My laptop bag just about pre-dates laptops. I got it for my birthday in 1988. It’s a leather messenger bag (and is now really developing some character!) that I used for years to schlepp proofs for printing jobs, etc. When I got my first laptop about six years ago, I looked at all kinds of laptop cases, then decided I hated the thought of giving up my leather bag, so I bought a sleeve that fits in it perfectly.
I had to have the shoulder strap restitched on one side and it looks like the other side is about to need the same repair, but other than that, it’s still going strong.
Almost 40 yrs ago, Dad gave me a camera. Still works. I’ve used it from time to time. But the pleasure it gives me just from still being around is priceless. You see, Dad isn’t around anymore. But his camera is sitting on my desk. I see it every day. And that makes me very happy.
My grand dad, Paw Paw, gave me a pocket knife when I was just barely in school. Tho I have many different pocket knives now, I still myself pocketing this fine tool every now and again. Especially if I’m wearing 501s. Something about real Levis and that knife …
A photo album Mom gave me sometime after I moved out (what, 25 yrs ago?) that was filled with pre me photos. IOW, it’s a bunch of pics of both sides of the family (hers and Dad’s) from before I was born. Heck, it has pics of them as kids. So it’s not a daily user. It’s parked nearby even now, and still gets looked at often.
I just reread my post, and I have to apologize. I was in the midst of writing it, when I was interrupted by work, and when I came back, I hit submit before I was done. I had meant to say that I don’t have any gifts from a long time ago. The closest I come is the comforter my grandmother crocheted for all her grandkids, and the watch my wife gave me for Christmas a number of years back. I use those every day. The onion chopper was supposed to be anecdotal, at the end. Sorry, I’ll try to get with the program!
When I bought my house about 6 years ago my friends (married) gave me two sets of cookware that they had sitting in storage: Her nonstick copper and the slightly weatherbeaten nonstick aluminum calphalon that he’d bought before he met her (they got a brand new set as a wedding gift). Still use that stuff every day, works great.
My drinking glasses were a housewarming gift as is the nice wooden salad bowl from my realtor.
I was just thinking about this topic this morning! My mom bought me a dark green frosted glass soap dispenser and toothbruth holder, gosh, in 1990? And I’m still using them today. And my brother bought me a good manual can opener (sounds silly, but I really needed a can opener) in 1995 that I’m still using.
A platonic female friend of mine gave me a 6 inch chef’s knife for my birthday about 10 years ago, just a few months after I’d met her. I’m now married to her and use that knife just about every day.
A few years ago, one of my aunts started working at an embroidery shop. Around the same time, everyone in the family started getting christmas gifts with their names embroidered on them. The first year she did that, myself and my four younger cousins each got a discman bag. The cd-holder part of mine fell out a few years ago, but that actually made it more convenient for me. I still use both the bag and the cd wallet regularly, the latter more than the former.
My ex-step-grandmother knitted me an afghan that is on my bed this very moment. That was at least 20 years ago. My husband bought me a Seiko Kinetic watch about 10 years ago that is on my wrist right now and works/looks perfect.
I got this really neat gift of skepticism and curiosity from my Grandparents when I was but a small child. I breathe both qualities. I was given the gift of reading from my whole family, as my 1k+ books attest, I was hooked. (Now reading Trinity, just finished A Suitable Boy)
Almost a year and a half ago, my husband gave me the gift of his sobriety. I marvel at his strength every day.
My grandmother loved quilting. The very first quilt she ever made for me was a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, which she gave me 55 years ago, when I was four years old.
Granny is gone, but I still have the quilt, and I still use it.
Maybe ten years ago my mom gave me a KitchenAid mixer. I don’t use it every day, but it sees plenty of use and it’s a real workhorse. I probably wouldn’t bake as much without it.
About half the stuff in my house. I’m currently sitting on a nice rattan chair that was a housewarming present three years ago. We use most of our wedding gifts very often- the knives every day. My KitchenAid mixer gets used once or twice a week.
Our eiderdown was a wedding present, now that I think about it.
The fiber optic angel, like fishbicycle’s, sees much less use.
As a housewarming gift someone gave me a clock/calendar/indoor & outdoor temperature reading thingie. I look at it first thing in the morning, last thing at night and when I go out and come in. Because it’s portable, I can take the clock with me anywhere I go.
Probably my watch. Son and husband got it for me for mother’s day probably ten years ago? Still works just great.
A few years ago my roommate gave me a picture frame. It’s actually more like two picture frames, covered in quilt material and sewn together on one end, so you can open it and stand it up, or close it and protect the pictures. I put two pictures of me and my parents in it. I’ve moved around a lot since then, but the picture frame always makes where I am feel a bit like home.
Most people gave me money for my Bat Mitzvah and my parents stuck it in a bank account. Now (8 years later) it’s funding a lot of my travel through Europe. So, it’s come in handy.
My uncle gave me a hand-me-down clock radio that he was tired of using when I turned 13, if I recall correctly. At the tender age of 31 (me, not the clock), it still resides on my nightstand. The radio portion of it doesn’t work very well anymore, but the clock does just fine, and on the rare occasion that I have to use it, the alarm (“the turbochicken,” as my wife calls it) functions perfectly, too.
Of course, it’s 40 minutes fast, but that’s because I set it that way. 
