My Mom was raised in a family of 13 kids and only got one or two things for Christmas.

So, she made sure I got a doll every year -- whether or not I wanted one! When you're raised alone, its not much fun to play with dolls. I mean, you undress them and redress them ... then what? But it was something she had wanted.

Being raised alone (brothers were 14 and 18 years older), its very very quiet at Christmastime, unless you decide to make some noise. When I was 16 I went to my boyfriend's house where there were lots of kids and excited chatter. I decided right then and there that none of my kids would have to endure a quiet Christmas! I had 4 kids in 5.5 years! It was fun while it lasted, but now we're empty-nesters.

BTW, I didn't have any kids with that boyfriend, lol!

Mine was metallic purple with a white banana seat and my brother got a metallic green with a black banana seat! Long after we outgrew them, my youngest brother welded the frames to make a GOcart using an old lawnmower motor.

My parents were very creative at Christmas time. My mom made all of our clothing. She always bought at least one store bought toy for us. Plus we always had the rule that we got 3 presents because that was what baby Jesus got!

We were poor kids and never got anything we really wanted but I do remember having lots of Pocketeers- games of skill usually with ball bearings.
For some reason, I have just bought a heap of my old faves off ebay. I'm not sure why i feel the need to and what i'll do with them but at least I have them back as it were.
Truth be told, I've bought loads of old toys and games i used to have and lost along the way. Vintage games on ebay is my favourite site.

I did get a 4th hand bike, and used it to go everywhere! Thank God for that bike. It saved me sooooo much footwork to get places. it was a rusty pink, that had seen better days, but after some love, and repair by my brothers it peddled like a new one. We would get things like socks, or undies, and be happy for them. I hated when mom would take us to the Salvation Army to buy underwear! ick!

Looks like I wasnt the only poor one in the crowd. You guys make me feel so much better.

I remember my yard sale bike, my hand me down clothes. (I was thrilled when I got big sis's coat even tho I had an almost identical one, just smaller, different color - it meant I was bigger!)

The used bike was not a 10 speed like everyone ele's, but it was cool because nobody else had a retro old thing like it.



I didn't get half what my kids got, but mom always knew which things we wanted most. She made it seem like we were getting the whole toy store.


Maybe since there were so many of us, we just enjoyed each other's stuff too. I know we got a lot of miles out of that record player.

I too, had an older sis and was privvy to her hand me downs in my younger years, which I thoroughly looked forward to. We wore dresses to school and I couldn't wait until she outgrew them, so they could be ''mine''. My Mom bought me my own clothes, but I loved having my Sis's, too. That all ended when she grew several inches taller and I didn't.

News flash~ I'm still SHORT!!!

The recession of the 70's was so hard on my dad's business. We lived in a rural area and had no idea about Salvation Army. We got by raising our own garden and meat. Most of my clothing was homemade or handmedowns from relatives....even the undies. My grandma made "bloomers" for me out of cotton flour sacks...now that was a real treat having the Martha White flour logo on your fanny! Our house was heated with woodburning stoves. Yet we never went hungry, got cold or really missed any of the store bought things.

All this reminds me of the time my dad came home with a pickup bed full of white rubber horses. They were used to cast the models for carousel horses. He made several wooden sawhorses and used leather straps to secure them to the sawhorses. All the kids(cousins and neighbors) thought we were in heaven riding our white horses!

I always wanted a pony for Christmas and always looked out in the back yard every Christmas morning but there was never a pony there.

I finally got my Christmas wish many many years later when DH bought me a Leo-Tag Quarter horse mare!!

It was worth the wait. Maggie was magical; she went English, Western, Poles, Barrels, Equitation and loved rollbacks and side passes. The ones who know horses will know what I mean.

DH was transferring from Iowa to Ohio duPont and no way could we take Maggie or afford boarding charges there.

I could not sell her so I gave her to a friend who loves horses as I do and Maggie had a wonderful home for many more years.

I will never forget that wonderful Christmas and Maggie!

You got the boy too!!! LMAO!!!!

(((Dej))) - You're not the only one.

It was very rare that I ever got what I wanted/asked for for Christmas. I got what my parents could afford. I mean, seriously, can you imagine buying gifts for 10 kids? My parents did their best to get each of us a toy.

What my parents did do was focus on the meanings and we had family traditions that we did every year. While I can't remember all the gifts I received throughout the years, I remember those traditions, what I wore to Mass that year, who carried the candle, who carried the Baby Jesus to the manger, etc.

When I had kids of my own, my mom gave me some good advice as well as some insight in to what things were like for them from a financial point of view. (Let's just say some people really loved my parents). Anyhow, my mom told me to always keep Christmas simple, a gift or 2. So that's what I have always done. DD19 and were talking about Christmas not too long ago. She told me to not worry about getting them (she and DD18) a gift this year. She loves the traditions that we have made in our own little family. That's what she wants this year.

My banana seat stingray bike was banana yellow! I rode that thing for thousands of miles, I swear. And usually there was a friend riding on the handlebars too. We were wild kids, I tell ya.