I taught for many years, and treasured any gift given to me by a student or parent. Agreed, the child giving the gift is very proud! I also made sure to send a thank you note to the child at home over the Christmas break, to make them feelspecial, and to model for them the importance of sending thank you notes. Any time a student expressed unhappiness that he/she didn't have a gift, I whispered that my favorite student gifts are pictures made by the student. Would you like to make a picture for me? Again, the pride shown when I was given pictures were the real gifts. And of course, those students got personal thank you notes too. Such wonderful memories you brought up!