I like winter with
snapping cold and clean white snow, tobogganing, skiing, snowshoeing
and playing outside I even like shoveling. I especially love the
Christmas season; visiting, Christmas eating, sing songs and dad
playing the piano. When I was a kid, we always traveled to New
Brunswick to visit with relatives which was great too.
The year of the best gift
ever was 1981 and I was in grade eight. This was the year that the
Atari 2600 wood grain video game console came out. Before the Atari
2600, the best video game was pong.....As exciting as a bouncing ball
being hit it back and forth with two paddles on the television screen
is, it didn't hold a candle to the new Atari. The Atari had
fantastic games like Missile Command, Demon Attack, the Adventure
Pack and of course Space Invaders.
I wanted an Atari for
Christmas sooooo bad! In my house, we didn't do a lot of talking
about what we wanted for Christmas. I don't really know why, but we
didn't. I spent a lot of time with the Sears catalogue showing mom
the games, telling her how cool they were, that everyone was going to
get them and how great a gift it would be for me and the entire
family. I really thought she was buying into it.
We were spending Christmas
in Dartmouth that year so we went to the Christmas eve service which
was always nice and I still enjoy Christmas eve service. I enjoy
being in a crowded church that's decorated for Christmas with piles
of kids. There's always a baby crying and kids playing and at least
one child makes a break for it and runs up the aisle towards the tree
in the front of the church with a parent close behind trying not to
look embarrassed.
It was one of those rare
Christmases in metro when it starts to flurry on Christmas eve so we
have the hopes of a white Christmas. I woke up on Christmas morning
and there was enough snow to cover the grass so we had a white
Christmas. We always received one big gift from Santa and then
smaller gifts and a host of practical gifts and clothes. One year I
received sixteen pairs of socks on Christmas morning. I have no idea
why everyone thought I needed socks, but it was pretty funny
unwrapping all of them.
This Christmas morning, my
thirteen year old self ran down stairs and saw the box. It was about
the size of what I figured an Atari should be and it was addressed to
me from Santa. I danced around in my red pyjamas that made me look
like the extra landing party member from the Star Trek Enterprise,
and I waited until we all got out of bed and came down stairs. My
brother and mom and dad were pretty quick, but Barb, my sister, was
older and in university and was slow to get out of bed.
I was beside myself and
finally got to open up my gift. I was giggly and then, when the
wrapping came off it revealed a brand new Funk and Wagnalls Standard
College Dictionary. I was disappointed to say the least. I tried
not to let it show and realized that there was no Atari for me that
year. Christmas continued and was just as enjoyable as ever. We had
turkey, and friends and family visits and we also made the trek to
New Brunswick.
Throughout the year, I was
reminded often of my lack of an Atari, because whenever I went to
friends' houses I was never very good at the video games because I
couldn't practice at home.
That dictionary stayed on
my desk and helped me through grade twelve, through university and
through grad school. It even helped me cheat in scrabble. I'd make
up words, someone would check to make sure it was an actual word and
sure enough it was in the Funk and Wagnalls dictionary. The
dictionary also taught me a couple of other things. That you don't
always get what you want, but you usually get what you need. More
importantly, it taught me that Christmas isn't about receiving gifts,
it's about Christ and the time we hopefully get to spend with our
family and loved ones.
I thought that my
disappointment showed that morning and often felt bad that my parents
knew that I didn't appreciate the gift, but a couple of months ago, I
heard mom tell my wife that I was such a good kid that I didn't
complain a bit one year when all I received was a dictionary. I
don't think that she knows that the Funk and Wagnalls dictionary was
the best gift ever.
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