by Doug Bybee

Created on: November 17, 2008

The better gift

CHRISTMAS PAST The Christmas tree hangs from a hook screwed into the ceiling; the lowest branch is 2 feet off the floor. It's a different but logical placement; the house is small, the room is small, and the pile of gifts is too high to fit under a tree placed normally. "Different" is not only tolerated here, it's also encouraged a gift from Kate-and-Ray.

The Ray of Kate-and-Ray placed the tree so oddly. The Kate of Kate-and-Ray doesn't care: trees are just "things," unimportant, don't matter. There's a mirror with a hole in it near the tree.

Our 1948 town is 2,000 All-American people strong. Looking back from now to then, we are all equal I think at least equal by options. My buddy Snorts Sullivan is maybe the richest kid in town. His father is town doctor, and the only rich-poor disparity I can see between Snorts and Bugs Eisenberg, who had no father at all after World War II and lives in a room above a downtown tavern with his mother, is that Snorts has a better ball glove than Bugs but not much better. "Much better" was not an available option in '48.

The many presents under our hanging tree are 95 percent clothes for the coming year and 5 percent better gifts dolls for my sisters, a basketball for me, Lincoln Logs for my brother, maybe a book for all of us to share.

The Kate of Kate-and-Ray picked the clothes: socks, underwear, shirts, and pants. Kate is a visionary; she envisions us doubling in size each year, and so she buys our clothes to fit at next year's end!

For the immediate future, the cuffs of our pants will be equal in length to the entire leg, and we will be able to carry our substantial school-lunch bags in the leftover cloth hanging down from our shirt sleeves.

Should we happen to grow an extra head this coming year, there'll be plenty of neck room in our sweaters to accommodate the extra noggin. Shoes are bought almost to fit, but the snow boots protecting 'em are twice the size of the shoe we can rent out the extra space in our boots to friends with mothers not so farsighted as Kate is.

Doesn't matter clothes don't matter. Friends and family matter. People matter.

Other than handmade paper presents from us kids, there are no gifts under the tree for Kate-and-Ray. It would be well into the '50s before there would be store-bought presents for Kate-and-Ray.

Except for last year. Last year, in 1947, Ray gave Kate the mirror. It was a fine mirror, and it was placed with some ceremony over the secondhand sofa. The mirror was store-bought

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