On Christmas Eve, dad would get off from work, drive home, go grocery shopping with
mom, then bills. whatever money left was allocated for holiday gifts (of course, we all
knew the ritual, so no one asked for much nor really wanted much.
We survived week-to-week. All of my sisters worked before they were legal too. That
helped our survival status with limited donations. In spite of our dad's stresses...
I hoped dad purchased the youngest kids rst, my brother and I. Yep, I gured it out.
I have no memory of the wishes of my sisters. They were well beyond the toy stage.
Most of the best toys were picked over by the time of our holiday shopping spree. If
we didn't get the popular toys at the moment, we fell back on the family gift, our used,
engaging Monopoly board game. It was in great shape. The money too. With school
paper, pencils and crayons, we counterfeited the Monolopy money if needed.
We often got the off-brand cheaper variety of what was left as presents. It always
seemed to be the cheaper skates. I hated those things. They only lasted a couple of
days before you ripped them apart and converted them to skateboard rejects.
Even so, our presents were always better than "The Rock" Charlie Brown always got
for Christmas...well, most of the time. I felt Charlie Brown's pain, having received a rock
for Christmas myself.
With me, it would be a little dif cult to have my friends ask me, "What did you get for
Christmas?" Well, we didn't lie. In our neighborhood, friends all played with each
other's gifts anyway. It didn't matter, we were all poor. Just a bunch of cheap trinkets,
but their toys were name-branded trinkets. You know, the one advertised on TV.
Bicycles as presents?...out of the question. Storage and affordability. One year my
father bought me a scooter for Christmas, Red Western Flyer. WOW, man. was I
happy? Yankin' on my T-shirt chest area 'n all. You oldies know what I mean.
That year, a couple of my friends got bikes. Ya' ever tried to keep up with a bike with a
scooter? LOL... Not easy, well, impossible! Shortly, I sabotaged the scooter to make a
skateboard with the scooter wheels. 58 yrs later, Scooters are all the rage.
My dad didn't mind me breaking the scooter on purpose. He knew what I was up
against. (Bike vs. Scooter) imagine your buddy getting a laptop and you get a
typewriter. Same thing...Yea, I think I was the favorite that year...lol.