Merry Christmas: “What’s the Best Ocean City Related Gift You’ve Ever Received…Cue The Water Works

It’s Christmas time and children everywhere are excitedly waiting for the annual return of Santa Claus for special gifts under the tree. However as we get older and perhaps a bit wiser, us adults know the true meaning of Christmas.

The Best Gift from Ocean City, Maryland

At the beginning of the season, I asked Ocean City, Maryland enthusiasts, “What’s the best Ocean City gift that you’ve ever received?” While I was hoping to curate a list of gifts that would fit under the Christmas or in a hanging stocking, the responses quickly reminded me that Ocean City gives us the most precious gifts of all- and none of them are truly things, but memories, experiences, and feelings. Here’s a list of heart warming responses. Get the tissues for some of these. 

1. Met my wife on the boardwalk on August 15, 1971 at 4th street
2. This house on 10th street was bought by my parents in 1965 when I was 4.
3. Watching my girls grow up with the same memories I have of Ocean City.
4. A Paul McGee print of Ocean City, MD. We have all 3 now.
5. My love of the ocean thanks to my mom and grandparents. I’m now 71.
6. Royalton Hotel recipe for clam chowder. My mother paid $10 for it.
7. My dad taught us to body surf. A precious gift you can’t get in a store.
8. A starfish from Souvenir City my mom gave to me on my first beach trip when I was 7. 
9. A cold ass beer from Cork Bar!
10. I gift a week to the beach to my son every year.
11. A beautiful welk sitting at high tide all by itself.
12. My kids would put all their tickets together and cash in to get me a surprise gift.
13. Memories with my grandparents
14. Met my wife there in 1977, married in 1980, and still going strong.
15. Meeting new friends on the boardwalk at a Christmas in July bike ride 😉
16. The best time of my childhood.
17. Sunshine and ocean spray
18. Met my husband there when we were 16 and got married on the beach 9 years ago.
19. My daughter painted a watercolor of our beach house for us
20. Beautiful weather while on vacation
21. Memory of family and friends who are no longer with us.
22. Stuffed ponies from Assateague Island
23. Out house on 139th street- a gift but definitely earned
24. Definitely memories, but some beautiful beach jewelry, too
25. Print of Violets are Blue by Robert Barnes
26. A ring from the Turquoise House in the late 70s
27. Childhood memories
28. Mother daughter beach vacations and trying our favorite eateries
29. Memories of stays at Francis Scott Key Family Resort
30. Just being there walking on the beach
31. Going out early looking for seashells
32. Getting engaged on the Judith M
33. All of the memories from our condo on 94th
34. Sunset pictures
35. Christmas ornaments
36. Meeting my husband
37. A great job there for 34 years
38. A ton of great friends
39. Times spent with my parents at The Marigot and ribs from JRs
40. Fond memories
41. Memories…and Wockenfuss candies
42. The summer of 2001
43. All the beautiful sunrises
44. An ornament from the Christmas tree store that was there
45. My clock from Shantytown
46. Priceless memories of my in laws that used to manage the 9400 building
47. A little wooden memory box from Shantytown
48. Our wedding vows
49. Memories from the Hamilton on 3rd street from the late 1940s
50. Our honeymoon in 1981. We’ve been married 44 years.
51. My honeymoon in 1984.
52. Just being there every year
53. An old boardwalk plank
54. My engagement ring from my husband 
55. Memories with my Grandma in Ocean City
56. A kite from the Kite Loft
57. Scopes
58. Lots of hangovers
59. A weeks stay at Dunes Manor
60. A Christmas ornament from Christmas Spirit I got as a little girl
61. My wedding reception at Phillips by the Sea on 13th and the boards
62. My lifeguard experience from ‘59 to ‘61
63. My wedding at Fagers Island
64. My engagement ring from a sunrise proposal
65. The smell of the ocean just coming over the bridge
66. A painting of Ocean City’s boardwalk
67. My engagement there in 1989
68. My Ocean City bracelet from my mother who passed away
69. Meeting The Bunting Family on Dorchester Street in 1983- now life long friends
70. My wedding night July 1, 2006
71. Reminiscing while looking at old Scopes we find in the drawer
72. Coffee walks on the boardwalk 
73. Watching my kids play in the sand building sand castles
74. Seeing familiar sites while driving from home to Ocean City, Md
75. The feeling of driving over the bridge 

Like Linus once said, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown. Merry Christmas and Holidays to everyone who loves Ocean City, Maryland as much as I do.