Fondest Christmas Memory

I have many fond Christmas memories from when I was a child. Growing up in a family of five kids to young parents, our Christmas gifts were limited to one "Christmast list" item and then socks/underwear. I remember one very special Christmas when I was about 9-10 years old. That year, my Christmas list consisted of a transistor radio...that is all I wanted.

Our family tradition was to open gifts early on Christmas morning, then go to my grandparent's house for dinner. We anxiously opened our presents, but sadly no transistor radio. I was very upset, but tried desperately not to let it show.

As we drove the 30 minutes to my grandparents, I fought back the tears. After dinner, we each received our annual gift of pajamas from our grandparents. Grandma did not believe in buying toys, but insisted kids should have a new pair of pjs every year! How she kept track of 16 different sizes is beyond me.

I was sitting by myself watching the younger kids play with their toys, when my dad called me outside. I followed him when he pulls out this small wrapped gift. He hands the gift to me and says, "I should have given this to you this morning, but I did not want the other kids to see it. I wanted this to be something you will always remember. This is a special gift for helping your mother and taking care of the younger kids". I tore off the wrapper to find the most beautiful black transistor radio I had every seen. That Christmas was definately one I always remember.