Wednesday, December 14, 2005
On the second day of Christmas...
12 Days of Christmas Memories
Today was a busy day with work calling me in early (and waking me up). Then after work I had army stuff from 6:30-10:30...so needless to say this is being post later than I had hoped, but it's at least going up...so it could have been worse! Tonight say screw the cocoa, skip the egg nog and just grab the rum...
On the second day of Christmas my memory gave to me....
the biggest toy ever!!
It was the dream of little boys everywhere in the winter of 1985 (or '86....I can't be sure). It was 7 1/2 feet long, weighed a ton, had a zillion little parts and was made of molded plastic. It came in a huge box with those evil words "Some assembly required". Yes...those evil words, except in this case it was lots of assembly required!
My other side of the family (mothers side) always had Christmas on a different day. Some years we had it on New Years day, other years the day after Christmas, other years it was a week or two before Christmas. It was always the evil twin of my other grandparents Christmas.... It's amazing how two families can be so inherently different. This side of the family was always the more relaxed side and was a little more wild....but that is what made it so great! We often opened gifts up before we ate because my grandparents were as anxious to spoil all the grandkids with their gifts as the kids were to open them! It was every kids dream!
While I can't be certain of the year of this Christmas...only that it was '85 or '86 (so I was 6 or 7....but I'm pretty sure that it was '85), I do remember other details. Christmas this year was at my Aunt L's and Uncle D's. It was a good day with snow on the ground. My aunt and uncle's house was on this country road by South Bend. This house at the time wasn't that old, but it had a real unique feel to it....I can't really place it. The entry way to the house was in the living room (not the family room) and this room had the piano, a couch, a chair, and the tree. There was a ledge thingy as part of the divider between the living room and the dining room. Aunt L's tree was always amazing to me because it had bubble lights. These were the real bubble lights that were hard to find because they were old and contained nasty stuff that is bad for the atmosphere. They were the only time that I ever saw bubble lights and I to this day love them. Amanda can't understand my fascination with them...but it's there.
Christmas at Aunt L's meant Chex mix! Not that crap you get in the store in the foil bag.....but real honest to goodness Chex mix that was cooked in the oven and was stored in a container (I think coffee) that had wrapping paper on it. The stuff was great! Typical of all of our other family gatherings there was tons of food to eat....but that isn't the focus here....the focus here is my huge gift....
We were opening up gifts and it was my turn to get mine. The gift was no where under the tree from my grandparents! My grandparents hadn't forgotten about my gift though....the gift was off being stored in a spare bedroom or something! I remember seeing the size of the box....it was huge! I open the gift and inside was the GI Joe Aircraft carrier "USS Flag".
Not sure what that is? Just check out this site.... http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/85/ussflagg/ Perhaps some of you older readers remember this thing? It was literally the equivalent of the best Barbie playhouse on steroids and doubled in size! This thing was so freaking' large it's crazy! I was literally in awe, and I remember still hearing someone talk about how it was $100 (no small sum back in '85). Grandma and Grandpa never disappointed and this was no exception!
Of course this big "some assembly required" gift had to have some assembly ;) The next day dad worked on putting this thing together. Yes, it took a long time to put together.....no it wasn't put together perfect. I was only 6 years old, so the little details didn't bother me then....it was perfect to me! My GI Joe's now had this huge 7 1/2 foot long ship to play on in my bedroom. Of course I couldn't take this big ass thing to my friends house, but it didn't matter. This thing was so large that I remember sleeping on it some times!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the memory!
Like all toys big and small (or in this case gigantic) it would eventually fall into disrepair. Little pieces would be lost, decals pulled off, and plastic breaking. It would survive the move to a new house, but not for long. It got thrown out sometime when we cleaned out the garage many years ago and it is probably at the bottom of a land fill somewhere.
This memory is special for a lot of reasons....the first one is that it makes me feel so special that my grandparents spared no expense in making the grandkids happy. They went above and beyond what they needed to do to make Christmas memorable. They were not rich by any means but Christmas was held as a special time to them. Heck, the average car price in '85 was less than $12,000. I'm not sure what they made a year then, but you get the point.
The second part of why this memory means a lot to me is because family gatherings by this side of the family no longer happen. The family has drifted apart and many do not talk to each other. It's a sore subject of mine and it really is more of protected post material, but I have not spoken to my aunt in 4 or 5 years for nothing that I have done, and we'll leave it at that.
So, there you go....my second memory of Christmas.
