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Tue 19 Dec, 2006 07:22 am
We were'nt rich, but Dad always made sure we had a great Christmas. The living room was magically filled over night, which wasn't easy to do with a half dozen kids.
He usually chose a theme. Ice skating - and we all got skates, hocky sticks, down coats, etc. Camping - we all got a sleeping bag, our own mess kit, a real Swiss army knife, etc.
One year I spent a Saturday before Christmas with a friend riding her dirtbike and came home so excited about how much fun we had. Christmas morning, I got a dirtbike, leather jacket, helmet, etc.
Dad was so cool that way!
But, when writing to Elliot the other day, re Joe Nation's thread, I remembered being four or five and getting a book club membership. Every month I got two new books in the mail. They were real books with hard covers like the library had. One of the books was about mice trying to survive the winter and thinking different colors - green (peas) so they didn't feel hungry, yellow, red and orange (the sun) to stay warm, etc.
I thought about that again this morning and realized the book club gift was probably my fondest childhood gift.
Do you have a favorite? One that stands out from the rest no matter how great they all were?
We talked about this on a previous thread and I remembered with fondness my gift of a stick and tire.
Memories from childhood are with us forever, aren't they. I can still see myself running down the gravel road, rolling that tire with my stick, my faithful dog, Sparky, nipping at my heels, and a wave a grasshoppers leaping in front of us like so many.... well....grasshoppers.
And there was always that songbird perched on the telephone wires singing his song almost as if he were encouraging me to roll the tire faster.
Chirp chirp, Gustav...roll the tire...roll the tire..roll the tire.
And I ran along, me and my dog, with the bird chirping and the grasshoppers jumping.
Thanks for starting this thread, squinney. I think I am going to cry.
My parents sound an awful lot like yours in the sense that my parents didn't have alot of money, but we always had lots of nice gifts.
The one that comes to mind is a doll called Swinger. It wasn't really the doll itself that makes the memory so fond, but the thought about getting me this particular doll. That Christmas I wanted the doll Swinger - it was a doll that came with a rock and roll record and basically would swing to the music. I really wanted that doll - but so did all the other girls my age. My parents couldn't get it - they were all sold out. Christmas morning I open up my presents and instead, I get the ballerina version of the doll. My parents apologized and explained, but I was still clearly disappointed. A couple of weeks later, I come home from school and as I walk in the door, my mom had the record going with the doll dancing away. I was so happy and it was a wonderful surprise.
My favourite gift was from dear Nanny Ingrid, who gave me unrestricted access to her drawers for the whole year.
Trips to Disney World.
Every year, we'd do minimal gifts at home and take a family vacation to Disney World. It was the best gift a kid could get!
No rich kids on this thread, Bella.
My truly fondest was also the most painful. It involved a train set and a strapped for cash family. The train was given and taken away in one day and the incident was never again spoken of. (and no, I have never fully forgiven my now long deceased mother for this. In other words- never give a kid a gift which you cannot actually afford.)
When it comes to a gift I got to keep, there are too many to choose from. They were all good; but, the best of all was the Chanukmas present from my grandfather. It was a toy firetruck with moveable parts, including bolts on the wheels so the wheels could be taken off. To a certain extent that present was even better than the train set. No sirens, just a simple truck. One of my only regrets in life is that I eventually disposed of that truck.
gustavratzenhofer wrote:No rich kids on this thread, Bella.
My family was far from rich.
That was our family vacation and our one big expenditure for the year. I imagine my parents saved all year for that.
I had a really shitty childhood as squinney knows. The only gift I remember was a lionel train set that I got to keep for about a week before the neighbors raised hell that it was noisy over their heads and we had to get rid of it.
My Fort Apache playset. My brother and I each got one and we made one giant fort out the whole thing. Hours of fun playing shoot-em-up with the plastic cowboys and Indians.
Gus, Linkat and LE - You brought tears to my eyes.
Bella - Yeah, we don't fully realize the sacrafices of our parents until we are trying to do the same for our own children. I'm sure Disney is much more expensive now than then. You might want to start a fund with the money you're saving from eating only egg whites right now.
Sturgis and Bear - Crimeny! I hate when parents don't think of the long term repercussions. (((group hug)))
Blacksmithn - I love the gifts that encourage siblings to play together. I bet it was the bestest fort ever!
nice group hug but who just touched my ass? Was that you honey, or sturgis?
It was sturgis. I saw it.
Bella Dea wrote:It was sturgis. I saw it.
Ya swore ya wouldn't tell...
Wow, squinney, your dad really went all-out.
I'm having the hardest time remembering ANY Christmas presents from my childhood. I know I loved Christmas, but it seems more centered on putting up the tree, etc.
The earliest present I remember is when I was in college, and truly poor. My parents weren't able to contribute the recommended minimum amount according to financial aid (which is pretty damn minimal), I was having a hard enough time managing college without interpreters (I learned ASL and started using interpreters later) to think about working in addition to everything else, and I literally had barely enough to feed myself properly much less get any little extra I might want, clothes or shoes or whatever. For Christmas, my mom would give me what seemed at the time like an enormous amount of money -- I think about $100 -- with strict instructions to spend it on something fun. I'd usually stretch it to the max, going to after-Christmas sales and haunting Goodwill and such, and the ability to buy something frivolous was itself so appreciated. Just allowing that "I see it --> I want it" connection, for once.
I've been wracking my brains trying to remember the gift from my childhood I was most fond of and couldn't think of anything then I realized I was thinking Christmas when it wasn't at christmas.
Carol Buchanan gifted me her body and gave me my manhood in her parents basement.
Of course it was a previously used gift, but nonetheless I remember it fondly.
See Kicky's thread re: White Elephant.
My best present had to be a toy cop car that actually had flashing lights. I remember turning all the lights off in my room to get the full effect.
Much later, I also received a similar present to you, Bi-Polar Bear but I had to wait until a New Years Eve for mine, after my parents had gone out for the evening. :wink:
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