I wish I had kept a diary of my Christmases. It would be interesting and I think rewarding to review my thoughts, emotions and impressions from those Christmas mornings from long ago. Alas I did not and now can only recount a handful of those memories. It is like trying to distinquish an individual image from a kaleidascope picture.
The earliest gifts I remember were my first tricycle and train set. The tryke I think I got when we lived on Overton Road in Oak Cliff. This was probably around age 3. Somewhere in the old family pictures there is one of me on that tryke in a sailor suit if I remember right. The iron and heavy train set was given by Santa to me when we were on Montclair in the two story duplex. It was brick and the first place we lived with a brick exterior for some time to come. That was likely the next Christmas. Loved that train and could watch it for a long time adjusting the speed and naturally like any little boy loved making it go too fast so it would derail and crash. I would set up small items and try to make it smash into them. Mom would always fuss about it and tell me I was going to ruin the train.
Got my first bb gun when we lived on Savoy in that really small clapboard house that was two bedrooms and one bath. It couldn’t have been more than 900 square feet if that. The gun I am sure would have been a Daisy or Ryder. I do recall using it a lot out in the back yard which was actually pretty large and since we were the southern most street in all of Dallas at that time it overlooked cotton fields and farm land as the land gently sloped downhill to a small creek at the bottom of Kiest Park about half a mile away. Spent a lot of time alone in that yard because I didn’t really have any buddies on that block. The only other guys were a couple of brothers and the oldest, about 10, was the neigborhood bully and mom would lnot let me play with them. He really didn’t like me anyway because I beat him in the old leg wrestling contest and that infuriated him because he was a couple of years older. But my cousins didn’t live too far away so I wasn’t that lonely. My little brother bless his heart followed me around like a puppy dog but being four years younger it was hard to find things we could do together because of the age difference. The only Christmas memory from that street is negative sadly. One of my intemperate grandfathers. But lots of other good ones.
The first White Christmas for sure was when had moved to Cascade in about ’52. Bought the house from my aunt and uncle and they moved a bit farther south of the place on Savoy as that neighborhood had continured to grow. I recall that it was more sleet than snow but it was white. My dad quickly banged together one of his home made sleds from two by fours for us kids. He would make it about six feet long at least and connect it to the back bumper of the car and pull me, brother and the cousins all around the neighborhood. Even have a 8 millimeter film of that. I don’t doubt today Child Protective Services would be called for such activity and unabashed fun. It is there on Cascade that I can remember having those huge family Christmas dinners with all of us packed in everywhere. Loved listening to the men talk when they separated from the gals. It was there that we had some wild game for Christmas. I was old enough that dad took me bird and deer hunting so if we were lucky we would have fried quail with gravy and biscuits for breakfast and the next day venison sausage. Loved those breakfasts around Christmas. I don’t recall any specific Christmas gifts from our years there but sure remember that ’46 Ford convertible I got in ’55 when I was 13. Well actually 12 when I got it but turned 13 in a couple of months after.
Well for anyone still awake or here, Merry Christmas to all and to all God Bless.
Olcranky
A Sage for the Ages 