Part I
When I was told about the main theme for this year’s Christmas issue, LOL gifts, my mind immediately went back to Christmas in my Grade 12 year. (Fifty years ago – there is a 50-year graduating class reunion planned for next summer, which I can scarcely believe!)
In those days, my siblings and I usually received one main gift from our parents and then smaller ones from each other, extended family and sometimes even friends. Christmas 1973 seemed to be a year for unique gifts coming my way.
First of all, my parents gave me a set of luggage. A strong hint that I was to be on my way after graduation? Perhaps. I know I received no end of teasing about it when sharing Christmas stories at school after the holidays. It was an interesting choice of gift to give your oldest child at home.
At the time, Gone With the Wind was both my favourite movie and favourite book. I must have borrowed the book from the library half a dozen times by then. So I was quite excited when I unwrapped a present from my sister and saw the title: Gone With the Wind, Eyesaver Edition.
I was however also a little worried “Eyesaver Edition” might mean they’d cut out a bunch of things as the book was considerably smaller than the one I usually borrowed. Haha – they definitely cut out a bunch of things; when I opened the book to quickly peruse the pages, they were all blank!
I appreciated the joke and the whole family had a good laugh. Nevertheless, secretly I was a little disappointed. However, it turned out my sister did actually buy the real book for me and had ensured it was well hidden in the pile of presents so I wouldn’t open it too soon.
Another intriguing present turned out to be my very own box of mandarin oranges, courtesy of my brother. Unusual but much appreciated in those days when the oranges were only available at Christmas time and rationed to us kids by my parents.
Part II
As a young parent, my sister would often make her Christmas gifts for us. One year, those gifts were homemade Christmas crackers. You know, the prettily decorated tubes you pull apart for a popping sound and then you find a paper party hat, a motto or joke, and a small trinket inside.
When the package arrived in the mail, we were all excited. This was one set of presents we could open Christmas Eve – we didn’t need to wait until Christmas morning!
We sat down to the candlelit table for our Christmas Eve meal, a cracker placed at each table setting. My sister had marked each one as to who it was for and, for example, my son’s cracker ended up containing a Hot Wheels car.
Unopened, mine was the most surprising one of the bunch as it was quite a bit fatter than the other crackers. Everyone was very curious as to what it might contain.
Someone – I don’t remember who – grabbed the other end and with some effort we pulled it open. Some flimsy fabric fell onto the tablecloth. Was it an extra special party hat? No, it turned out to be several sexy pairs of panties!
You can imagine the giggles that ensued when a gaggle of children saw fancy underwear on the dinner table!
