There was one thing that would frequently irritate me around Christmastime when I was growing up. I would watch the news and see stories about Christmas coming early for some local poor kids. (And by local, I mean Roswell because we didn't really have a TV station in Artesia.) These kids GOT TOYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS DAY! And they got great ones. Some were things that I desired, but never received myself. Mom and Dad kept saying we were poor, but I guess we weren't poor enough. All I could think was, "Those kids are so lucky to be poor. How do I get in on this?" And I didn't know this at the time, but there was no way Mom and Dad would even think about us taking advantage of the program. They were very proud people and would not accept charity. I think they would have rather starved to death before accepting a handout that they couldn't repay later.
All I could think was, "Those kids are so lucky to be poor. How do I get in on this?" And I didn't know this at the time, but there was no way Mom and Dad would even think about us taking advantage of the program. They were very proud people and would not accept charity.
Personally, I didn't care about getting stuff for free. What I wanted was to be able to get the toys before December 25th. It was agony having to be tempted by the gifts under the tree every year. However, Loyd and I were better about it than some other children. I remember in 1976, our family went out with another family to get a tree. We were actually going to go into the forest and cut down our trees as opposed to buying one at a lot. This was the first weekend in December and up to that point, it was the earliest we had ever gotten a Christmas tree. First, we had to stop by the house of the father's friend to pick up the permits. We got there, but no one was home. The person had left the permits out along with gifts for the family. The father put the gifts in the back seat, where we kids were sitting. The other kids kept picking up and examining the wrapped gifts.
We chopped the trees down, loaded them on the car and headed back. By the time we had gotten home, the girl had torn the corner off one of the gifts. She REALLY couldn't wait. I couldn't blame her. We normally didn't start seeing the gifts under the tree until about two weeks before Christmas. To have a gift in your hands that early would have been agonizing. I couldn't imagine having to wait three weeks to open a gift.
As I've mentioned before, I enjoyed being a single adult around Christmastime because it meant I didn't have to wait until December 25th to open my gifts. Mom would counter this by post-dating the checks she sent me. This really hurt me on Christmas Eve of 1993 when I had a flat tire and couldn't go anywhere until I got the money to buy a new one. Christmas fell on a Saturday that year, so I had to wait the whole weekend before I could get the money. But I still had enough money on Christmas Day to see "Schindler's List." Everyone else in the theatre was Jewish.
So now that I have a family, that means I have to wait until Christmas again to open up any packages. Mom told me ahead of time that she and her husband had bought my son a gift this year and that it would be arriving soon. She told us not to open it until Christmas. However, she was not aware that the box would not be wrapped prior to shipping, so when it arrived, we knew exactly what was inside it. It's nice when there are outside forces that allow you to avoid the traditions of the holiday season.
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