As I was shopping for my kids today, trying to find the perfect Christmas gift, my mind wandered to my days as a child and what I remember from Christmas morning.
Three presents come to mind when I think about my childhood. One of my favorite presents, although I don’t remember ever asking for it was an electronic type toy with penguins. The penguins would climb up a mountain and then slide down a slide and skate around to climb up the mountain again. I don’t remember anything about this present except for playing with it over and over on Christmas day. I have no memories of it other than that one day. Maybe it broke? Maybe it was one of those gifts that quickly lost it’s luster after a day? Who knows… it’s so strange to me that I remember it so vividly.
Another gift that I wanted badly and Santa brought was a big Barbie swimming pool. I remember the “working” shower, the inner tube for barbie to float around in, and the little hot tub that was included. I remember playing with that toy constantly.
The last gift I really remember getting was a brown Fisher Price cassette player. The only cassette I had at the time was “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause”. I listened to that song non-stop and remember very clearly singing it to my second cousin Richard, who happened to be visiting.
All of these memories are from the house on 30th Drive which means they were between birth and 2nd grade.
I wonder what, if anything, my kids will remember about this Christmas. With all the effort I’m sure my parents put into finding the “perfect” gift back then, I’m sure they never thought that the skating penguin gift would be the one gift I have the most memories about!
