The Magicless Christmas

Memories are a funny thing. They are sometimes funny ha ha like Airplane!, other times they are funny in the style of a bad late night movie. When thinking back over all the Christmases of my youth, I can think of one time where getting what I asked for didn't work in my favor.

I was probably seven years old that Christmas season. I didn't believe in Santa Claus at that point, so I knew where the gifts came from. I wanted a hand held electronic football game. This was long before Nintendo DS or even the Game Boy. However, I really wanted that silly little game. It was the Coleco game with about 15 LEDs that made up everything, and absolutely did nothing. At the time, it seemed like it was absolutely the coolest thing on the planet. (Look it up, its probably been transformed into an iPhone app.)

One other thing that kids always want is to know what they are going to get before that magic day. At seven years old, I was no different. I wanted to know what I was going to get. I wanted to know that I was going to get that football game.

Like every seven year old, I was impatient. Little did I know that my older step-brother at the time was a sneaky so and so. We were talking about what we wanted for Christmas as kids do. He was determined to find out what we were going to be getting on the big day.

Well, my step-brother went snooping around the house and sure enough he found where dad and my then step-mother had hidden the Christmas presents and found out exactly what it was we were going to be getting for the big day. I thought this was the coolest thing ever, as I knew what I was going to be getting and the presents were not even wrapped and under the tree.

I was excited, I was getting my hand held football game. I was going to be able to pretend that the little blips of red lights were the Oakland Raiders tearing up the opposition. It was surely going to be the be absolute best Christmas ever. I was counting down the days until I got my game.

On the big morning, I ripped and tor my way through the usual collection of wrapping paper and miscellaneous gifts. The ones that parents always give as appetizers to build the suspense before kids get to the present that they really want.

I got to my football game, and well, it was the football game. Actually, it wasn't the Coleco game that I wanted, but it was another hand held football game. This one had dials and a plastic football that slid up and down the field. The disappointment was palpable, not because it wasn't the game I expected. It was the let down of there being no surprise.

I look back on that Christmas and laugh at the silliness of youth. It was so important to know what I was getting before hand until I found out and kind of lost the magic of that year.