5th Grade School Christmas Party
My 5th grade Christmas party. It was one of the toughest school Christmas parties I can ever recall. Things were tough at home (I’ll relate more about that next week in my Christmas article). So, we didn’t have much money for our own Christmas gifts, much less gifts for kids at school.
So, my mom got the cheapest toy she could find. It was some kind of horse racing game. It had a spinning wheel, and it had different colors the arrow head could land on. There were horses that were different colors, and with each spin of the wheel, that horse would advance or not advance. I loved the game. I already had one at home. My next-door neighbor, Tina, and I would play that game for hours. She was also in my 5th grade class.
On the day of the party, the boy for whom I bought the gift was not happy. “Who bought me this cheap thing? Who did it?” he demanded. He was one of the rich kids in class, and he always reminded everyone of this fact. I was embarrassed and kept quiet. It was all we could afford.
Tina looked at me. She knew I was the kid who bought that gift. “If you don’t want it, you can have my word puzzle game. I’ll be more than happy to have this game,” Tina said. The rich kid eagerly accepted the trade.
The other kids in class had not seen this horse racing game before, and everyone wanted to play. Kids were picking colored horses (no bets were made; these were 10-year-old kids), and all other gifts were ignored except for this cheap horse racing game.
Seeing how popular this game was, the rich kid who traded it to Tina wanted it back. “Let’s trade back. I’ll even give you my lunch money too," the rich kid said. “Nope. It’s mine now, and you can get your mommy to buy all of them at the Five and Dime store,” Tina said. The kids started laughing.
Tina saved me from the further embarrassment of being the poor kid that everyone took pity on. I hated being poor, especially at Christmas.
Wherever you are, Tina, thanks for being a friend at that Christmas school party so long ago.