DONALD DUCK AND THE CHRISTMAS GIFT
by dean krippaehne
8/13/03

I wanted it more than anything. It was one of those toys that - as a six year old - you just get stuck in your mind and can't get out. It meant the world to me. I put it on the top of my Christmas wish list, I asked my mom and dad for it and I even wrote a letter to Santa asking for it. And one frosty December morning my mom drove me to the post office so we could send off the letter to the North Pole.

We didn’t have a “Disney Store” back in those days, but we did have Disneyland, the cartoons, the Mickey Mouse Club and the Wonderful World of Disney. I’m not sure where I first saw it, probably on Black and White TV or in what they used to call the “Dime Store." (That’s the old peoples version of the Mall.)

I prayed hard and long for it and when I went to bed on Christmas eve I was thinking about nothing but the prospect of having awesome toy for my very own. Would I really get it? Did Santa get my letter and if he did, would he remember me? Maybe my parents would give it to me as the most special Christmas gift ever. The excitement and anticipation were overwhelming. To this day I swear I heard the sound of Santa’s sleigh bells as I lay in my bed that night.

On Christmas morning my siblings and I woke up VERY early. My mom and Dad weren’t yet out of bed. I almost couldn’t contain myself. Would it be there? Would it be in one of those brightly colored packages wrapped up and sitting underneath the tree that I had seen the night before?

We children in our family weren’t allowed to go out to the room where the Christmas tree was until our parents were up and ready - I don’t know why - but they always got to go out to see the tree and the presents first. Finally, after what seemed like years, it was time. On the count of three we children all got to race out to the tree and see what Santa had left for us. One, two, three! We were off and racing down the hall. I can still hear my father shouting, to little avail, "Don't run." Oh yeah, Right. We were Christmas crazed, wound up and ready to roll kids. Nothing could slow us down.

Down the hall, through the kitchen, sock sliding on the hardwood floor that lay at the entrance to the family room, rounding the last wall and.... Wow - oh boy! - Joy of joys - I couldn’t believe my eyes - there it was - unwrapped and sitting right underneath the Christmas tree! I ran towards it and, yes, there was my very own name on a note that read, “TO DEAN, MERRY CHRISTMAS, LOVE SANTA.”

To this day I still have that toy. In fact, much to my wife's displeasure, he still sleeps - underneath our bed. He’s a little older and wiser now, he's gone through a lot over the years. He has been beaten up, chewed on, spewed on, and run through the washing machine a-zillion-and-one times. He’s also a little bit limp and quite ragged these days, a few fragile threads holding him together, not the fine specimen that he once was back in the sixties and he's missing a button or two. But I still keep care of him. After all, he was without a doubt my favorite Christmas gift ever. What is he? He is a genuine, stuffed-animal, DONALD DUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I grabbed him that Christmas day and hugged him with all my six year old might. I carried him with me and showed him to all of my relatives over the holiday vacation. And when it was time to go back to school in January, my mother had to talk me out of taking him to school and showing him off to everyone Let me tell you - this is no ordinary duck. No, Donald and I went through a lot together over the years to come. We lost our teeth together, we road our first bike together, went on vacations together. When my dad built a swimming pool at our house - Donald even took a swim. He was the first to get a ride when I got my drivers license and he wasn’t even too far away when I had my very first kiss. Although Donald is not as active in my life as he once was - our memories together are priceless treasures. He was a witness to the book of my childhood, there every step of the way, through my growing up, my coming of age - all the people, places and events - all of my hopes, fears and dreams - Donald Duck went through them all with me.

Funny that so many feelings and so much of my life can be wrapped up in a silly stuffed toy duck.

QUESTIONS:

Have you ever felt that way about something or someone? Like they were the greatest gift of all time and that you wanted to share them with anyone and everyone? Have you ever felt that way about Jesus Christ? That His gift of Himself to you, His gift of Grace, was so awesome and so special that you wanted to tell the whole world?

Matt. 1:23
“A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel” (which means, God is with us”).

Matt. 28: 6
“He is not here; he has been raised, just as he said.”

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him many not die but have eternal life.”