Christmas 2015

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Christmas Day has been totally blown out by commercialism. Today I am going to talk about Christmas when I was a boy and then I will talk about what Christmas means to me today.

When I was a boy growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s Christmas was not as commercialized as it is today. You could not even find a Christmas tree until the second week of December. Today as the calendar turns from September into October there are already Christmas tree lots selling trees and all the stores have Christmas decorations for sale.

Growing up we looked forward to Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. Today Halloween and Thanksgiving seem to be obscured by all the Christmas hype starting in August.

I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I never asked my parents for specific gifts for Christmas. Us kids watched the commercials on television and we knew what toys and games were the ones every kid wanted so we did ask. We rarely got what we asked for though. We understood that our parents were not rich. However every so often we would get the gift we really desired.

Just to let you know how it was in my family I didn’t get my first multi-speed bike until I was a teen. Yes, you heard me correctly; my first bike with 5 speeds was when I was 13 years of age. I never was able to obtain that 10 speed bike from my parents though.

Then when all us kids turned 16 and obtained our Driver’s Licenses, all my friends were getting motorcycles and cars for Christmas gifts. Did I ever get a motorcycle or car for a Christmas gift? No I did not. My first mode of “real” transportation was a Honda 50 motor scooter. I worked odd jobs for my father and when I obtained $100 I purchased the Honda 50 motor scooter from my father’s friend. When I turned 17 I was able to trade my Honda 50 motor scooter for a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle. Actually it cost me the Honda 50 and $100 but the VW Beetle was a good purchase. That car served me well and I sold it when I joined the United States Navy in March 1972.

Today Christmas for me is a time to reflect on the year which has passed and to be happy I have a great loving family and great friends. Even if I had a lot of money I would not commercialize my Christmas experience. I always purchase a few simple gifts for my family and they purchase small simple gifts for me. We all appreciate what we receive because of the love behind the gifts.