I was thinking about what presents I should give my grandson. Not specifically on his first Christmas, because being only 17 days old, it will be symbolic, and also because grandma has already chosen a gift that he will be able to use during next year. But in general: what gifts children like to receive, what gifts adults like to give, and how to conciliate both things to reach a result that will please both who gets and who gives the gift.
Which gifts did I like the most, which ones I still remember?
Flashback (time tunnel spiral spinning)...
Between Christmases and birthdays (that was a time when advertisers hadn't created Children's Day yet), I got many toys, many clothes and some gifts outside those two main categories.
No child (boys, at least) remembers clothes; quite the opposite, the look on a child's face when he discovers his gift is a piece of clothing is always a look of disappointment (on the other hand, parents love it).
Children love toys, of course - while they last, or while the novelty lasts. Later, when they don't break, they're left, forgotten, replaced by newer ones. One toy I remember dearly, which unfortunately didn't survive so many years in the hands of three brothers, was Mec-Bras.
This was an assembly toy, comprised of metal strips and plates with holes, screws, nuts, pulleys, etc. It came on several sizes of boxes, with growing numbers of parts (the largest ones even had an electric motor), and it came with a catalog with several projects for assembly. The dirty trick (applied to the children and their parents) was that the catalog showed all projects, from the simplest to those that could only be assembled with the parts of the largest boxes. My dream was to, someday, own box number 6... I found these pictures on an auction Web site, to give a better idea for those who don't know it and to remind those who do...
Besides the fact that it was possible to assemble several toys following the models in the catalog or inventing new ones, I think Mec-Bras is remembered because it was virtually indestructible, something unimaginable nowadays. And probably it would have benn pulled out of the market today, due to the danger of metal parts and small screws, nuts and washers. Well, I know that I never swallowed or inhaled any part...
Other toys I remember and used a lot were the pedal cars, tricycles and bikes. I had a Jeep and a Packard - this lasted until it was reduced to the chassis... They were also made of metal, and for a long time we played with the tin body torn out and with sharp corners: I think the guardian angles of that time were more competent than the current ones, we never cut ourselves...
There were the board games, some of which are still sold today. Monopoly, the never ending game - I wonder if today's children, with their short attention span dictated by TV, still play those games... domino, checkers, lotto, Chinese checkers...
But the first gift I remember is also one of my first clear memories. One day, close to Christmas (I was 5 or 6), my mother answers the doorbell and I see a man deliver two boxes: "Mom, I read it, it says Tesouro da Juventude!" And my mother, dissimulating, "no, it's just the box, this is something else"... But on Christmas day, the blue cover collection, brand new, 18 volumes!
It's hard to explain what the Tesouro da Juventude (Treasure of Youth) was. The closest analogy is that it was the Internet of that time. This collection talked about everything, from science to poetry, from geography to history, in an easy to read and well organized way. In its own description, "Gathering of essential knowledge, offered in a way suited to the benefit and entertainment of children and adolescents". Each volume in the collection presented varied subjects, divided in the following sections: The Earth, Our Life, Animals and Plants, The New World, The Old World, Fine Arts, The Famous Books, Poetry, Tales, Good Deeds, Things We Must Know, The Whys, Things We Can Make, Attractive Lessons and Famous Men and Women. This was certainly the gift I use the most, and I still have it. I got many other collections from my father, not only on special dates, but whenever he found a new one interesting. The book salesmen, this profession almost extinct today and that was the equivalent in annoyance at the time to the telemarketers of today, probably loved my father... The Complete Works of Monteiro Lobato (both children and adult works), Jules Verne, Malba Tahan; Barsa, Merito, Delta-Larousse encyclopedias; History of Brazil by Rocha Pombo, Pedro Calmon; Universal History by Cesare Cantu (32 volumes!); and many others.
Other gifts related to science: chemistry lab, microscope...
(Time tunnel spiral spinning backwards...)
Back from the past, I've decided at least on thing: that I'll do my best to awaken in Guilherme the love for reading and the curiosity for discovering himself the answers to his questions. But my memories confirmed to me that the best present I got was not the toys, the bikes, the games, the books. Behind them was the care my parents took, within their financial limitations, to choose gifts that would give me something more than just recreation, that would develop me, that would show me a way. I'll try to follow their example when choosing gifts for my grandchildren.
And I'll try to give my grandchildren the best gist I got from my parents and taht I hope I have passed to my sons: their role model of a honest life, without questionable shortcuts; the way they treated any person, even the humblest, with the same respect; the way they educated us, severe but always just. Finally, although I'm probably not a good example of a religious person, I'll try to show them the real meaning of Christmas, and what the man whose birthday we celebrate taught us and did for all of us!
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
(John 13:34-35)
