I don’t usually blog about random childhood memories, but thanks to a contest on TwitterMoms.com (called “What Was Your Most Surprising Gift?” in which the winner receives $100 Target Gift Card) I had a chance to stop and remember a truly awesome Christmas morning.
I was 9 and my parents had been struggling financially for a couple of years. My dad was an artist and did freelance work. He had previously sold off his half of a sound and lighting company called Dallas BackUp, so we were sort of coasting on that money and the money my mother made cleaning houses. Things were tight to say the least. Because of our small budget, my parents didn’t buy every pair of Guess! jeans I HAD to have. They didn’t shell out tons of money for expensive shoes. Instead, during those years my parents took the whole “things don’t last long, but memories last a lifetime” idea and ran with it. They saved the money they would have spent on frivolous purchases and overpriced clothes and booked amazing road trips for us to take. This particular year, they booked a surprise trip to DisneyWorld. It was on Christmas morning that they unveiled the plans. My mother had cut pieces of Mickey Mouse themed wrapping paper into puzzle pieces. Each piece had a letter on it. I was supposed to A) have the patience to put the puzzle together and B) have an actual reaction to the solved puzzle. I remember quickly getting frustrated (it doesn’t take much for me) and complaining about not being able to figure out the word jumble. I am sure my mom kicked in some help (she usually did) and then… it was spelled out right there on the floor. “D I S N E Y W O R L D”.
I remember being confused and then my parents quickly filling me in on the trip details. We were to leave New Years Day for Florida. By car. This meant our trip would take us to several states east of Texas. I loved to travel and the idea of seeing Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama in addition to Florida seemed just as exciting as DisneyWorld itself. I was very excited, although I do remember moving on rather quickly to the pile of unwrapped presents that remained under the tree… I am sure my parents felt a bit deflated by my reaction at the time, but I think the trip itself made up for my lackluster performance on that Christmas morning. It was truly amazing walking right up to any ride we wanted to ride, experiencing NO LINES at all and being able to ride them over and over as we wished. Yes I missed some school, but my teacher at the time told my mother that I would learn more on my trip than I probably would that week in class.
23 years later (well, almost - i’ll be 33 in feb…) I still have those memories, but those parachute pants with the zippers all over them? Those would have been long gone.
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