Christmas Memories

It is early Christmas morning. My family is still asleep. I saw earlier Turner had made his way to the couch sometime during the night. I recall as a child being so excited on Christmas Eve I could barely sleep. I would often awaken around 2:00 a.m. to stare at the gifts. Over the years my boys have done the same. Sometimes I forget to look at Christmas though the eyes of a child. I remember all too well how exciting Christmas was for me as a child.

I think back to my childhood Christmases with great fondness. I lived in the Englewood Terrace Subdivision in Lufkin, TX. That neighborhood was famous for going all out with Christmas decorations. Nearly every home in the neighbored decorated their yards and homes with bright lights. As a child it felt like entering a magical land when all the lights came on. There was not one road I had not ridden my bike down in that neighborhood but at Christmas time it felt like a magical winter wonderland. People drove from all over town to come and look at Christmas lights. Brenda and I kept that same tradition when we lived in the Lufkin area with our boys.

I recall getting to watch Christmas specials. Those clay animation movies fascinated me like Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, The Year Without A Santa Claus, Frosty The Snow Man, Charlie Brown Christmas Special and my favorite The Little Drummer Boy. There was no such thing as 25 days of Christmas movies. Those classics are nearly forgotten today.

I recall getting toys that made me use my imagination or got me outside to play. I cherished things like footballs and football uniforms. I could not wait for the sun to come out so I could put on my uniform and go out to play. None of my friends loved football as much as me. So I played imaginary games against giant pine tree defenders and wheel barrow obstacles to the goal line. I sat up obstacle courses in the back yard and played imaginary games until sweat soaked through my jersey and left my hair wringing wet underneath that Dallas Cowboys plastic helmet.

I played with action figures like Big Jim and G.I. Joe. I spent hours lost in my little make believe world of adventure. I did not need to be entertained. I did not sit glued to a television nor video game screen for hours on end. The only video game available in my early childhood was called Pong. Children would laugh at that primitive game today.

 I recall getting a BMX racing bike one Christmas. I spent hours and hours on that bike. I felt punished when I had come inside for the evening. My friends and I would play games like cops and robbers all over the neighborhood. We made makeshift ramps seeing how far we could fly in the air on those bikes. Owning a bicycle gave me a taste of freedom. I played with childhood friends Kevin Cook and David Campbell. We built forts and dirt racing tracks. We explored the woods around our house where houses now have been built.

I've often told this tale but no gift meant more to me over the years than when I got an electric typewriter. Computers were not household items back then. That typewriter started me on a journey into my imagination with words and stories that continues to this day. I was either in 5th or 6th grade when I received that gift. It is the most special one from my childhood and this morning I go back in my mind to the delight I felt when I tore off the wrapping paper for that gift.

I worked many odd jobs as child. I mowed yards, raked leaves, collected bottles to be recycled, recycled newspapers and helped out with paper routes. I loved earning my own money to be able to buy my mother, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins gifts. They were cheap inexpensive gifts but I gave from the heart.

I also recall those big family Christmas Day dinners. We sure had a time and that world seemed simpler back then. Nobody had ever heard of terrorist. We did not fear mass shootings unless it was in the woods from multiple hunters on the opening day of white tail deer season. People who came out of the closet did so after getting dressed not to proclaim their sexual persuasion. Police officers were respected. Very few Christmas gifts were electronic. Family meant everything. And for a little boy growing up in Lufkin, TX, getting to cross paths with any Lufkin Panther football player or coach, proved nearly overwhelming to this young impressionable pudgy little dreamer.

Now I have three boys sixteen or older of my own and a fourth about to enter his teenage years. I am most excited this Christmas morning for the boys and Brenda to open their gifts.

I am so grateful for all Jesus has done for us.Christmas means so much more to me now as a child of God than it did when I was a child. Today I am thankful for His presence more than the presents. No greater gift have ever received than God's free gift of salvation through Jesus. John 3:16 (NASB) 
¹⁶  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.