Perhaps the greatest Christmas gift of all

I talked recently with my parents about what I thought of as my best childhood Christmas. My parents are great people, and they have always sacrificed for me and my brother. Both of them are people who would give up whatever they had to for me and my brother. Having such parents is a Christmas gift for all time.

Yet, we got on the topic of Christmas things past. Years before my brother was born, I had my favorite Christmas as a child. It was back in the late 1970s. Santa brought me a bb gun, a hunting knife, some hotwheels cars, and a toy Pepsi truck, with an opening trailer. That trailer was filled with packs of bb pellets. I was a kid in the so called "hog heaven." I still can remember the joy of opening the trailer door of that model Pepsi truck and finding it stuffed with packs of BB pellets.

As a grown man, I came to understand that Christmas. My dad, though he has done well since, had been laid off from his job. He and my mother found a way to make Christmas special for their boy, which was me. Back then, I wanted a hunting knife and a BB gun, and loved the Pepsi Colas that we could get for 25 cents at Mr. Gault's store. My parents did not spend a lot of money on me that Christmas, but they knew their boy. To get a BB rifle, a hunting knife, and a Pepsi Cola model truck filled with BBs, well, it was Christmas bliss for a boy like me at that time. I have had some great Christmas memories since, with all sorts of factors involved, but when it comes right down to it, that Christmas was perhaps my favorite. I thought of that Christmas when I had my own chances to play Santa.

I think of my favorite Christmas memory today, as people seem to trample all over one another for the latest video game or gift. Even in these difficult economic times, people do not seem to "get it." So many of us spend far beyond our means looking for what can trump what our friends and neighbors give to their kids. Very few of us seem to realize that being sensitive to our loved ones and giving a gift that makes their days is not something that costs a lot of money. What it does cost is time and the dedication to know just what will make our loved ones day and show them we know them. My parents knew me back when I was boy in the 1970s. Perhaps really giving the gift of taking the time to know your kids, your loved ones and your friends is the greatest Christmas gift of all.