Christmas as a Kid.

I had a pretty good plan for my Christmas list every year. I always only asked for one thing. Sure, that one thing was usually pretty expensive and like most families, we weren’t the richest and I caught on to that pretty quickly. I also was cleaver enough to know that by only asking for one thing, even if funds were tight,  I was pretty likely to get that one great thing.

Whether it was a new electronic etch-a-sketch or another fairly expensive thing, Santa couldn’t resist getting me the one thing that I really wanted. It almost always worked, so I kept at it most of my childhood and truth be told, I might actually still keep this strategy alive today.

The funny thing is that I still would get other smaller presents even if I got that expensive gift. Now, my family thought this was a great way to pick on me and have a little fun. They would always have the little trinkets under the tree but that big and most wanted present was somewhere else in the house.

I always tried to not let them know that I was disappointed after opening all the other presents but the truth was that I always was sad and disappointed that my wish hadn’t manifested. (Funny how they always did this to me, I kept asking only for the big thing I wanted and yet I fell for it every year and was sad when that big thing was missing.) So, I’d be sitting, surrounded by lots of little presents, like socks, lipgloss and other clothes but without the one thing I really wanted. They agony was real but I didn’t want to seem sad on Christmas. They would let this go on for what seemed like forever when one of my siblings, who were enough older than me to know that Santa wasn’t real and who also found it fun to be a part of the scheme, would sneak away and come back with that one last present for me to open and it always was that one thing I had asked Santa to bring.

 I bet they all found it pretty funny to see me disappointed(even though I thought I hid it well) only to fix that disappointment for me last minute. Well played family, well played.

So what things did I ask for as a kid? That’s a tough one because I have a horrible memory. I do remember the year Cabbage Patch Kids were so popular and getting Abner Erich (I named him and my sister really thought that should have been Ellis’(my Son’s) name too.). I also was the kid who didn’t have the video game systems like most of my friends did , so getting the Gameboy one year was very big! And of course there was that Etch-A-Sketch. I made lots of trips from Wausau to Green Bay seem very short because I was creating pictures on that thing!

What are the big things you wanted for Christmas as a kid? Did you always get those things? Any funny family traditions related to the giving of presents? Please take a moment to recollect your childhood Christmases and leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from all of you that stopped by to read this! Have a great day and remember there are only 23 days to the big day. No pressure to buy that big present for those close to you or anything!