Bikes and skates

Christmases past:

The Christmas I was ten, we spent Christmas Day with my Aunt Jean and Uncle Bud in Abilene. They lived just south of Mrs. Baird's Bread at the top of a little hill.
Not only was the smell of the baking bread wonderful, but the hill provided the perfect place to ride the bike I got that Christmas.

I remember the day well--it was very cold, and I could see my breath as I raced down the hill on my new blue bike. My dad and Uncle Bud were running behind me, shouting, "Pedal, pedal." And then they were shouting"Break, Break." Then I fell the first of many times off my bike. It was exhilarating to know that I was free to ride and roam--about the same feeling when I learned to drive a car.

Another memorable gift was the first pair of skates we each got one Christmas. At that time we were living across from the old Elementary School in Hamlin. The heavy metal skates came with keys, of course--to be used to tighten the skates so they would fit our shoes. We wore the keys around our necks on a cord. There were sidewalks which ran from one corner to the other of our block. Again a perfect place to learn. And I fell many times as we scratched along those broken sidewalks--one had to be very cautious of the cracks where one pour of concrete met another. Stangely enough, many of the kids on the block got skates that year and we raced for hours.

I was trying to tell the girls this week what we got in our stockings--little gifts like quarters, candy canes, oranges and apples and nuts--pecans,walnuts, almonds, Brazilian nuts (but we didn't call them by their proper name), etc. We spent many happy hours on the porch with a hammer breaking open the nuts and eating the luscious meat.

Two more days!