Merry Christmas, Skepchick readers!
You’ve obviously pulled yourself away from some awesome gifts, a gluttonous feeding frenzy, or a drunken argument with your family members to click on our little website today. Whatever the case, we’re glad to have you.
Considering all you’ve been through today, I’ve decided to keep the Afternoon Inquisition light and fun. You’re most probably about ready for a nap anyway, so I won’t tax your fevered brain any further.
So for today’s A.I.:
What was the one gift you always wanted growing up, and did you get it?
I’m a sports geek and I’m from Philadelphia. Though I love all Philadelphia sports’ teams, I’m a baseball geek first and foremost. It felt like forever until my Phillies won a championship back in 1980. So, yes, I got what I wished for. But what I didn’t wish for as a kid, but is even superior to my 1980 experience, was the Phillies’ winning it again in 2008 … because one of my sons, another Philadelphia sports’ geek ( though he’s always lived in Maine ), was there at game three of the World Series to share it with me. Of course, I never dreamed of wishing for a perfect father and son moment from the father’s perspective until I became a father , and though my two sons and I have had a million special moments, this one was one of the coolest. Definitely an early Christmas present!
The head of John the Baptist on a silver platter.
Still waiting.
Ummm, pony. Reality these days makes me want to lease, not buy.
@Desktop Icon: I think they have those at Neiman Marcus.
Me, I always wanted one of those 250 in 1 electronics kits. I got a much smaller kit instead but managed to add on to it using scavenged parts. Now I’ve got a room full of electronic bits and pieces.
A horse. Then I developed an allergy to them and saved my parents tons of money.
I recently discovered that there exists curly-coated, hypoallergenic horses though, so maybe one day…
A Mac.
I’d always been a techie and wanted a Mac desperately since at least kindergarten, but then I saw Legally Blonde, which made me even more obsessive. Elle decided that she wanted to be a “serious lawyer” and bought a pretty little iBook, so I stopped wanting a desktop and started wishing for a laptop.
Eventually, Apple stopped making the iBooks, but my hopes for a Mac never faded. I got a MacBook Pro for my sweet sixteen earlier this year. :)
@idoubtit@kel: : I got my pony! Feel the jealousy boil within you.
This year I wanted an A in Organic Chemistry, didn’t happen though. poop.
I wanted a dinosaur sooooooo bad.
Preferably a pterodactyl, so I could ride it to school every day and lord it over those poor, deprived, sad-sack bastards who rode the bus or hitched a ride with their parents.
Three guesses as to whether or not I ever received the genuine article. And I’m still cheesed off.
Where you at, Science? Where the Hell is my bonafide, domesticated, highly-trained flying dinosaur? Huh? Get off your beakers and electron microscopes, eggheads, and give me my goddamn pterodactyl!
If the pterodactyl is unavailable, I’ll take a Ferrari, specifically the Pininfarina Mythos. Sexiest car EVER.
Power Wheels. Never got ’em. I bet they would still be more fun than a real car.
A lego train-set.
Never got it.
I third the horse/pony wish. Never got it, though I had friends with horses. They never wanted to go riding, the spoiled brats!
@Rebecca: I’ll go riding with you Rebecca!
Yep pretty much. My expectations were normally realistic and my parents really loved me. So I can’t think of anything I really, really, wanted and didn’t get. Except my sister. I asked them to get rid of her one christmas and they didn’t.
I must have had either really low expectations or was spoiled by my parents because I got everything I ever wanted:
Bike, check
Airfix model planes, check
Chemistry set, check
Mechno, check
Puppy, check
Rifle, check (but not until I was 13)
Fishing rod, check
Telescope, check
Torch, check (No one gives torches to kids these days as presents, why is this?)
Tent, check
Bowie Knife, check
Sleeping bag, check
Hiking Boots, check
Maps, Compass and Camping stove, check
Wow, I had it pretty sweet as a kid (although that hall is about 10 xmas’s worth), thats like
everything a kid could possibly want. You don’t realise how lucky you were until you look back.
Of course these days, thanks to PC-liberal arseh*les, you can’t even give a kid a Swiss Army “Macgyver” Knife!
I wouldn’t want to be a kid today, they can’t have any fun, setting fires, camping out, climbing trees, stealling birds eggs, fishing, skinny-dipping, shoot’in stuff, tieing fireworks to a cats tail, scrumping, drinking moonshine, rough housing, just general horseplay, it’s all been banned by those bloody killjoys who wont let kids be kids.
When I was a kid, I used to go off into the wood with my mates for days on end without telling my parents and they never worried about what I was up to, these days if a 12 year old goes for a walk for a couple of HOURS the parents start tearing their hair out.
All this mollycodleing is why most 18 year olds dont know how to catch a rabbit, let alone skin and eat the bugger.
@russellsugden: Maybe it was at your house, but my girls got to do things like climbing trees, rough housing, fishing, chemistry sets, model rockets, etc. My youngest still goes fishing with her husband – they live in the Ozarks and go for bass at least a few times a year.
Neither one was interested in firearms, though. (I used to use a .22/12 guage to remove squirrels that were damaging the house in WI. We lived out in the country then, so I could get away with it.)
BTW, a torch? As in: British usage for a flashlight? Or as in blowtorch?
Never been riding much, but I’m willing to try again with some of you Skepchicks. Maybe I’ll get the hang of it yet. Horse: The first and ultimate ATV!
As far as gifts that I never got for Christmas…those memories must fade with time or I was very lucky, because I can’t recall any offhand…
Well, when I was a kid, I god a telescope. Albeit, it was a crappy supermarket one, but the details on the moon was impressive.
For years, my sisters and I asked for the Snoopy Snowcone Maker. Sadly, however, our parents couldn’t afford it and/or couldn’t find one.
Finally, when we were all in our late teens, my older sister nearly ready to move out, we got one. Our parents spotted it somewhere and remembered the begging from nearly a decade previous. It was possibly the most awesome Xmas ever. :P
Last year, I told my parents “Seriously, if you got me socks and underwear, I’d be thrilled.” And, of course, they did. My parents are just cool like that.
@Dread Polack:
Whoa! I remember the Snoopy Snowcone Maker. Think my big sister had one, or maybe it was another kid in the neighborhood, but I haven’t thought of the Snoopy Snowcone Maker in decades. Thanks for jogging a good memory.