When I was younger, say, high school aged, I would create these fantastic Christmas lists. When I say fantastic, I mean it in the sense of being full of fantasy. Sometimes The List would span 3 sheets (front and back) of loose leaf paper. Friends and relatives would just sit and laugh at the sheer outrageousness of it.
I would ask for things like “Paul Newman”, a mansion in the hills, or a Ferrari. The list would be full of one exorbitant item after another. I think I asked for a trip to the moon, flawless emeralds, and flawless diamonds. I'm pretty sure one year I also asked for every item from the Sears Wish Book. Do you remember that book? The day it would come in the mail, I'd sit with a pen, circling the items I wanted, crossing out things, circling others, and changing my mind a thousand times until Christmas.
Okay, here I have to fill you in with a backstory.
I didn't learn to play jacks until I was in high school. Once I learned, I was hooked. I have lots of memories of playing jacks with many friends, and my one nephew who is actually older than I am (by 2 months, but again, I digress. Maybe I should call my blog, "But I Digress" or "So Anyway"). We would make up new “sies” from time to time, because we wanted something different than onesies, twosies, etc. We played jacks pretty much anywhere there was a flat surface, and some of us always had jacks with us.
I loved to play jacks.
One year on that fantastical Christmas list, I asked for 24 KT gold jacks. Now, by this time, it was getting more difficult to find the metal jacks; they were being replaced by plastic ones. It was also hard to find jacks that came with a rubber ball instead of a super ball. A super ball had too much bounce, and we considered it cheating to play with a super ball.
Fast forward to Christmas morning. My dad is opening his crossword puzzle books and my mom is opening her gloves. My mom was notorious for losing one glove (a trait I inherited); she would almost always lose the same hand, usually the left glove. So, like dad's crossword puzzle books, if you were stumped for a gift for mom, you could always buy her gloves.
Except this one pair of gloves she had that were soft black leather with red lining. Many years ago, my mom had visited my sister one year, and bought herself a red coat. This coat was the most beautiful shade of red; not too tomato-y and not too fire engine-y. The style of the coat was perfect. My mom looked amazing in that coat, and you could see her glow because she felt so good wearing it. Oh, gloves. So my sister bought her those black gloves to go with that coat. Those gloves were the exception to the rule of losing gloves. She still had both of them in her possession. I need to ask my sister if she wants them.
So, Christmas morning, we're opening gifts, and my mom handed me this small box, the size of a watch box. I unwrapped the package, and it was a hinged green leather jewelry-type box with ivory satin lining. I opened the box, and what was in there? Gold jacks. My mother had found a new set of metal jacks (with the rubber ball, not the super ball), and she sat and painted all 10 jacks with bright gold paint. She told me the color was called 24KT.
That set of jacks was one of the most wonderful gifts I've ever received. Those jacks were my Red Ryder BB Gun. Over the years, the paint flecked off, and some broke or went missing, but I will never forget the Christmas I got gold jacks.
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