Five Spoke Wheel

My answer to this question was wrong…

From left to right: Grandsons – Julian, David and Kaden

When my eight year old grandson, Kaden Armstrong, asked me the question, I did not give sufficient thought to my answer. He was quite disappointed with my response. “Nothing” I replied “I have everything I want.” I realized – too late – that this would make no sense to an eight year old boy. Truth is.. he probably wanted to buy me a gift and really wanted to know. (I later mentioned; Old Spice Cologne and socks. Not very exciting but true.) He continued to probe. His next question was “Wouldn’t you like a knife or sumthin?” I did no better as our conversation continued. As I prepared to say goodbye, Kaden chimed in “Hey Poppy! You didn’t ask me what I want for Christmas.” Damn. another fatal mistake… Last year I asked for an egg-beater. He asked “What’s that?”

My Christmas list…

I thought about this, long after my conversation with Kaden ended. What does happen to our “Christmas List” as we get older? I can remember as if it was yesterday, instead of sixty years ago, sitting around our big kitchen table with my brother and sister, writing our Christmas lists. Our mom was always right nearby, to help us with our spelling and to offer suggestions. “Mom how do you spell Erector Set?” Our young minds were filled to overflowing with great expectations. How wonderful. All we had to do was think of the items we wanted most, write them down – in a letter to Santa – be continually well-behaved and PRESTO! On Christmas morning, most of the items would appear, gaily wrapped, under our Christmas tree. Boy-O-boy. That Santa Claus, what a great guy… Little did we know, how our parents struggled to find the money, do the shopping and then wrap and hide the wonderful gifts until the special morning. I remember most of all, how much less we wanted back then. We didn’t have a television to cram all the latest gadgets and geegaws down our young throats. There weren’t billions of dollars spent marketing toys – mostly made in foreign countries – into our very impressionable minds. we were satisfied with “One” special toy and a stocking full of surprises. I can still remember how thrilled I was to receive a little bag of “Cat’s Eye” marbles. I loved the paper kite and the roller skates that never stayed clamped on my Red Ball Jet sneakers. “Don’t lose that key David. Here let me put it on a string and you can hang it around your neck.” I think every kid in the fourth grade, had a skate key dangling under his T-shirt. They were simpler times. We believed in Santa Claus because the evidence was unmistakeable. We dismissed with great disdain any “Big Kid” that foolishly tried to tell us “There ain’t no Santa.”…

Truth is – there will always be a Santa Claus…

We still make Christmas lists. Difference is, it is a list beginning with how much we “Can” spend this year and what we want to send, or give and to whom. Everyone has to live within their “Budget” some – not ours – are quite large. We have enough to live the lifestyle we enjoy, but frivolous expenditures are not in the cards, Christmas, or otherwise. We don’t need to make our own lists because we truly have everything we need and want. The old proverb is true; “The more you know, the less you need.” We must know a LOT.

I really do understand the confusion in Kaden’s mind, created by my saying “I don’t want anything.” My mission will be to help him understand what a wonderful condition that is… Thank you Lord for my many, many, “gifts.”