Remember when you were a kid and you wrote letters to St. Nick, ticking off the toys, the dolls, the bicycles that you desperately wanted, no....needed in the days before the Jolly Elf made his annual appearance?

I could try to pull a tear from you, my readers, with a sad story about a little kid who only wants world peace, but truth be told, kids are materialistic little critters, pawns of the television merchandising machine, and when they don't get what they want, you may expect a serious, week long pouting session.

I asked Mrs. Anthony what she wanted and what she got for Christmas gifts as a child and her first answer was, "A Raggedy Ann doll."

I thought that was sort an ordinary gift, but she explained that the doll that "Santa" brought was nearly five feet tall.

Now that's a good memory. How about you? What particular gift did you get for Christmas, and was it what you wanted?

I asked a few locals about their experience.

My friend Kraig responded first:

"I remember dropping off my letter to Santa at the Federal Way News!

One memorable present was a sting ray bike with sport's car like shifter when I was around 11 years old. I walked around the corner, saw the bike and just looked at it with my jaw agape. My sister said, "It's real...you can touch it!'"

The first brother to respond to my question said, "The most memorable gifts? A train set shared with my brothers, a Pogo Stick like my friend's next door, an Ice Hockey game with metal rods on each end that allowed us to maneuver the players, and a foosball game. Home Made. We used ping pong balls." That's quite a list, but leave it to him to spoil the mood.

"The most memorable gift was sad. I got a sputnik space radio (crystal) and listened to it on Christmas Eve. At around midnight, I could not sleep and heard the painful news that our former neighbors had been killed in a crash in Burien. It was 1956."

My other brother said, "One of the best gifts I ever got was a sheet of die-cut cowboys and Indian figures which I could detached and stand up and from which I could create fantasies."

He's no cowboy, but today he lives next to the rez and he still likes John Wayne movies.

Linda Lowber, who lives near Reith Road told me, "I was probably 9 or 10 years old on this particular Christmas. That year my Dad took real delight in telling us three kids about what we were each going to get for Christmas. We were enjoying living on the farm and all the changes that came with it. Dad wanted to really build us up for Christmas and didn't use words so much as descriptions to get us excited.

"Several times in the weeks before Christmas he would tell me that my present was going to be about the size of the end of his pointer finger to the first knuckle. Then he would bend down and illustrate by sticking out his finger and covering up all but the last little section and wiggling it. He would have that little smile of his going, and I could hardly wait!

"I don't remember exactly what he told Nancy and John, but we were all told something slightly different.

"On Christmas Day we were thrilled to get a puppy! My 'present' that he had demonstrated with the tip of his finger represented a paw! I can still see the shirt he was wearing and the love in that funny little smile!

Finally, I asked my Dad;

"Things were far different when I was a tad. Nobody had any money in our family except my oldest brother who was married and had some kind of job. He and his wife always came over to the house with a big box of stuff all gaily wrapped and we knew there was something for each of us little kids.

"Usually I got a pair of gloves or something I needed from my parents but brother George once got me a genuine gyroscope. That was a big deal for me. Some of my school mates got bikes or electric trains but I loved my scope.

"You wind a string around the spindle and pull it sharply. The wheel spins swiftly and no matter how you gripped it the gyro insisted on remaining upright.

"It was the greatest except for two beautiful blue and red marbles my brother owned. He also knew I worshiped them and one year when I was eight he wrapped them in a big box to fool me and gave them to me. His most prized possession. Wow. I still get goose bumps when I think about his sacrifice.

"Even when he pounded me I knew he truly loved me."