By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Christmas morning is all about expectations. Children dream about their lengthy wish lists, and families do their best to make the morning memorable.
Sometimes, it’s the gifts that don’t make it under the tree that create lasting memories. Sometimes, after the wrapping paper has been ripped off and flung across the room, it’s those gathered on Christmas that mean the most.
When asked about their most memorable presents, many took a trip to Christmas past – of wishes fulfilled or lists left unchecked. Some recalled presents they purchased for loved ones, or cherished gifts from those now gone.
For Dave Horger, retired voice of WFOB Radio, his most memorable Christmas began as a disappointment. He recalled growing up in a warm house long on love – but short on money.
“Dad was a house painter and there were good years and bad. Apparently 1956, or maybe it was 1957, had been a bad one. And like any 6- or 7-year-old, I was extremely excited about Christmas morning.”
Horger was expecting the usual four or five toys under the tree.
“So it was a major disappointment when all I received was a stencil set and underwear,” he recalled.
Horger has a distinct memory of later that Christmas day asking his mom how long it would be until the next Christmas.
“Looking back, Mom and Dad likely felt much worse than I. I’m sure they wanted to make it a better day for us.”
“Ironically, it became one of the more memorable Christmases, and not in a negative way,” Horger said. “Here’s the bottom line: Despite that Christmas, I wouldn’t have traded places with any kid, anywhere.”
Decades later, Horger still has the stencil set … not the underwear.
For Sandy Wiechman, coordinator of Safe Communities of Wood County, two gifts stick out in her memory. The first was an orange saucer sled she received when she was 7. “I wanted it so bad,” she recalled.
The other, however, never showed up under Wiechman’s childhood Christmas tree.
“As a child, I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven, and I never got one,” she said.
Then at age 29, Wiechman’s childhood wish was fulfilled by a friend. Finally, she was able to bake tiny cakes and cookies, all by the heat of the oven’s light bulb.
Bowling Green City Council President Mark Hollenbaugh recalled scanning the Sears catalog every Christmas season, and circling the items high on his wish list. When he was 6, in 1971, he trusted his parents to review the catalog clues.
“More than anything that year, I wanted a telescope,” he said. But some miscommunication must have occurred. “Under the tree was not a telescope – but there was a microscope.”
So instead of viewing far away items, Hollenbaugh was able to see miniscule items up close.
“That ended my career as an astrophysicist,” he said with a grin.
Hollenbaugh has since corrected the gifting error, by buying a telescope years later for his kids. It’s unknown if it was on their wish lists – or still on his.
For Denise Niese, executive director of the Wood County Committee on Aging, the most memorable gift came when she was in second grade.
Under the tree was a bespectacled Mrs. Beasley, from the hit show “Family Affair.”
“That’s what everyone wanted that year,” Niese said.
With the pull of a string, Mrs. Beasley repeated her well-known phrases from the show.
Some adults remembered Christmas gifts that exceeded their expectations.
For Ryan Tackett, a lieutenant with the Bowling Green Police Division, it was a Yamaha 80-horsepower motorcycle from his grandpa when Tackett and his brother were ages 9 and 10.
If you’re wondering, the boys’ parents approved of the gift.
“Back then things were different,” Tackett said.
For Jason Miller, human resources coordinator at the Wood County Committee on Aging, it was also his grandpa who made his Christmas dreams come true when he was in third or fourth grade. First to be unveiled that holiday was a huge dollhouse made for Miller’s cousin – leaving Jason jealous.
But then his gift was revealed – a big playhouse large enough for five or six buddies to gather, complete with a shingled roof, plexiglass windows, and wooden stools made by his uncle.
“It was the hit of the neighborhood,” Miller said.
For Craig Everett, horticulturist with the OSU Extension Office in Wood County, the most memorable Christmas gift will be remembered forever because of its grand entrance.
When Everett was in elementary school, his dad would always hide the children’s Christmas gifts, then give them clues to find them. One year, the parents bought the children a typewriter. True to tradition, their father sent them on a “treasure hunt” while their mom started warming up the oven for breakfast.
“Dad didn’t tell my mom what was going on,” Everett said. “Soon smoke was pouring out of the oven.”
Inside the oven was a molten typewriter, he said.
The strangest part of the story, Everett said, was that his father boxed up the smoky typewriter and took it back up to Anderson’s to return it. To this day, Everett isn’t sure how his father explained the melted mess, but “they went ahead and gave him a replacement.”
For some adults, the gifts they give become far more memorable than those they receive.
Wood County Park District Executive Director Chris Smalley, the father of three girls, recalled giving his youngest a pullover plaid hat like the one worn by Ralphie in “The Christmas Story” movie.
His daughter, then 6, fell in love with the hat.
“She not only wore it that winter, but she slept in it till she was 11,” Smalley said.
Now at 17, she wouldn’t be caught dead in the red and black hat, her dad said.
“But it’s still a warm memory for me. It brings such joy as the gift giver. That silly plaid hat,” Smalley said with a smile.
For some, it’s the sentiment of the gifts that made them memorable.
Clint Corpe, of The Morning Show radio program, joked that his memory doesn’t go back far enough to recall childhood gifts.
“I can’t remember more than a couple days,” he said with a grin.
However, a more recent Christmas gift he will never forget came with a message stitched onto a baby onesie.
“My daughter and son-in-law announced to us we were going to be grandparents,” Corpe said. “That’s better than a tie.”
Jim Miles, a CPA in Bowling Green, recalled a year with a very wet harvest season before Christmas. Friends came together to help when a corn wagon became stuck in a soggy field. But the tow truck also became mired in the mud. So another tractor joined the effort – and eventually, all the equipment and corn were extricated.
When Christmas came around, one of the friends recreated the scene with a toy corn wagon, wrecker and tractor – assuring the teamwork of neighbors and friends would not be forgotten.
For Paul Herringshaw, a farmer, the most memorable Christmas had nothing to do with things. Instead it was in 2011, when the Herringshaws hosted a huge family gathering with all the siblings, grandchildren and cousins.
“We had a sense it was going to be Mom’s last Christmas,” he said.
It indeed was her last, and Herringshaw is comforted that they all rallied for her that Christmas.
For Tracy Hovest, a teacher and Bowling Green Board of Education member, the most memorable gift came from her father.
“I have a necklace of my dad’s fingerprint that he gave me the Christmas before he passed away,” Hovest said. “It’s my most cherished gift.”
“Everytime I touch my fingerprint to his, I’m reminded of all the things he taught me and to stay grounded in who I am,” she said. “I wear it every day.”
