Best Christmas Gifts

I know now that our family went through some lean times financially when I was young, but Mom and Dad kept me from realizing it then. They somehow always managed to make sure my sister and I had the things we needed. At Christmas, we weren't lavished with lots of expensive gifts, but I always felt special. Mom and Dad would prod us for one gift we really wanted, and we usually got it. I didn't have expensive tastes then, but I usually wanted something that had to do with hunting and fishing. I still have a Weaver variable power rifle scope I got my twelfth Christmas. It's still attached to the .22 rifle that belonged to my Granddad, who gave it to my father, who gave it to me. And I still remember the Christmas I opened a large, rectangular box to find a beautiful Remington BDL .243 bolt action rifle. I hadn't asked for it, thinking it too expensive, but Mom and Dad somehow managed to buy it for me. I killed my first mule deer with that rifle the following fall, and even though I don't rifle hunt much anymore, it's one of my most prized possessions. I recently loaned it to a friend so he could take his grandson deer hunting. He wondered if I was interested in selling it. I just laughed and said I could never part with that gun. It's far too special because it carries the memories of that Christmas and all the hunts that came after.