This is the Dec. 23 edition of “The Tea, Spilled by Morning Joe” newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered straight to your inbox Monday through Friday.
Happy holidays! We’re working today, but it still feels like the holiday season is all around us.
A few weeks back, the newsletter team started talking about our favorite Christmas gifts. We had such a fun conversation that we decided to ask you about the best present you’ve ever received.
Below are some of your answers, along with a few from our team.
As for me, I keep going back to an album that my parents gave me when I was 12. The record was Elton John’s “Greatest Hits,” and it inspired me to sit back down at the piano again and start writing songs. Decades later, I’m still loving every minute I get to spend playing the piano or my guitar and recording music. It all started because of that one Christmas gift from my mom and dad.
MAILBAG
We asked The Tea readers about your favorite Christmas presents. We are sharing your wonderful stories below.
Reader responses have been condensed and lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
- New small kitchen appliances, especially a Keurig. – Nina S.
- The birth of a first granddaughter shortly after a 60th birthday. – Ken H.
- Finding comfort and support in The Tea during a difficult year. – Melanie W.
- Receiving a small personal television as a child. – Susan P.
- A handwritten card with a poem from a father (1965). – Marline M.
- A Charlie Brown–style Christmas tree brought home by children (1974). – Marion D.
- A new bicycle at age 10. – Dennis H.
- A record player and Broadway cast album for Hanukkah (1959). – Shelley G.
- A Zoom call and Inuit art gift during Covid (2020) and a big green rake for gardening. – Joanne R.
- Having the entire family together. – Anon
- A Ford GT slot car. – Stephan P.
- A transistor radio carefully hidden inside a box of underwear. – Lois P.
- White go-go boots (1968) – Pamela Y.
- An electronic photo frame. – Kurt F.
- Keeping a stray cat found before Christmas. – Vickie P.
- A black-and-white TV with crayons taped to it. – Connie Z.
- Fishing lures tracked down for my son. When he opened those lures, he somehow knew it wasn’t Santa, but his mom that had done this. His face and his tears were the best present I have received. Yellow pages, landlines, tenacity and real people to answer those calls made it possible! – Nancy F.
- Visiting my mother shortly before her death (2016). – Patricia O.
- A Christmas Eve bag with fruit and candy, especially an orange (1950s). – Anon
- A Creepy Crawlers toy kit. – Elizabeth M.
- Seeing children and grandchildren living well. – RJ.
- An accordion. – Kat L.
- Celebrating Hanukkah. – Sharron C.
- My father personally selecting neckties for his grandsons while in hospice (2017). – Anon.
- A Thumbelina doll received two months after my father’s death, which brought great comfort. I’m 72 and still have the doll in the same blue outfit. – Julie F.
- Childhood Christmas traditions and stockings. – Barbara W.
- A night of laughter during a family visit to Texas to visit my brother in the Navy after my father’s death (1978). – Sherri C.
- A Sony Sports Walkman cassette player (1990). – Kelly F.
- A large number of wrapped presents as an only child. – Raquel S.
- Time spent with my brother during his last Christmas (1978). – Holly N.
- A first car, a 1950 Nash Rambler (received late 1960s). – Lorraine Z.
- A red Flexible Flyer sled. – Linda L.
- Nail polish and lotion from a mother with limited means. – Sally A.
- A childhood toy, Great Garloo. – Joe K.
- Attending a political inauguration as a surprise (2006) – Leslie P.
- Early detection and treatment of breast cancer. – Camielle S.
- Children born in December. – John C.
- A black lab puppy at age 16. – Patricia K.
- Receiving a long-desired toy farm years later. – Monique N.
- The birth of Jesus. – Paula S.
- Buying a Cocker Spaniel puppy later in life. – Chris S.
- A Keurig and an air fryer. – Nina S.
- A trip to visit an ancestral gravesite. – Dawn T.
- A reunion with a daughter during Covid (2020). – Kat M.
- A Shirley Temple doll. – Maureen S.
- A Tyco Silver Streak train set. – Christopher B.
- A medical school acceptance letter (2001). – Bobbie S.
- A charitable donation made by my children in my name to my favorite organizations. – Peter D.
- Time with family while living with terminal cancer. – Michelle S.
- A beagle puppy (1964). – Paula N.
- A manual hockey game. – Bill B.
- A husband returning home from Vietnam. – Gale B.
- An early discharge from military service (Vietnam War era). – John G.
- A large childhood doll. – Anon
- A daughter born in early December (2004). – Timothy J.
- A guitar from a grandmother (1964). – James T.
- Aluminum foil in Christmas stockings (1960s). – Sue B.
- Family gatherings with matching pajamas. – Missy L.
- A positive outcome at my oncologist’s office today. Working on year 3 of remission. Merry Christmas indeed. – Eva P.
- A stereo system with an album (1981). – Kim.
- Becoming pregnant during Christmas. –Nancy G.
- No Christmas gift due to a December birthday. – Homer S.
- A ticket redeemable for one calf to raise — redeemed years later! – Scott M.
- A tin dollhouse with furniture (1950s). – Linda C.
- A lesson about gratitude from my father. – Kevin P.
- A classical guitar received at age 16 (1970). – Chris M.
- An outdoor wooden swing. – Jannette G.
- Annual Christmas phone calls with a sibling. – Di E.
- Childhood bicycles (1950s). – Katie K.
- A Schwinn Stingray bike (1965). – Casey S.
- A toy poodle puppy. – Goldie S.
- Receiving homemade tamales. – Eric
- A Toyota pickup truck (1980). – John H.
- A first Beatles record (1964). – Greg F.
- A microscope with slides. – Michie B.
