It amazes me when visiting with my great grandkids and I get to see what they have accumulated in so few years. Not only in toys but computers and stuff. Video games that even Buck Rogers couldn’t have imagined back when I was a kid.
We didn’t get gifts yearround and for no reason like is the norm today. That kind of giving just didn’t exist at the time. Yes I am guilty now. Don’t judge!
When we received a gift at Christmas or for our birthday it was usually just one item. If I got a bat it was pretty obvious that my younger brother Eddie would get a baseball for Christmas. Well played mom and dad!
Sometimes we would get a gift that was shared. I’ll never forget the electric football game we received one year. Loading up one of the offensive players with that little cotton football then setting up the defense before flipping the switch that made the field start vibrating causing the players on both side to start running off in all directions. We played, fought and argued over that thing forever until we finally wore it out.
It’s an unwritten rule that when I go visit the kids I will bring them something. Nothing big but just a small gesture to assure them that they can count on Pawpaw and he will always be there for them. A little something for the adults is often given too. I have learned that once you spoil them you can never go back.
The excitement of the coming Christmas holidays had as much to do with having days off from school as it did for anything else when I was a kid. The cooler weather was perfect for running along the river banks when the water was crystal clear. I could see the fish swimming along the bottom even in the deepest pools. It was a standoff because they could see me too against that blue clear sky.
There were pecans on the ground under every native pecan tree along the river. There were huge trees that produced so many nuts that the squirrels left enough for me and my friends so we could gather and sell them to make a little bit of bubble gum money.
My dad taught me how to peel a pecan with a pocketknife without cutting off a finger but those tiny native nuts were a challenge. Using a hammer was a bit messy but a lot easier. I preferred the pecans on the trees around our house for eating simply because they we easier to peel. Raymond “Doc” Adamietz had done some grafts on one of our trees and we ended up with four or five different pecans on it. My favorite was a paper shell that I could crack by squeezing it with my fingers.
Currently we are headed into the holiday season beginning with Halloween before enjoying Thanksgiving and all the great eating that one brings. Christmas will soon follow to close out another Growing Up In Bandera year. Gonna need to do some deep thinking about gift giving because the kids are older and the list is getting longer. I think I’ll head out to the river again since it’s cooler and I can do some clear thinking. Maybe even take a rod and reel.
