Favorite Christmas story or present

[Larry1963]

Ok starting to slow down in here, we need to liven it back up.

 

Keeping with my theme of human interest and getting to know each other better, what was your favorite Christmas or Christmas present.

 

Mine was back in the 70s 74-75, I got a Honda 70 trail bike.

 

My other one was in 78 I got a Heathkit SB-101 Ham radio.

[SilvrT]

I've had two of them ....

 

Some background for the first.

My 1st wife and I had a son. She and I split when he was 1.5 yrs old. I never got to see him again until ..... around 2001 I found out where his mom lived and I sent her a letter inquiring about our son. She gave the letter to him and just before Christmas that year he contacted me, told me he had been wondering about my whereabouts for several years and in January 2002 we met for the first time. He was then 32 yrs old. We have been as close as a father and son could ever be since then. We get together almost every other week. I'm now married to 3rd wife who has 3 grown kids and we all are like one big happy family! Connecting with my son is the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me in my life ... it just so happened to occur at Christmas.

 

Now the second.

I was raised by my mom and stepdad from 8 yrs old thru to 15 when they separated. I again spent time with him between 19 - 21. We parted ways and I never saw or heard of him since. That was 47 years ago. Just 2 days ago I made contact with his wife and learned of his passing 14 years ago. While I am saddened by that, I at least now have a connection to him and am eager to learn more about him and his life since I last saw him.

[Larry1963]

I've had two of them ....

 

Some background for the first.

My 1st wife and I had a son. She and I split when he was 1.5 yrs old. I never got to see him again until ..... around 2001 I found out where his mom lived and I sent her a letter inquiring about our son. She gave the letter to him and just before Christmas that year he contacted me, told me he had been wondering about my whereabouts for several years and in January 2002 we met for the first time. He was then 32 yrs old. We have been as close as a father and son could ever be since then. We get together almost every other week. I'm now married to 3rd wife who has 3 grown kids and we all are like one big happy family! Connecting with my son is the absolute best thing that has ever happened to me in my life ... it just so happened to occur at Christmas.

 

Now the second.

I was raised by my mom and stepdad from 8 yrs old thru to 15 when they separated. I again spent time with him between 19 - 21. We parted ways and I never saw or heard of him since. That was 47 years ago. Just 2 days ago I made contact with his wife and learned of his passing 14 years ago. While I am saddened by that, I at least now have a connection to him and am eager to learn more about him and his life since I last saw him.

 

This is a Hallmark story

[uncledj]

I remember when I was a kid....maybe 5..???...we used to leave milk and cookies for Santa and some lettuce and carrots for his reindeer.

I got up early Christmas Morning, before we were allowed to open gifts, and noticed, as usual that the goodies for Santa and the Reindeer were gone. So, starting to question the existence of Santa, I figured Dad probably downed the cookies and milk, but what happened to the lettuce and carrots? I looked in the trash, in the fridge and even in the yard to see what Dad did with them but couldn't find them. That was about 47 years ago, but still has me wondering. lol.. :confused24:

 

Favorite gifts.....A 5 speed banana bike.

A Crossman 760 bb gun. Back in the old days when they were really well made.

A 45 cal muzzleloader for deer hunting. I was probably 16 then.

A Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 magnum. I was probably 20 then. Don't know what brought that on. I was very pleasantly

surprised. Must have been payback for spending half my Summer helping build that family room.

 

We used to have GREAT CHRISTMASES back then. I still love Christmas, but some of the youthful luster has worn off.

My Mom really made the season special. Decorating, cooking and gifts. God I miss her. Love ya mom. ...sniff..

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY VENTURERIDER FRIENDS.

 

Edited December 18, 2015 by uncledj
Wanted to mention Mom

[Larry1963]

I waited a long time before I got married, I was 36, my wife had two small children. Another post, maybe, raising other people kids..... LOL

Back on track, they were 5&2 well I use to do Santa for a lot of people and places. You can become a certified Santa. Well my kids knew this so on late Christmas eve, or Christmas morning, I had a friend dress in my Santa outfit and walk by their windows making a lot of noise, then come into the house putting presents under the tree, again making lot of noise. Kids got out of bed and looked then said that is just dad, no matter how much Santa told them he wasn't me or threatened to take the presents away, they wouldn't believe him. Then I come out of the bedroom in my PJs looking all tired and pissed off. The kids almost craped their pants, and ran back to bed. One of them as they rounded the corner said do not shoot Santa.......

[Larry1963]

My other kids Christmas story, the same Christmas as above, I bought a plastic kitchen for my daughter that was 2 and Tonka truck and GI Joes for the boy who was 5, after the Santa stuff at least they slept in a little, but as the day wore on, I woke up from a nap, the girl was playing with the GI Joes and the boy was playing house in the kitchen.

Later that day they took the big boxes and made a fort out of it and had more fun with the boxes than the actually toys.