- Returning home from basic training in the Air Force and my parents seeing me in uniform for the first time. – Anon
- My son’s recovery after brain surgery (2003). – Tam V.
- A 10-speed bike used for a paper route. – Joe E.
- A Ginny doll with the perfect blue dress and a little lamb just her size. – Ann B.
- A surprise Christmas visit from California to see family in Pittsburgh. – Elizabeth M.
- A Lionel electric train set (1955). – Bernard S.
- A phonograph and Lawrence Welk records (early 1960s). – Mitchell L.
- Life. – Anon
- A Storyworth subscription to record family memories. – John D.
AS FOR THE STAFF ON THE TEA…
Mika Brzezinski
When Joe asked me to write a short paragraph about my favorite Christmas present ever, I sat for a few minutes in silence. Thinking.
There are some incredible gifts that Joe has given me through the years, including a pickup truck that I love.
Strange as it sounds, I can’t remember a single gift that I got through my childhood or the early years of motherhood.
Instead, what stays with me is the togetherness of those Christmas Eves and Christmas Days. The challenge of bringing our big family together to celebrate this magical night. How we always found a way to make it a memory, even when I felt pulled to be in three places at once.
I have written of the sadness the holiday season can bring because of the incredible memories of Christmas with my parents.
Those memories are the greatest gift: the gift of family — no matter what challenges the family faced or what chapter of life we were going through.
So my favorite gift could be the memories of the Brzezinskis’ Polish Christmases. Or it could be the memories I am building today. They are different from those Virginia holidays but will be just as special in my mind years from now.
Christmas is a celebration of my faith but also of my family. About the day when we all come together as we are, thrown together in one place, all at once, blending slowly year by year. Always making the effort to come as you are and accept each other as they are. That is the spirit of Christmas.
Material goods are a gaudy substitute for the beautiful memories that will always make Christmas a special day for my family.
Jonathan Lemire
It was the Millennium Falcon action figure I got as a kid. Han Solo was my guy in the “Star Wars” movies, and I got his ship. It broke a short time later.
Pablo Torre
I became briefly obsessed with the movie “The Mighty Ducks,” and so I got Rollerblades while I was going through a hockey phase. It did not go so great.
John Heilemann
In 1977 my parents got me the complete Topps baseball card set. Still have it. It was an amazing gift.
Alex Korson
Action heroes (don’t call them dolls!). ThunderCats, He-Man and “Star Wars” were my all-time bests.
Daniel Norwick
For a 10-year-old boy in rural(ish) western Massachusetts, there was nothing higher on the wish list than a BB gun. After much deliberation — and lectures about responsibility — my parents came through! And I didn’t even shoot my eye out. Rachel Campbell The greatest gift I received didn’t come wrapped with a bow. It has, instead, been the constant love, patience and support of my family and friends, who stood by me through an incredibly challenging few years with my health. Their encouragement, check-ins and presence meant more to me than anything else I could have unwrapped, and I am deeply, deeply grateful. I am also so thankful to begin in 2026 with healthier days ahead. Rachael Singer I’ve always been a Broadway baby. On the final night of Hanukkah, when I was 8 years old, my parents handed me a card. Inside: a ticket to Phantom of the Opera and a plane ticket to New York City. I went with my family — but I saw the show with my dad. I wore a fancy dress in 20-degree weather, and absolutely refused to put my coat on and ruin my “look.” I somehow did not get sick, despite my parents’ warnings. My very first Broadway show. A moment I’ll never forget. Johannah Lowin: My favorite present arrives each morning in a mug: a warm cappuccino, prepared by my husband and our in-house barista team. My 4-year-old loads the Nespresso pod. My 7-year-old pours the frothed milk. And my 9-year-old, with his younger brothers in tow, carefully carries the cup upstairs. The best part comes before the first sip, when the boys linger over the foam the way we gaze at clouds, spotting shapes — a circle, a deer and, inevitably, a Transformer. Natalie Sanders Among the Nintendos, the novels and the great bounty of never-enough socks, my favorite gifts have always been the unexpected ones. A jacket I never asked for that suddenly becomes a permanent fixture in my closet. A card from my best friend with her newborn’s tiny handprint stamped on the back. A pair of sunglasses gifted by my cousin, who just so happened to step on my old ones a few days before. Typical, Alia. Despite everything, I think my favorite thing about Christmas is when the fever dies, and the presents are handed out and the wrapping paper is bagged, and the family gets to sit there and sigh and think, well. We did it. The holiday, the year, the whole thing. We made it through nearly every day of the past 12 months, mostly intact, and we’ll probably do it again. There’s a profound sense of peace and hope that gives me. … The PlayStation was nice, too. Divya Murthy: I did not celebrate Christmas growing up, but I did celebrate my birthday growing up, which falls right around this time! I moved several times around the U.S. and the world in the last decade, so my favorite gifts — if you ask me now — are the ones that have traveled with me: handmade birthday cards, drawings, Polaroids, playlists, mugs and T-shirts that doubled as inside jokes with my loved ones. I’m sure I’ve gotten many a paperback and a pair of shoes that I just had to have over the years, but the dog-eared, browning cards and chits in an old shoebox are the gifts I return to most fondly. A view of three boys and an adult man as they look at toys displayed in a shop window decorated over Christmas in New York, circa 1925. The “Morning Joe” family is getting into the holiday spirit! We’d like to know: What’s your favorite memory from 2025? Share with us, and we’ll feature a few of your stories in an upcoming holiday edition.
Former Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., is co-host of MS NOW's "Morning Joe" alongside Mika Brzezinski — a show that Time magazine calls "revolutionary." In addition to his career in television, Joe is a two-time New York Times best-selling author. His most recent book is "The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again." Recommended
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