My best Christmas present ever was an inexpensive plastic chess set, and a beat-up second-hand introductory book on how to play.
I'd never even thought about chess before. Looking back, I think the aunt that gave me it was floundering for a pressie - but chess has given me decades of pleasure since then (even if I'm still pretty naff at it
).
"Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy." - Siegbert Tarrasch