everyone growing up has at least that one gift they can remember being estatic for on Christmas morning (or whenever you open presents, i know not everyone does on Christmas morning always). there was one gift that stood out to me as i look back on my Christmas's past from the Fisher-Price 'Little People', the bicycle and the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers over the years, it was the year my parents...err....i mean Santa...got me and my brother a Super Nintendo, the great grandfather to today's Nintendo Wii.
it wasn't so much the actual gift, which was awesome mind you, but the story leading up to it. a Super Nintendo cost $200 when it first came out, and me and my brother had been saving up for awhile only to have probably $30-40 between the two of us. we were told by our parents that it was too expensive of a gift for Santa to bring it to us on Christmas morning, so me and my brother determined it would take us 5 years, but we would eventually save up the money to get it ourselves.
that Christmas Eve, me and my brother had gone to bed even through the excitement of the anticipation of Christmas morning. for some reason, i woke up during the night and walked into our family room. there on our tv was the most glorious thing i'd ever seen. the 16-bit, colorful world of Super Mario Brothers as my dad sat in the floor 'testing the system out'. i sat down cross-legged next to my dad and watched him try a few levels, then felt my little heart about jump out of my chest as he let me take a turn at the controller for a little bit.
making me promise not to tell mom or my brother Daniel, i then had to go back to sleep knowing that there was a Super Nintendo wrapped up under the tree waiting for me. talk about not being able to relax and fall asleep!
i really to this day don't know if it was a big sacrifice for my parents to get that video game system for their 5 and 7 year old boys, but at the same time, what loving parents don't sacrifice for their kids all year round, but specifically this time of year. i will never forget though hanging out with my dad that Christmas Eve night playing that video game [probably because i think he's only played video games with me once since then :) ], but it's little bits of Christmas memories like that which really make me smile.