Once Upon a Time: What we asked Santa for when we were young
A few weeks ago I was watching TV news and one of the anchors mentioned that, according to recent polls, the two most popular gifts children were asking Santa for this year were an iPhone and a credit card. That fact took my breath away.
And it got me to thinking about the gifts I wanted for Christmas when I was growing up in the ‘40s and early ‘50s. And, most of all, how these simple things formed my sense of fun and fairness.
These were games and toys that required us to use our minds and hone our skills. And since we often played together, we learned teamwork and built social skills. The games we played had rules that had to be learned and obeyed and the toys we played with sent our imaginations soaring.
For example, whenever I played paper dolls I wrote an entire soap opera script and performed it as I marched Betty Grable through her busy, well-dressed days. And when my next-door neighbor, Patsy, and I pushed our dolls in their baby carriages, we laid the groundwork for being strict, but loving mothers.
The game of Chinese Checkers built strategy skills. And I learned how to lose (not always gracefully) each time my gloating brother sent me “home” in Parcheesi. Hula Hoops built physical strength and yo-yo's coordination. (Remember “walking the dog” and “around the world”? Now, that took skill.)
And we made toys and games wherever we found them. How many times did you slide down the banister instead of taking the stairs? Remember spinning around and around until you got so dizzy you fell down laughing, blowing dandelion seed puffs, catching lightening bugs and looking for four-leaf clovers? Not only were those things fun — they were free.
On Christmas mornings these are the gifts that were often awaiting my brother, sisters and I under the tree: Lincoln Logs; an Erector set; a wood burning kit; a new sled or red wagon (remember Flexible Fliers and Red Riders?); a doll house (complete with plastic furniture); and, one year — my best gift of all — a big beautiful bride doll.
And in our stockings? A brightly painted top (remember what fun it was to spin those?). Pick up sticks, crayons and coloring books, a harmonica, card games like Crazy Eights and Animal Rummy, a new pencil box, a ball and jacks set, a new jump rope — the list of magical toys goes on and on.
An old Victor Herbert song, Toyland (made popular by Doris Day), promises that “once you pass its borders you can never return again.”
I’m afraid today’s children have never visited that mystical “girl and boy land.” And oh, what joys they have missed.
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Once Upon a Time is a biweekly column that evokes the simple pleasures of growing up in the 1940’s and ‘50s. Local writer Marian Bennett can be contacted at marianbennett@earthlink.net.