The best gift I ever received was from my father about 15 years ago. After our family opened all our holiday presents indoors, he asked me to follow him outdoors for one last gift. What could it be I thought? A horse, a new car, a riding lawnmower? Very unrealistic, but a girl can dream! No, it was a small spindly branch sticking out of the muddy garden earth with a pitiful red ribbon wrapped around it. He responded to my confused look with a big grin, “it’s a pomegranate tree!”

He knew it was my favorite food-I’d spend a fortune every fall purchasing them from the stores, then spend hours picking them apart. I lived in Oregon and he knew they would never grow there, but they thrived in the hot weather of California. So he planted it in his garden, just for me! After that, I would make a special trip down every fall for our pomegranate harvest.

He died 5 years ago, but the tree still thrives. I picked more than 300 this year-it's mid-January and I still have a few left. I think of every one as a gift from my father.