Christmas Presents
I could remember well into my adult years what Santa had brought me each year for the years of my childhood, up until I finished high school at age 17.
We three children were all born close to Christmas, too close to Christmas gifts to also get birthday gifts. Each year we got a special meal, cooked to our order, as a birthday gift. I frequently ordered white beans and banana pudding.
For my first Christmas I got a small metal globe bank. It was covered with a map of the world as it was then. I still have it, but have not found it lately.
Then I got things like wagon, tricycle, cowboy vest, wind up train, an adult tool box with adult carpenter tools, and other gifts, ending with a large chemistry set at age 17.
The tool box was home made by my father and supplied with tools of his choosing, each of which had a specific place to safely hold it. Here is a picture of the tool box.
The top and bottom are one solid piece of 12 inch plank.
I removed all the tool holders and redesigned the box to hold spare parts for my Erector sets.
I still have several of the tools that came in the box. Here is the small plane, less than 2 inches long, that came in the tool set.
A few of our Christmas toys were home made by our parents. I got a cowboy vest made by my mother one Christmas. Judging by the size of the vest, I was about 4 or 5 years old. Here is the vest.
Here is a base ball bat that I got at about age 12.
