Memorable Christmas gifts, received and given
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By Barbara Bringle Hudson, Wichita My favorite Christmas present was one made by my grandfather, Robert Bringle of Hutchinson. When I was riding with my grandpa and we were stopped by a train, I got pretty excited. I loved to watch the cars go by and look for my favorite car, the caboose. I would tell my grandpa that when I grew up I wanted to have a house made from a caboose. He would always say, “I will see what I can do.” Now I loved my grandpa very much, and I knew he loved me and that he never let me down before when he said he would see what he could do. On Christmas day, 1982, I opened a gift that had a gift tag and on it said: “From Grandpa.” When I opened it up, I found a caboose that he had carved. He painted it red and added all of the details. On the side, he put B J Line. My grandpa has been gone
Courtesy photo
a long time, but it is my most treasured gift because he made it for me and now I have a caboose of my own. Him saying “I will see what I can do” changed to See how much I love you. My name is Barbara Joan - therefore it was the BJ Line. Line is a term that was used in the past by railroad companies. By Philip Coleman, Wichita My father was the most generous of men. But the traditions of Christmas -- decorated trees, lights, cookies, giving and receiving gifts -- were not important to him. I don't recall
him choosing a Christmas gift for anyone -except one time. On Christmas morning, 1969, I was surprised to find under the Christmas tree an unwrapped Courtesy photo gift from him to me, a beautiful Waltham wristwatch. The store tag was still attached, showing he'd bought it at David's for $42.95 (a significant sum for a working man like my father). As I slipped the watch onto my wrist, he smiled gently and said: "Every man needs a good watch," perhaps his acknowledgment that I would be 21 in a few months. I've worn the watch ever since. I was born in Wichita in 1949 and have lived here all my life. My father's name was John Coleman; he and my mother (Bunice Coleman) moved to Wichita from Arkansas during World
War II to work at Boeing and stayed for the rest of their lives.
By Robert J. Bos Jr., Wichita My gift was not a B-B gun, bike or anything tangible as such. This is the story of my greatest and most memorable Christmas Gift. After serving 18 months with the infantry in Vietnam, I was scheduled to return to the states on Dec. 23, 1968 (47 years ago). Due to a mortar attack at our Air Base, we were delayed one day, that making our departure from Vietnam the 24th of December. Due to the International Dateline, I arrived at Travis Air Force Base, time wise, earlier than I had departed Vietnam. This made it early in the morning of Dec. 24. No one in my family knew I was returning and didn’t expect me until February or March. After processing out of Travis AFB, I immediately tried to obtain a flight from San Francisco to Chicago See Gifts, page 21
No box, no ribbons, just presence By Michelle Sell Every day for two years my daughter Angelica and I drove 80 miles round-trip to a barn where she kept her horse Cheyenne, her 10th birthday gift. Cheyenne was stabled there while we built her home at LipStick Ranch. This was a trip both Angelica and I looked forward to, escaping in a barn filled with hay and twinges of manure fragrance, and the softness of strength to endure human ignorance. We’d stick to our routine: brush, clean, ride; brush, clean, put away. Time passed; routines continued until one mystical day in May 2008. That day my heart was opened to a 12-year-old’s wisdom in demanding my presence.
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Photo by Amy Shepherd Photography
Michelle Sell and Baby commune at LipStick Ranch. of cats. As I reached the barn’s exit, Cheyenne was tucked away for I caught a glimpse of her little body the night in her stall. Angelica disapflying over a four-rail iron fence. peared. I strolled the barn aisles exIn the distance I noticed the silpecting to find her hiding under a pile See Baby, page 6
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