Coop's Youth Part 7 - Stumbling to the Finish Line

Among other presents, my brother Peter and I got the Beatles’White Album and Simon and Garfunkel’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme for Christmas, both on our list that our mom had solicited from us.  The tag on the wrapped gifts under the tree in our living room indicated they were from “Santa”.  Our mom continued to believe in Santa Claus, or at least that her kids should continue to honor the myth of this jolly old avatar who loved children and spent his entire undying existence bringing gifts and joy to young people throughout an often child-unfriendly world.  

Now that I had quit my paper route and no longer had my own money from it, Christmas gifts were an important source of particularly the games and record albums that were so significant to me developmentally.  When we were little our mom and dad had done their best to observe our play carefully and buy us toys that would present a compelling “curriculum” for our play.  In more recent years, our mom had taken to asking my brother and me for a list of the things we wanted for Christmas, and then tried her best, even collaborating with our dad, to get us those things that they could within their limited budget.  Peter and I would put careful thought into our lists, because the toys, games, records, tape recorders and other stuff we ended up getting over the years continued to play the role of important self-directed developmental curriculum.