What was the best Christmas present you ever received? Cast your memory back to all those Christmas trees, stretching back through your childhood, and think of the presents wrapped underneath. Which gifts were the most exciting? What stands out above the rest?
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| A Ghost of Christmas Past. |
If you're anything like me, and even if you're not so much like me, chances are, one of the most memorable was a bicycle. In that classic Christmas film,
A Christmas Story, little Ralphie wished desperately for a Red Rider BB Gun. But I think for a lot of kids, over a lot of generations, a new bike was the ultimate Christmas present. Shiny new paint. Gleaming chrome. Carefully wrapped, or maybe just decked with a few eye-catching ribbons and bows, the sight of a brand new bicycle beside the tree was guaranteed excitement. It was like a gift of freedom and mobility in a beautiful, two-wheeled package. What kid didn't put a bicycle on the top of their Christmas list at least once in their lifetime? For some Retrogrouch readers, I'll bet a brand new, gleaming bicycle would
still be a wish-list topper, and the source of a lot of excitement if one actually showed up under the tree.
Even for people who haven't ridden a bike since getting their first driver's license (however many years or decades may have passed since then) I think it's pretty significant that even many of them once experienced that kind of joy and excitement for a new bike at Christmas. If only there were some way to remind them of that. It says a lot about the bicycle that it is held (or at least was) in such high regard by so many people that it was once the stuff of their dreams.
I wonder if kids today hold a bicycle to that same level of enthusiasm? Or do they now just wish for battery-powered, drivable little SUVs? New smart phones and video game systems? I wonder.
Whether you get a new bike for Christmas this year, or just wish for one while you lavish attention on the bike (or bikes) you have, I hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Right on Brooks. I still remember it. The one that still stands out after all these years. Coming downstairs and finding that bike standing there by the tree in its chrome, glossy red paint and banana seat. I think it was '78 or '79 brutally cold and a few feet of snow outside. Seemed like forever till the sidewalks dried off Although I'm sure I got in a quick spin before then.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas and best wishes to you and yours.
Oh yeah -- the banana seat bike. I had a lot of fun on mine. You mention one of the most unbearable parts about the new bike at Christmas -- being so excited to get it, but not being able to ride it right away.
DeleteMerry Christmas, Mr. Brooks! As always I enjoy reading your blog. I too, remember my banana seat bike. I don't remember ever getting a bicycle for Christmas. I did get a bicycle as a graduation gift after high school. Nowadays I guess kids get cars.
ReplyDeleteI'd have really liked a bicycle for graduation. But you're probably right that a lot of kids today get cars. And the little ones get those battery powered drivable toy cars for Christmas. Too bad, really.
DeleteMerry Christmas and Happy New Year, Brooks!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the best Christmas present I ever received was the Royce-Union three speed I found parked under the tree when I was seven years old. It was too big for me, but when I was able to ride it--about two years later, as I recall--was it ever sweet!
Really, what else can compare to getting a new bike at that age (or any age, for that matter). What makes the memory of it particularly powerful is that it was the last gift my grandfather gave me: He died the following March.
Thanks, Justine -- and Happy New Year to you, too!
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