[cowpuc]

I had kind of a rough childhood, ended up living on the street when I was 15. Those were some pretty rough years BUT, out of it all I did make the connection between getting a job, working and providing for myself at a very early age. By the time I was 23 I had my second home (this one was actually livable) bought and paid for (thanks to a GREAT job tig welding for the Boilermakers) bought and paid for in preparing for a family of my own. Met Tippy , and had our first Christmas together = I thought was the BESTEST Christmas EVER at the time BUT:

We ended up having our first child 7 months after our wedding night. A little girl who later in life would earn the biker name of Awahoo after 3 days of touring on the back of my first 1st Gen as an 8 year old,, getting side tracked here..

Awahoo decided it was time for her to come into the world even though it was two months early for her arrival. I will never forget Tippy complaining that she was hurting.. It was late (bout midnight) and the Doctor said to give her a couple tylonal and she would be fine. Make her take a couple tylonal, made her take em, she could not lay down in the bed so knelt on the floor and put her shoulders on the bed next to me. Fell back asleep only to be awakened a bunch of times by her moaning and squeezing my hand. It was strange cause about 1:30a.m. I happen to look at the clock, next time it happened I looked at the clock again and it was 1:33,, back asleep - happened again, 1:36.... About that time it actually dawned on me that the Doctor was wrong and that she was in labor:doh:.. This was also about the time when Tip shook me and asked me to look down there cause it felt like something was coming out of her :doh:.. I looked and sure enough, I could see the top of Awahoo's little head peaking back at me:yikes:.. This is when the REAL excitement began!!

 

Oppsss,, gotta run,, Tip needs me,, be right back!!!!

[Larry1963]

Oppsss,, gotta run,, Tip needs me,, be right back!!!!

 

That is sure one long honey-do list

[Guest Jamsie]

Best Christmas present is same every year ,

The look on the kids faces on Christmas morning, now they have families of their own , I always visit all 5 of my grandkids on Christmas morning :santa:

[cowpuc]

That is sure one long honey-do list

 

Sorry Lar,, got side tracked and lost track of time (think that was bad = go for a bike ride with Tip and I and let us lead sometime )

 

Part 2

I looked up at Tippy who looked like she was concentrating on controlling A LOT of pain.. I told her that it looked like our 1st child was on the way regardless of what the doctor had said.. I didnt have a CLUE what to do, Tippy stopped moaning and told me to go get a towel to catch the baby in.. I RAN thru the house like a chicken with my head cut off looking for a towel, then it dawned on me - oh yea, the closet in the bathroom.. Ran back to our bedroom and Awhoo's little head was half way out:scared:. I knelt down just in time to watch her head become fully exposed.. With teary eyes, I told Tip that our baby was not gonna make it because she was way to premature and deformed - she LITERALLY had no eyes or mouth or nose - only tiny little slits where those features were suppose to be. I watched my precious wife start to shake some with remorse from the news about our baby.. I reached down with my hands and held our childs tiny little head and, in an effort to assist her into the world - I found myself wanting to tug just a little.. Something deep inside me told me this was NOT a good idea.. Tippy moaned and Awahoo popped out fully into my towel covered hand, the tiniest little person you ever did see with NOTHING under her precious skin to hold it off her tiny bones.. The skin literally hung from her tiny dead body.. I felt myself starting to cry..

All of sudden, Awahoo's face took form - right there in my hand her tiny lifeless face with no sign of features BLOSSOMED!! Her nose popped out, her eyes took on form and her little lips moved and popped out as her mouth opened - SHE WAS TRYING TO BREATH!! I tried to use my little finger to get stuff out of our babies mouth cause she sounded like she was choking but it was way to big. I announced our precious daughter was alive, Tip turned her shoulders toward me to talk to me while I held our baby in my hand with her umbilicle cord still attached. Tip moved her own arms around to the right, reached back and held our child in her hands and told me to go get the little squeeze bulb we used to rinse out our ears.. I ran into the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet, grabbed the little blue squeeze bulb and ran back into the bedroom. Awahoo was breathing better as Tip had been working on cleaning her mouth out with her smaller pinky. I took the little squeeze bulb and sucked around inside Awahoo's mouth while Tip held her little body in her motherly hands.. Awahoo started to cry, I started to laugh n cry at the same time and Tip started telling me to go call an Ambulance.

 

Part 3 coming up....

[cowpuc]

Part 3

The lady who answered the phone when I called 911 asked way to many questions so I just told her to send an ambulance to our home address. I hung up the phone, ran back to our bedroom where Tip and our 1st child were doing better. Tip asked how long I thought it would be before the ParaMedic's got there. We lived out in the sticks at the time, I told her at least 20 minutes. She remembered a friend of ours named Lew Stone had been an EMT before he became a school teacher. Lew lived about a 1/4 mile from us, I went and called him. Lew came down, walked in our bedroom and asked if I could get him some shoe laces and a good pair of scissors. I went and pulled the shoe laces out of my tennis shoes, grabbed some scissors out of Tips sewing box, went back and handed them to Lew. He had me tie the umbilical cord off real tight with the scissors and then he cut between the shoe laces with the scissors. He wrapped our baby in the towel and handed her to Tippy just as the Ambulance crew came running thru the front door.. The ambulance crew took one look at what had happened before they got there and the lady EMT asked "What did you call us for?" and giggled.

