Christmas pasts,
Christmas presents
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
A lot of Christmases have come and gone for many of us, a lot of presents given and received. Of the latter, usually, one sticks out in our memories.
So MBT asked a bunch of folks to tell us about the best Christmas present they ever received. Not surprisingly, the responses ranged across the spectrum from humorous to familial to spiritual.
"That is a really hard question because I have been blessed with so many wonderful Christmas presents over the years both physical and spiritual. However, I think the one that sticks out most in my memory is a simple cut out of a cartoon drawing of a wizard pasted on a popsicle stick that
one of my daughters gave me when she was very young. It told me that she knew the whimsy of my soul and at the same time thought of me as her wizard. It seemed to me that she was saying that she trusted me to take care of and protect her no matter what (something I often wasn't sure I
could do at the time)."
-- Stevens R. Heath,
Chief Marine Biologist
Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources
"My best Christmas present was the birth of my first son, Brady.
Brady was set to be delivered in February of the following year, but decided that he wanted to come a little early weighing in at 3 lbs, 11 ozs. I was truly blessed that Christmas day of '86. Being born two months early, Brady had to spend 22 days in the hospital, but with an angel looking over him, he was a tiny, but healthy child.
Brady turns 22 this Christmas and I couldn't be more proud of him.
-- Sharmyn K. Wall,
business manager,
The Mishkin Group, Inc.
"When I was about eight-years-old, they opened a TG&Y variety story in Jackson [Alabama] and we thought we were really uptown. My dad took us all there on Christmas Eve and told us we could pick a present, anything $25 or
less. I picked a portable record player (remember those?) and it stayed with me all the way through law school. This is one of my favorite Christmas memories not just because of the turntable, but because of the excitement of having a TG&Y in Jackson!"
-- Sandy Robinson,
attorney, Mobile
"Cease-fire Christmas Day 1968."
-- Mike Druhan,
attorney, Mobile
"My daughter, Mary Frances, born on Nov. 19."
-- Riley Boykin Smith,
Tensaw Land & Timber Co.
"The best Christmas present would be something that had the most meaning for me. My sister, Robin, who was 14 years younger passed away in early December of 1984
at age 20 after a lengthy illness. Before she died, she told my mother what she wanted to give each of her family members for Christmas. My mother lovingly fulfilled her wish for each of us and on Christmas morning I opened a watch. That watch from my little sister meant the world to me!"
-- Danny Goodwin,
Alabama Education Association - District 27
"Big Lou. He was a four-foot robot that shot missiles from his feet. His eyes were lasers etc. etc. And he talked."
-- Bob Baumhauer,
restaurateur/retired pro football player
"A mini-bike when I was about 10 or 11."
-- Stephen E. Clements,
attorney, Mobile
"I thought about it and can't really come up with a 'thing' I would call my best Christmas present. I would say my best Christmas was 1980 when, after being transferred from New Orleans to New York City to Puerto Rico, I finally landed in Mobile. My family and I loved it and decided then and there it would be home for good. I've now retired here and never regretted my decision."
-- Rich Reeves,
FBI agent, retired
"Jesus."
-- John White-Spunner,
CEO / Chairman of the Board,
White-Spunner Construction
"When my National Guard unit was deployed to Saudi Arabia during operation Desert Storm, the 1st grade at St. Luke's Episcopal School sent their Christmas presents to us. It was great watching the soldiers with coloring books, jacks, baby dolls etc."
-- Don Banks,
judge, domestic relations,
Mobile County Circuit Court
"My best Christmas present was a pearl necklace from my grandmother that also belonged to her mother. It was Christmas 1981 and my father presented me as a debutante a week later."
-- Lisa Carroll Lambert,
City Clerk, Mobile
"Jewelry."
-- Pam Middleton,
real estate agent, Mobile
"My first bicycle at the end of WW2."
