Christmas Gift
At Christmas time it was not
unusual to greet friends with, “Christmas gift”! No one was
really requesting a gift. It was a kind of southern way of
saying “Merry Christmas”.
Although I was raised in a family with a very modest
income, I always received a great Christmas each year. I
was an only child and I’m sure this made it possible for
Mother and Daddy to do more for me than would have been
possible in a larger family.
A gift that I received every year was a whole box of
“Silver Bells” known today as “Hershey’s Kisses”. They were
wrapped in silver foil and didn’t have the little paper
tail at their top as today’s Kisses do.
While I always received a big Christmas, there are certain
gifts that stand out as special.
The first Christmas gifts that I remember were just before
my third birthday. I received a “pedal car” and a large
doll that I called Sue. Sue was almost as large as I was.
She was sitting in the pedal car next to the Christmas tree
that Christmas morning. I didn’t care much for Sue at
first. Mother said that I snatched Sue from the car, threw
her to the side and then crawled into the car. I gave Sue
more attention as I got older and I kept her until I was in
the third grade.
I received a red metal “coaster wagon” on my fourth
Christmas. This gift was one that meant a lot to me as I
grew up. I repainted it when I was ten. It had gotten rusty
in places and the wheels had to have new cotter pins to
hold them on, but otherwise it was still in good general
condition. It not only was one of my favorite toys, it also
served as a convenient vehicle for hauling. I finally gave
it away before I went to college.
When I was in the fifth grade, Daddy was in the army
overseas. Christmas was especially financially difficult
for Mother, but she gave me a fantastic gift. This was
before we had all of the electronic gadgets that we have
today. One of her cousins had a small radio station in East
Point and he sold her a tabletop record player (I think for
twenty dollars). This was not the usual kind of record
player. Even by today’s standards it was a marvel. It
broadcast a radio signal and records could only be heard
over a radio, since it had no speaker of its own. By
extending a long exterior antenna the records I played
could be heard on radio all over town. Kids would call me
and request certain records. I had a small radio station
and what fun it was!
Daddy bought me a semiautomatic rifle for Christmas when I
was in high school. I think he felt sorry for me. I had a
single shot 22 rifle that I used when I went hunting with
Jimmy. Jimmy had a semiautomatic rifle that made my fire
power look pitiful. Daddy didn’t understand that I didn’t
go hunting to shot anything. I just enjoyed being on an
outing with a friend. I found the rifle before Christmas
and felt it was a waste of money since I had no need for
it. It took some courage to tell Daddy that I’d found the
rifle and that I had no desire for a gun. He seemed to
understand.
I guess the largest gift I ever received was on the
Christmas before I graduated from college. To my utter
surprise I received a brand new Ford! This had to be quite
a financial sacrifice for my parents who were already
paying for my college. I had a good mother and daddy who
were better than Santa Claus.