by Marcia Kowelman

Created on: February 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 06, 2007

It was Christmas Eve 1966. I still remember as if it was yesterday. Every year my family would go to my Grandpa's and Grandma's house to celebrate Christmas. We would do the usual things. Have a wonderful get to together with family, eat a great turkey meal, talk and open presents.

Being 12 years old I always looked forward to Christmas. All those new things! But this year was different. As I sat there watching everyone else open up their presents I wondered why I wasn't given any presents. I just sat there quietly trying not to cause a scene.

Shortly after everyone had finished opening up their presents and we cleaned up the mess, my Grandpa brought out a box for me. It was wrapped so nicely with a big bow. I opened the box and after digging through crunched up newspapers, at the bottom of the box was a note explaining that this was the biggest box they had and the present would not fit in it.

After reading the note I was wondering is this a big joke. My Grandpa was good for jokes. He asked me to close my eyes. A few minutes later he told me to open up my eyes and look in the corner. Sitting in the corner was the organ I also begged to play when we visited them. It had a big red bow stuck to it.

My Grandpa and Grandma told me that they thought this would be the perfect gift for me since I always wanted to play it. And it sure was! I was so excited,I cried with joy. Everyone cheered. I gave my Grandpa and Grandma a big hug. I can remember my Grandpa looking at me with a big smile across his face and a little teary eyed. I then played some Christmas carols I had been practicing to play anyway.

Even though the gift is gone, the memory remains of that one night that changed my outlook on gifts. To some it was a gift of a hand me down, but to me it was the gift of music. I played that organ for many years until it eventually broke and could not be fixed.

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