-- Paul Hubbert,
executive director,
Alabama Education Association
"I would have to say my mink on one side and leather on the other side vest that my parents gave me about three Christmases ago. I didn't have any Idea. My parents always give me the best gifts."
-- Tracy Yancy,
Mobile County District Attorney's Office
"A set of trap drums."
-- Bill Roberts,
Cogburn Health
"In 1950 when I was five, my Christmas present was a Gene Autry bike, with saddlebags, fringe, and a six-shooter in a holster, and a horse's HEAD on the front of the bike (my parents maybe knew that I would be a lawyer one
day and would myself provide the horse's rear, upon passing the bar exam). It came with a copy of 'Gene Autry's Cowboy Code,' the first part of the very first rule of which is 'a cowboy never shoots first.' Frenchmen and other 'old Europeans' accuse George W. Bush of being a cowboy, but if he is, he does not accede to Gene Autry's Cowboy Code. But what do Frenchmen and other old Europeans really know about cowboys, anyway? It is an odd matter of history that Gene Autry and George W. Bush became friends when both of them owned baseball teams. During this friendship did Gene Autry confide in Bush that Autry had been wrong in the Cowboy Code? As they radioed Admiral Nimitz in the Pacific, 'the world wonders.'"
-- David A. Bagwell,
lawyer
"That's easy -- Jesus."
-- Lonnie Parsons,
Mobile County Sheriff's Department
"My wife, Anne, gave me a Big Green Egg for Christmas several years ago. I cook on it three or four times a week, so I don't know if it's the best present I ever got or the best present she ever got. Anne calls it 'the gift that keeps on giving.'"
-- James H. Frost
Diamond, Hasser & Frost attorneys
"I remember an electric train my brothers and I received in 1949 or 1950. The track could be configured in a circle or a figure eight. Besides the engine, it had a coal car, a box car and a caboose. The caboose was red and the engine and coal car were black. If you put a tablet in the stack of the engine, it would smoke. We had a great time running that train around. Since, I have received many terrific presents, but that was the best. So far.
-- Malcolm Steeves,
Mobile Area Water and Sewer System
"One Christmas, I guess about 15 years ago, my mother surprised me with this gold sweater that I had been admiring for months. Now some may say that's not so special, but my mom NEVER shops. Since I was a teenager she would basically give me money to shop on my own. So for her to make the effort to get me this sweater was a huge deal."
-- Kimberly Pettway,
Generation Obama Mobile
"I've gotten many nice things for Christmas, including little boy and big boy toys, but none compare with my daughter who was born on Christmas."
-- Steve Perry,
Harris, DeVille & Associates, Inc.
"My favorite Christmas present was delivered by Santa when I was five. It was a surprise and consisted of a 'kitchen' for the playhouse I always wished for but never received; Santa brought me a small brown Roy Rogers
tent instead. The cardboard kitchen had a pantry with broom and mop, ironing board and iron, a stove and sink, cookware, Blue Willow porcelain dishes, and silvery looking flatware in the same pattern my Mom had. When I outgrew it, my mother donated it and some of my other favorite toys to the Gingerbread House, Dothan's first day care which my mother and other Dothan Service League members started. Did my early enjoyment of the 'kitchen'
lead to my being a fantastic housekeeper? Not at all -- I hate housecleaning, but I do like to cook. When my daughter turned six, my husband built her the perfect two-room playhouse, the one I never had, which included a kitchen."
-- Betty Peters,
state school board
"I'm 55 now but I think one of the best presents was a new bicycle when I was very young. We lived in South Dakota then. I didn't know how to ride a bike yet so my dad kept getting me started down a hill in the neighborhood. I
wrecked several times in the snow but when I got the hang of it, I went out in the snow and rode all over the place! Now, all my hobbies have turned into a living so I get what I need all year long. It is more enjoyable for me to do for my grandchildren and children. I also like to participate in
the angel tree program. Happy Holidays."
-- Lonn Spencer,
Spencer Computer Services
