than I and continues to be the best cousin anyone could ever ask for).

–  Kate McCrea, Chief Executive Officer

the sunshine family best gift i ever received

 

This year my sister is gifting me with two parakeets; one blue, one green.  Some people are cat people and some are dog people.  I’m a bird person.  I can’t wait!

–  Drita Brakaj, Fulfillment

 

One year, my grandma gave my sister and I matching leotards.  We had become enamored of Nadia Comaneci and Olga Korbut during the summer Olympics that year.  We loved putting on those body suits and tumbling all over the place, pretending to be world-famous gymnasts.

 Diane Parazin, Director of Marketing

 

The best gift we ever received was a trip to Red Sox spring training in 2007.  It was a family trip.  Everyone went. We met all the players and the club’s baseball legends, including Johnny Pesky.  We also met coaches John Farrell and Terry Francona.  Seth got to be a bat boy and was on the field with the best of the best.  It was a very memorable trip.

–  Chuck and Seth Tilden, McCrea’s Candies’ Father and Son Packing Team

red sox training camp the best gift i ever recieved

 

When I was maybe 5 years old I got a globe.  It was the biggest present under the tree.  You can’t really do a whole lot with a globe but I just remember loving it.  It was the first gift I can think of where I felt that excitement in the buildup to actually getting to open it.  When I think of being excited during childhood Christmas mornings, that’s what I flash to.  I love feeling that feeling and the globe gift brings it all back even now.

–  Matt Roche, Director of Channel Sales

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