Thread hijack, just because it reminded me and made me laugh:

At the time we were planning our wedding, my husband asked me, "Isn't your father supposed to give me a cow or something?"

For at least the first five years after we were married, he kept complaining, "I never did get my cow".

So I finally went to my father and begged him to give DH a cow. A stuffed animal. A creamer. A Christmas tree ornament, even. Just some kind of representation of a cow.

For Christmas that year, Dad donated a cow in DH's name through the Heifer Project. Now DH talks proudly of how his cow is helping make a living for a farmer in Egypt.

End hijack.