Christmas Story Addition

In my previous Blog, I mentioned about the hectic Christmas Eves we had getting everything ready from scratch, to a completely decorated Christmas tree with all presents wrapped in special paper underneath it.
At this time I was a member of our local Kiwanis Club, and I had a very good friend there named, Frank. When I described the routine we did on Christmas Eve, he said, "I'll come over and help." I answered that it would be great, because I could use all the help I could get. Now Frank was the chief engineer in charge of a division of a very large electronics company. (Nowadays, this company is a global electronics giant.) He said that he would be very happy to do it. Many of the larger toys come in boxes with "some assembly required". He was a great friend and a ton of help, and he was able to come each Christmas Eve for about 5 years until we moved. His engineering skills often were put to the test and ultimately were indispensable!
Ordinarily we would try to get for the kids, the things that they asked Santa for. There was a strong belief in Santa for the smaller children. I also told the older children not to spoil it for the little ones. Now one year my oldest son asked for a gun. I was shocked, and I was not ready for that. I told Dorothy that I didn't want to do that. I told her that when I was young, I never had a two wheel bicycle, and I really wanted one. So perhaps we could surprise him, and we could get a bike for him.
Well Christmas Eve comes, and I am real proud that there is a bright, shinning two wheeler standing by the tree, On Christmas morning all the little ones came down the stairs yelling, " Santa was here, Santa was here." Each one looking for their name on the gift boxes. I turned to my oldest and proudly said, "Look what you got, a two wheel bike." He turned toward me with a sad look on his face said," But I asked for a gun."
He accepted the bike and learned to ride it, as well. However I had a learning experience, that I used the following year. Yes, I got him a BB gun which he really enjoyed. But not only that, he developed a fascination for guns. Later when we were vacationing at the dude ranch, he was able to use the shooting range, and he found a new love. Now he wanted a .22 rifle. There were no problems with the previous gun, so he received one for his birthday. Then much later, I bought myself a BB gun. Chipmunks, fear me!