Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Baby Doll for Christmas




Some have memories of Christmas  
as the time when they got what they wanted

but my memories are of a time when Santa
 
flew by the house leaving leftovers
 
or someone else’s used toys, I guess  
 
it is better to get something than nothing at all.
 

I was deternined next year to behave
and be on Santa’s good list
and it finally happened the gifts under the tree
 
were bigger than ever before,
all the toys
were brand new and exactly what we asked
from Santa at Macy’s department store.
 

I remember my sister and I having
 
similarly wrapped packages. We tore
 
off the ribbon and paper, and there we saw
 
a box with a picture of a large baby doll, dressed in pink
 
wearing a delicate bonnet. W
carefully  opened  
the box, and there was the doll just like the photo 
except she didn’t have a head, what a cruel joke
 
my sister screamed and started to cry
 
I felt like I was being choked by Santa’s prank
 
and threw the box aside,
 
decided right then I hated Christmas.
My father laughed my mother scolded
 
my oldest brother shouted and pulled the tissue
off the doll’s face separated by cardboard packing
but very much attached to the body
 
then everyone started laughing,
 
but I never changed my mind, 
I hated Christmas 

and the ritual of gift giving, wanting something
 
for nothing and always being disappointed
 
I made a decision early to pay my own way
 
never wanting anything, and buying what I needed
 
like when I didn’t buy a blue velvet dress at sixteen,
 
even though I wanted it, didn’t want the possibility
 
of being disappointment. One time I did buy a blue
 
satin bedspread after I was married, got it home
 

and by evening the cat had sh..t on it
 
tossed it out rather than having it cleaned
 
stayed detached from material things   
 
all because I thought Santa gave me a box 

with a doll without a head in it.  

No comments:

Post a Comment