Because of her size and being a preemee, Awahoo ended up having to spend 2 weeks in an incubator at the hospital. Also, because we delivered her accidently at home she had to spend all that time in isolation. This was really hard on Tip cause we wanted to have a normal child birth BUT - we made the best out of it and made sure one of us were with our daughter at all times so she wouldnt get lonely.

A few months later found Tip, Awahoo and I sharing our very first Christmas together as a family, the best Christmas present I have ever known.. A few short years later and an ol Pucster with a middle aged Awahoo could still be found riding an old beat up 1st Gen across the California deserts..

[Guest divey]

Geez Puc, just when I think I've heard about everything you've done/overcame/accomplished in your life, you go and throw another zinger our way. Great event with a storybook ending. You and Tippy deserve nothing but the very best in life. Merry Christmas my friend and may your future be filled with good health, happiness and above all, peace. Doug

[bj66]

Years ago we were leaving church on our way up to my folk's house to open presents on Christmas morning. About half way there I came to a stop sign. I looked to my right and there was an elderly lady just starting to shovel the snow from her driveway. I looked at my wife and drove around the block. I pulled up in front of her house, got out, smiled and said good morning to the lady and politely took the shovel out of her hands. Those of you who know me, know that conversation is one of my strong suits. So I enjoyed having a visit with the lady while I scooped her entire driveway and sidewalk. I couldn't help but glance over my shoulder at my 2 boys who had there hands cupped to their faces looking through the side windows of the van. I knew they were anxious to get to grandma's and I was holding up the show. The oldest was maybe 10 and the youngest was 7. Anyway, I got done with the driveway and the lady wanted to pay me. I politely declined and headed for the van. I just got to the van and the lady said "I don't believe I got your name." I just smiled and said Merry Christmas! I closed the door and drove off. Of course my kids were squirming in the back seat, but then I heard my oldest say to his little brother, "Its OK that we're late. After all, that was pretty cool!"

 

I knew right then and there, that my wife and I were teaching our kids right. We got up to my folk's house, and my mom asked me what happened and why we were so late. I explained to her what happened, and she wiped a bit of a tear away from her eyes. I guess she had one more validation that her and dad did it right too. I know she doesn't see this, but thanks mom for everything, just wish dad could be here with us this year..

[Freebird]

My best Christmas present EVER. It was 4 days late but I still count it as the best. On December 29th, 1995, my lovely finance at the time took my hand in marriage. It is the best thing that ever happened to me at Christmas or any other time. Eileen is my soul mate and, best friend, lover.

[Larry1963]

puc, you win the award for best Christmas story.

[mirider]

Wow Puc ! Had no idea you and Tip delivered one of your kids at home. Nice story and happy that things turned out well in spite of the circumstances. Having had 6 children ourselves, I am very grateful we made it to the hospital for each but were close on one.

[cowpuc]

puc, you win the award for best Christmas story.

 

Awe,, thanks Larry:thumbsup:!! Gotta say though,, my personal very very favorite Christmas story of all times is the story behind Christmas itself - sure is fun remembering things that happened along lifes journey though!!

[Zzyzx]

The best Christmas gift I ever received was when our first grandson was born. January 2, 1999.

My mother, who at the time, was ailing pass away 2 weeks later but not before she got to see her first great grandchild.

It was a strange time for us with everything going on but like most things everything worked out and we now have 5 grandkids,

4boys and 1 girl.

 

I did thou get one really great present that didn't involve grandkids.

Back in early 2003 we were transferred to the Atlanta Georgia area for business.

I was fortunate to be able to build a great team of people that worked hard and, we all played just as hard as we worked, well, sometimes harder.

We all became great friends and are still to this day.

 

We were notified in November 2009 we were going to be transferred back to California sometime around mid July of 2010 so for Christmas my wife and my team went all in and got me one of the best gifts I could have ever imagined.

 

Had always wanted to do this and I have to say to anyone asking the question whether or not...YES, I would diffidently do it again, and again. Enjoy, I did!!!

 

 

[cowpuc]

WOW Z - WOW Zzzzz WOW WOW WOW!!!!! You are right brother - THAT is AWESOME!! :clap2::clap2::dancefool::dancefool::thumbsup:

 

Looks like she is powered by a bunch of old Harley motors bolted together = WAY COOL!!

Tell ya one thing, I would climb in the back of that gorgeous ol Harley powered bird and go for an upside down, barrel rolling flight quicker than you could say "Puc stole Zzz's Christmas present " - yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehawwwwwwww:sign green with env

 

Got yourself an AWESOME wife and some great friends there Z!!