The Best Present

I'm sitting here at my PC after buying a Christmas present for everyone in the house.

A Sony Playstation 3.

Before you start saying it's for me - let me explain.

I told my father I would buy a Blu-ray player for the living room a few weeks ago and was looking through the usual websites like Argos to find a good player and the PS3 tempted me.

So, I decided I would buy one of them.

Another time.

There was a reason why I decided to hold off on purchasing one until the day before Christmas Eve and it brings me back to one of my favourite Christmas memories.

Back in 1987 or '88 (yes, I forgot!), I didn't ask for a computer so was shocked to find a Commodore 64 on the chair where all my presents were waiting for me the morning I woke up.

I was puzzled at first and even queried that Father Christmas had accidentally given me a computer that was meant for my dad. I remember turning to him and my mum as they sat and watched my sister opening our presents and saying 'do you think this is for you?'

It makes me laugh and smile as I remember the confusion I had this morning.

The Commodore 64 was possibly the best present I ever had as it gave me so many years of enjoyment.

We were clearing out some things from the house this summer and I decided it was time the Commodore left. It hadn't worked for years so the best place for it was in the bin.

And so it went.

It was kind of funny that day because my father was sitting in the front room when the binmen were outside throwing the bags into the back of the truck and he jokingly said 'say goodbye to the Commodore'.

He knew how much that thing meant to me as a kid.

Which leads me on to today and my new purchase.

I don't want to come across as patting myself on the back here but I decided that I would buy the console the day before Christmas Eve at the earliest for one reason.

I wanted to give people enough time to get consoles for their kids. I didn't want to let someone else miss out on having a Christmas morning like I did back then.

It's not like I was going to wake up and spend all day playing on the thing, anyway. Why should I rob a parent or child of that Christmas morning?

Two years ago, my mum queued up outside a Toys R Us from six in the morning to buy my nephew a Nintendo Wii and she failed on that morning. She was fortunate to find one a few days later. I'd like to bet there were a lot of people who missed out that year.

And the next.

The PS3 should arrive here by the New Year. That's good enough for me.