Half a dozen awesome xmas gifts I got as a kid

Now, the pile of books and the stocking full of kickass little stuff my mom picked out were perennial favorites, but here are some of the single-item standouts from up to age 11: 

--A puppy. I might have been the only kid ever in the world to actually get a puppy, with a bow around its neck, on Christmas morning -- well, no, despite the World of Aggro this puppy (whom I named Prince) gave us throughout his short life (and who was the cause of my Nearest-Death Experience, a story for another day), my parents did it again a few years later, for my sister (which turned out to be Sam the Dog, the Best Dog Ever, May He Rest in Peace). So, OK, the two of us were the only ones ever.

--A huge chemistry set. Kinda funny for a person whose aversion to science in general and chemistry in particular is so well-documented, but I remember I really wanted to mix up some potions and shit.

--A detective kit. When I was a little kid, I established the Sally Field Detective Agency in my grandmother's walk-in closet, and I was always trying to investigate stuff. This detective kit's main most awesome feature was the fingerprint stuff -- black powder to dust over latent prints and this special tape to pick it up, plus cards to put it on so you could compare to the ones you inked from your friends & family. WADS of enjoyment, people. 

--A red dirtbike. Not some ten-speed (that was later) or some sissy girly bike -- I wanted one like my brother's and his friends', a real boys' dirtbike, with a crossbar and everything, so I could stone cold roll with them. And I believe they did let me, once or twice. If by "let," you mean "didn't ride so fast that I couldn't keep them in sight." 

--A gymnastics mat. This was in my super-serious Nadia Comaneci phase -- I think I was five -- and despite never having lessons, I was a gymnastics fiend. This mat likely saved me a few scrapes, although the balance beam I made out of a 1x4 and a couple of stacks of bricks probably canceled that out. 

--A disk camera. Y'all remember those? The thin body, and the film that came in the form of a disk, like the ones you use in a Viewmaster? Ohhhh, did I love that camera. I rode my bike to my great-grandmother's house that very morning to show it off to her. I took it to school, I wore it around my wrist, I used it until photo processing places quit taking that kind of film. If I could find it somewhere in the attic, I would be super-hip at parties and whatnot.