Growing up on the farm we did not have much money but we had good food and lots of fun. Dad grew up really poor and he so wanted to give us kids what we wanted. You might not get what you wanted new but if you wanted something he would find a way to get it for you.
My mom always wanted a nice home so dad had her draw up the plans and he started building it for her a little at a time. It had a living room and a family room separated by a big dual fireplace where each room had a fireplace. The family room was done but the living room only had the paneling and sheetrock done. It had a wood floor but it still needed sanding and waxed so dad used it a lot of a work room in the winter where he would be warm.
One winter my brother had wanted a tool box. He was and still is a hot rod fan. Dad did not have the money to buy a set of tools and a fancy tool box so he went to second hand stores until he found this tool box. He went through his tools and second hand stores until he found the tools he needed.
Every free minute he had he would be in the living room working on cleaning and polishing up the tools. He cleaned and fixed the tool box up like new. Now came time to paint the tool box. He decided he would use this green, he took each wrench and spray painted one section of the tool green to match the tool box. That way my brothers tools would not get mixed up with his or anyone else. Then he got the tool box which he had spent hours cleaning and started to spray it to match the tools………OH NO! The top of the spray can shot up in the air and paint started shooting up like a geyser! Green paint was flying everywhere in mom’s new living room. I mean this was just not leaking it was spraying the ceiling, the walls, the floor. Dad stuck his hand over the top of the can where it would not spray everywhere. He looked like the mad jolly green giant. He was yelling “open the door” “open the door” as he ran in circles.
I don’t’ think it helped that he was running in circles but I guess he could not hold still. Paint was oozing between his fingers, paint all over his hair, his face, his clothes. I am trying to run from the other room and get the door open at the same time I am laughing so hard I can hardly stand up. Then he yells “quit your dang laughing and open the door”. He runs outside with paint still flying and about 2 seconds after he gets out the door the paint lets up. He looks at me and the trail behind him. You can tell by the look on his face he does not want to go back into that room. I am sure he figures mom is going to kill him when she gets home.
Back inside we go to check the room. Ceiling only has a couple of tiny dots here and there but one wall, the built in planter have a lot but that hard wood floor is covered with green paint and green shoe prints right out onto the porch.
I guess you know we grabbed rags and cleaned as much as we could and then Dad went to town and got new paint for walls and a electric floor sander to clean that mess up. By the time we got done we had no money to get more paint so my brother’s tool box never did get a second coat.
I often wonder if he knew just how expensive that tool box actually was and how much work went into it. My dad had spent weeks with steel wool etc. cleaning that box and tools.
Anyone can buy you something, they just need the time to go to town and some money but true love to spend hours and hours making something for someone just because you want them to have it so bad and you can’t afford it. Spending time thinking of a present is sometimes the most fun. Our family is still good at coming up with cool things at Christmas that don’t put us in debt but are loved.
A friend of mine asked how we did it because they put so much on their credit card it takes all year to pay it off. I said the fun is really thinking of something. He said he wanted to get my son-in-law something but he did not want him to feel he had to give back. I told him Christmas was about giving not receiving. We thought together a long time to figure out something fun and cheap and decided to get him a six pack of beer, decorate it all up and take it and put on his step, ring the door bell and run.
That present was so fun as we watched him look around at his decorated beer with ribbons everywhere and a sign that said Merry Christmas to a special guy. We spent the next year not in debt but in conspiracy giggles as he talked the whole year trying to figure out who had bought him that beer……………he probably hoped it was a good looking secret admirer and was just afraid to say so…
Merry Christmas everyone….lots of stories like this. Christmas should be fun not stressful as to what you can afford.
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