What Did You Get on Christmas Eve? Did I really lose that present????

 J. Mark Lowe

We pick up with Christmas Eve after dinner finally ended.  Everyone would crowd into the living room and the Christmas tree. Every chair would be moved into the room and once everyone was seated, either on the floor or in a chair, it was time. A couple of the youngsters were chosen to call out the names and distribute the gifts.This is obviously why Denny had excelled in “under the Christmas tree gift awareness!”  He knew right where for each person, so he didn’t even have to read the tag on the gift.  He called the To & From and added the gift to each person’s stack. There were always a few, “You shouldn’t have done this!” or  “That’s just too much!”  Our Mom and Dad were always surprised by the number of gifts in their stacks. It was no surprise to us – our parents would make the NICE list every year.   We were blessed to feel the love from them everyday.   And Christmas was one time that we could show them how much we loved them back.  

After the gifts  were distributed, we started with the youngest person in the room.  At this point in time, I was the youngest and began to discover the wonderful treasures in my pile.   There were some obvious items – A large peppermint stick.

A really durable denim covered 3-ring notebook.  

and a new pocketwatch from Gossett’s Store.  

Then there was this box with a bright red-striped ribbon.  It was from Frank & Lucille Jones.  I knew it was going to be fun.  I carefully untied the ribbon and began to remove the paper on the end.  I could see the word – LION in the opening.  A lion – what kind of lion could it be. 

It was a windup LION that roared and jumped towards its prey.  It could be very scary.  What fun I could have with this toy?  My brothers who were nearby got  closer to examine this wild beast.  Everything stopped for a second as we examined this new toy. 

I recently saw an episode of The Repair Shop a BBC/Warner Bros production where the craftsmen on the show repaired a similar Toy Tiger.  It also roared and jumped.  While watching the show, I could clearly see how it was made.  Of course, in the history of my Lion – there was a point in time that someone accidentally stepped on him, and his jumping days ended.  My memories continued to make him jump, and we traveled the jungles of my backyard many times.

I think one of my cousins went next.  He was the beneficiary of a couple of the Guess Who packages under the tree.  We all enjoyed looking at the new toys and clothes, although we kids all just smiled when we got some new dress shirts or pants.  Denny was next in line. I had hidden his flute under my pillow up until now, so Denny wouldn’t find it under the tree.

Christmas always included lots of friends and family in our house. This meant that where the kids slept often moved from night-to-night. Remember I had hidden Denny’s gift, a red plastic flute, under my pillow to keep him from discovering it. At that time, the Lowe boys slept in bunkbeds made from heavy angle iron. I slept on the bottom bunk and Denny slept on the top bunk, while Wayne and Joe slept in matching bunkbeds on the other wall. With cousins, Uncles and Aunts added to the household, it was always chaotic, but fun.

Denny opened his gifts, thanking the givers, then turning to another package.  As he opened his last gift, I said, “Where’s your present from me?”  As we looked again under the tree, and everyone examined their pile.  I remembered it was hidden under my pillow.  Running to the bunk bed and feeling under my pillow, there was no present. Someone reassured me that it would show up, so we continued with the opening of presents.

We looked all around the bedroom and someone suggested they had picked up some red paper from the bedroom and discarded it in the trash can. Our search went to the trash can. There was no flute.  Sometime in the hustle and bustle of the days before Christmas, there was wrapping of presents hidden on every bed and table in the household. The resulting trash paper must have been bundled up for burning. We finally decided it had been thrown away and burned in our trash pile earlier that day.

Denny was not as upset as me.  I described the amazing flute in great detail.  We never found that flute.   On a side note, after we were adults, I purchased Denny another red flute in place of the one that never made it under the Christmas tree.

Christmas Eve seems to take so long to get here – we waited and waited.  The anticipation was real, but once it arrived – it passed so quickly.    For the children in our  household – we love the time together on Christmas Eve.   But we needed to get to bed, because Santa would be here in just a few minutes.

I hope you enjoy your time with your family!  Those very quick moments are written very  deeply on the memories of our minds when we are young,  The sounds, the smells, the traditional songs, and the special foods are a part of these moments. 

In our next edition – we will talk about our Christmas morning – Santa Claus and the trip to Bowling Green Kentucky.   Merry Christmas, my friends.