{"quotes":[{"text":"In the days approaching Christmas, she always reminds me of the previous year: 'Jane crocheted you an entire poncho, and all you gave her was a bone-shaped beach stone.","author":"Sara Baume","tags":["a-line-made-by-walking","christmas","dialogue","humor","inequity","presents","sara-baume"],"id":20973,"author_id":"Sara+Baume"},{"text":"Dr. Richard Selzer is a surgeon and a favorite author of mine. He writes the most beautiful and compassionate descriptions of his patients and the human dramas they confront. In his book Letters to a Young Doctor, he said that most young people seem to be protected for a time by an imaginary membrane that shields them from horror. They walk in it every day but are hardly aware of its presence. As the immune system protects the human body from the unseen threat of harmful bacteria, so this mythical membrane guards them from life-threatening situations. Not every young person has this protection, of course, because children do die of cancer, congenital heart problems, and other disorders. But most of them are shielded—and don’t realize it. Then, as years roll by, one day it happens. Without warning, the membrane tears, and horror seeps into a person’s life or into the life of a loved one. It is at this moment that an unexpected theological crisis presents itself.","author":"James C. Dobson","tags":["and","aware","bacteria","be","beautiful","body","book","by","cancer","children","compassionate","confront","congenital-heart-problems","crisis","descriptions","die","disorders","do","doctor-richard-selzer","don-t","dramas","every","every-day","from","guards","happens","hardly","harmful","his","horror","human","imaginary","immune-system","into","it","its","itself","letters-to-a-young-doctor","life","life-threatening","loved-one","membrane","moment","most","mythical","not","of","one-day","other","patients","people","person","person-s","presence","presents","protected","protection","protects","realize","roll","seem","seeps","shields","situations","surgeon","tears","the","them","theological","they","threat","time","to","unexpected","unseen","walk","warning","without","years","young"],"id":28622,"author_id":"James+C.+Dobson"},{"text":"On my 30th birthday, all the presents I got were boxes of food. That's what I needed.","author":"Kay Lenz","tags":["food","got","presents "],"id":51703,"author_id":"Kay+Lenz"},{"text":"It's the giving that makes one stronger, but sometimes the taking can make one weaker, if even vulnerable or blinding.","author":"Anthony Liccione","tags":["blind","buy-friends","debt","deception","decieve","entice","expectations","fool","gifts","give","help","impress","in-need","indebted-to","manipulate","material","money","obligated","owe","ownership","presents","recieve","strong","sugarcoat","take","use","weak","win-over"],"id":52004,"author_id":"Anthony+Liccione"},{"text":"Unexpected gifts were better accepted when they were presented by total strangers, I had learnt.","author":"Vann Chow","tags":["birthdays","gifts","presents","strangers"],"id":85402,"author_id":"Vann+Chow"},{"text":"Sleep did not honor me with it’s presence.","author":"Alysha Speer","tags":["body-of-blade","exhausted","honor","me","presents","sharden","sleep","sleepy","sword","tired","us","we"],"id":103623,"author_id":"Alysha+Speer"},{"text":"You have no idea about presents or what they mean. The lastpresent you gave me was a stick.”“You wanted a weapon.”“It was a stick.”“It had a bow on it.”“It was a stick.”“I thought you liked the stick. You laughed.","author":"Derek Landy","tags":["humor","presents","skulduggery-pleasant","stick","valkyrie-cain","weapon"],"id":146206,"author_id":"Derek+Landy"},{"text":"When I was 12, all I wanted for Christmas was a trampoline or a four-wheeler. I ended up getting both presents for Christmas.","author":"Chris Brown","tags":["up","presents","both "],"id":182463,"author_id":"Chris+Brown"},{"text":"When confronted with a birthday in a week I will remember that a book can be a really good present, too.","author":"Stephanie Pearl-McPhee","tags":["birthday","books","gifts","knitting","presents"],"id":204253,"author_id":"Stephanie+Pearl-McPhee"},{"text":"A book is sacred gift.","author":"Lailah Gifty Akita","tags":["book","children","gift","giving","motivation","presents","wise-words"],"id":215734,"author_id":"Lailah+Gifty+Akita"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":19,"pages":2,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}