There’s that great line in the final scene of “A Christmas Story” when Ralphie, clutching his Red Ryder BB gun, says, “the greatest Christmas gift I had ever received, or would ever receive.” I’ve always liked that quote, as it speaks not only to the joy he had with the BB gun but also to how Christmas memories like that can stay with us forever.
So, that got me thinking that we need to do a little exercise. What is the greatest Christmas gift you ever received? Just as or more importantly, what is the best Christmas gift you ever gave to someone? If you’re lucky like me, those are going to be hard questions to answer. I’ll start us off, and we’ll see where it goes from there in the recesses of our minds.
Again, I’ve been fortunate around Christmas, so this was really tough for me to make selections. In keeping with my inspiration from the movie, I decided to go with a couple of childhood gifts on the receiving side. Santa Claus was always really good to me.
In 1957, when I was nine, my brother and I shared a bicycle, which was fine with me. That Christmas, I asked for a speedometer for the bike. When I hit the tree on Christmas morning, there was the speedometer, but it was mounted on a sparkling new, red, and white Texas Ranger model /26-inch tires bicycle.
Oh, my gosh, I was blown away. I promptly rode it over to my friend Babs Weatherford’s house to show her. Later that day, Mrs. Weatherford memorably told my mother, “I don’t know which was shining brighter, that bicycle or Richard’s face.”
When I was 14, I had been playing golf for a couple of years. Back then, the Longfellow House course, where a bunch of us played, had clubs you could pick up and use, so most of us just did that. On Christmas morning that year, I found by the tree my own set of Wilson clubs, 3-5-7-9-driver-putter, in a cool tan-colored bag. Man, I loved those clubs and still had the putter until Katrina.
Now, over the years, I have received a wonderful assortment of Christmas presents from family and friends. My spouse and two sons are particularly adept at this skill. Again, this is just a jump-start for us, and I went with two from back in the day.
OK, on to what is actually my favorite side of the deal, the giving of Christmas presents. Here, I have chosen two instances of perhaps my favorite efforts from my adult life.
When I was about 40, my mother was going through a tough time. My father was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, and she would go sit with him each and every day, pretty much all day, at his care facility. You can imagine the toll that was taking on her (tough on the rest of the family, too) and she was getting older herself.
I thought, what can I do to at least temporarily cheer her up? My mom was a voracious reader, and one of her favorite authors at the time was Celestine Sibley. I wrote Ms. Sibley a letter, noting my mother’s situation and her admiration for the author, and asked if it would be possible to get a signed copy of one of her books.
Well, Celestine, God bless her, outdid herself. She sent me two signed copies of her latest books, plus a lengthy, personalized letter to my mother, discussing literature and telling her to hang in there. To say that Mama loved all that would be an understatement.
Early on in our marriage, Mary Jon found a painting she loved, “Woman Reading”, by noted artist Will Barnet. She, too, is a big reader, so I could see how she was enamored of the print. We purchased and framed it, and it hung in a place of honor in our bedroom as the years went forward. Then, Katrina came, and you know how that worked out for us and many others.
Off and on since that 2005 disaster, I would go online and search for a replacement “Woman Reading.” It’s one of Barnet’s most famous works, in high demand, and I never could find one. Then, two years ago, I took another run on the internet, and there it was — a print from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, dated 1970. I nabbed that baby, framed it, and placed it under the tree that Christmas, which elicited awe and joy from our entire family. Now, “Woman Reading” is back where she belongs.
I’d like to think that I did an OK job of assisting Santa over the years, and I’ve had a bunch of fun exchanging gifts with old friends on occasion. Maybe sons Cooper and Wesley will chime in with their favorite gifts after reading this.
That’s what I want all of you to do. Think back and reflect upon the favorite Christmas gifts you’ve received, and those you have given throughout the years. I believe you’ll enjoy doing that, and it’ll take you on a cool trip down memory lane.
As we speak of giving and receiving around Christmas, let’s all remember the true reason for the season. I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and that you and your families continue our wonderful tradition of memorable presents under the tree.
