A Christmas Reckoning: From "Bah Humbug!" to Miracle on 34th Street
"You will tire of this soon," my brother Denny told me as he removed the batteries from the toy truck I received on Christmas Eve 1962. Dumbfounded, I made no argument and watched forlornly as he repackaged the truck into its original box, accompanied by a slip of paper—its receipt pulled from his pocket.
After losing the truck, the weight of disappointment grew heavier. My brother, pulling another slip of paper from his pocket, placed it along with the toy cap pistol I had gushed over into another box. Reapplying the Scotch tape, he muttered, "For sure you won’t be able to resist making a racket in the house," implying the gun.
Surveying the gifts around the Christmas tree, he went to a pile of my remaining presents: a hockey stick, a pair of shin pads, and a pair of new skates, their blades gleaming atop a partially opened box.
Up to this point, I had managed to conceal my feelings, but now my knees began shaking as tears welled in my eyes while watching Denny, who staring at the hockey gear, seemed to be assessing their worth, most likely to himself, presumably not to me. Finished, he mumbled, “Well… it is Christmas," and picking up the shin pads, glanced at me, before leaving the stick and skates behind.
Earlier that afternoon, the energy in the house had been markedly different as the usual dour mood dissipated after my Uncle Mike, Aunt Luba and cousins Yvonne and Miriam arrived to enjoy a Christmas meal of sarma (stuffed cabbages), moussaka, and, of course, palacinka (Balkan crepes) prepared by my mother.
Before the meal, everyone sitting around the tree watched in astonishment while I opened present after present. After all, it was common knowledge that Denny was, hmmm… shall we say, not comfortable with generosity.
More, having requested only a pair of skates, those would have sufficed as a present from a brother and mother I loathed but now, as my appreciation skills were dulled from disuse, I was unsure how to react.
Worse, the excitement of these numerous gifts had placed me in uncharted territory, leaving me unprepared for such a rapid rise of emotion on receiving the gifts, and later, after the family had departed, the subsequent fall. In retrospect, I should have been suspicious early on when Denny somewhat awkwardly, had admonished me to open the presents carefully.
Of course—he had never intended to give the presents—this had all been staged for the benefit of the relatives.
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