A sad Christmas observation...

[panamag8or]

So, I'm on the way over to my parent's house, and it's about 12:00, putting it between presents and most people's lunch. I had to pass the entrances to about 25 residential streets, and not once did I see any kids playing in the yards or the street.

I guess no one got a big wheel, or a bike. No baseball gloves or footballs this year from Santa... did he have to lay off his sporting goods division, or did he just transfer all those elves to the electronics complex?

No kids meeting excitedly in the street to compare this year's hauls... a time-honored tradition that also determined a year's worth of neighborhood superiority, since the "winner" suddenly became everybody's new best friend.

This comes on the heels of my realization that out of 20 houses on my street, only 5 of us bothered to put up any lights this year.

However, my parents live outside of town, and most everyone out there had some kind of lights. There is even a "light war" between two houses. You can see one of them on some girl's flikr site. She took some amazing pictures.

I get to keep my christmas spirit, after all.

 

[$ally]

Our neighbor kids were outside playing together with their new toys at 6:30am!

 

[pennyseranade]

Wow...That IS really depressing. I'm sure there are no elves in line at the North Pole unemployment office. Santa just transferred the sporting goods dept. to electronics. Bah Humbug! Bring back the sporting goods.

 

[pretty faythe]

As a parental unit of two children, I just have to say that Santa cannot afford to bring new bikes, scooters, skateboards, bigwheels etc to said children each Christmas. However, both did recieve a ball in the sport they participate or are interested in.

Also take into consideration that the children that live in the neighborhoods may have been at their grandparents or other family members for Christmas (we had family come over in the morning and then we went to their house) or they may have been in back yards playing (this is also what my children were doing in early hours of the day). Also they may have just been haveing a grand time rough housing inside with extended family (yet again, something that was going on later in the day over at my sisters house).[huh]

 

[panamag8or]

As a parental unit of two children, I just have to say that Santa cannot afford to bring new bikes, scooters, skateboards, bigwheels etc to said children each Christmas. However, both did recieve a ball in the sport they participate or are interested in.

Also take into consideration that the children that live in the neighborhoods may have been at their grandparents or other family members for Christmas (we had family come over in the morning and then we went to their house) or they may have been in back yards playing (this is also what my children were doing in early hours of the day). Also they may have just been haveing a grand time rough housing inside with extended family (yet again, something that was going on later in the day over at my sisters house).[huh]

Hey, you keep your logic away from my grumpiness.








lol

 

[Viola]

There are no little children on my block. I think I AM the little child, in the eyes of some of the neighbors.

...

HEY WHERE'S MY BIG-WHEEL?!lol

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Here you go, Viola!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

[Viola]

Whee! God bless us, everyone! lol

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Kids outside skateboarding, on bikes and playing football. Lights up at most houses. [huh] Hand delivered cards and small gifts to neighbors.

 

[pretty faythe]

Hey, you keep your logic away from my grumpiness.








lol

lol Nope lol

 

[PeeWee]

I was thinking about that yesterday. I live in a big neighborhood with lots of kids. The weather was nice yesterday, and I went out in the morning and drove around to see look for myself. I saw one little girl out with her dad trying out a shiny pink bike with fringe sticking out of the grips. It looks like a ghost town. Sad was the first thing that came to mind.

 

[Marty M.]

Snowy days.

We had several inches of fluffy snow. It was a spectacular white Christmas. Our three kids attacked a park hill (2 blocks away) on their sleds with vigor. We saw a few other kids doing the same. This also gave my wife and I a chance to don our Sorel boots and go for a beautifully wintery white walk :eusa_clap .
Marty Mathis

 

[Hondo]

Sad Christmas "Child Killed While Riding New Bike"

This is a reason you don't see them, I feel for the parents,
and true, it was yesterday when life was much easier.
In my own opinion, theres too much TV, computer games, even
over weight kids, I am forever thankful I lived in a era when things were
simpler, outdoors, yet even out doors can pose a hazard, this little child should have had an adult near by

http://www.ksat.com/news/14922390/detail.html

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Give your kid a bike? Also give them a bike helmet.

bk

 

[ShooShooBaby]

Give your kid a bike? Also give them a bike helmet.

bk

fftopic: oh my gosh, agreed! i'm a cyclist and have had soooo many near misses! riding on the sidewalk isn't necessarily much safer, with driveways and streets to cross and such. all my friends ride for transportation as well, and many have had bad falls due to things as simple as fender malfunctions or wet leaves on the ground. the boyfriend has fallen on his head and cracked his helmet 3 times in the past few years with nary a concussion. who knows where he'd be if he hadn't been wearing one. helmets are so important.


yesterday we got a little snow - not enough to stick, but huge flakes like we rarely see here. there aren't many kids in my neighborhood as it is, but there was one boy racing around his yard, in shorts, on a skateboard, yelling to his family about the snow. it was really cute!

as a kid we played outdoors on christmas if we got outdoor-type gifts. things like bikes were definitely not in the cards for us often, though. and i think both of us spent more time inside with our noses buried in books anyway

 

[dhermann1]

Driving up through Riverdale in the Bronx yesterday afternoon, we saw a young lad of about 9 carrying a huge brand new remote control car with a huge glowing grin on his face, accompanied by his dad. They were obviously looking for a patch of pavement to try 'er out on. It was a nice Christmas image. As we got to The Bronx there was the last little nasty vestiges of the snow/slush/frozen crap we had the other day in New York. I guess that's as close to a white Christmas as we could expect. But it was a nice holiday anyway.

 

[Foofoogal]

I am forever thankful I lived in a era when things were
simpler, outdoors,

Lord, you and me both. Made me sick that this year as a grandparent had to buy electronics as to not poison them. That and Hannah everything and I discovered Webkins which are basically stuffed animals that don't have anything poison hopefully. Oh, and clothing.
I even saw they recalled a CSI kit for kids (why I don't know) that had asbestos as part of the ink part.

 

[Bill Taylor]

A favorite Christmas time story. A few years ago, after our sons and grandsons were grown, we bought a big new TV as a "house present". After unpacking it, I put the big cardboard box in the front yard to break down later. Our two nextdoor neighbor boys, about 5 and 7, were eyeing the box, so I asked them if they "needed" it. Oh yes they did!

I finally had to go get my wife to come out with me and watch them. First, the box was a car; one riding, one pushing. Then it was a tank. Last I saw, they had hooked it up to their wagon and were pulling the box around the yard. It was a fun watch.

So rather than expensive gifts, maybe all the children really want and need is just a big cardboard box. The imagination of children is truly wonderful.

Fortunately, now we have young kids around again; our three great grandchildren.

Bill

 

[Nashoba]

I saw this also beginning some years ago with halloween as for some reason kids just don't trick or treat in neighborhoods anymore, they go to the *cringe* malls. Over the years I've seen it with Christmas too, at least where we were in Cali...here in TN in our little subdivision corner of the world we can't keep 'em out of the street. It's a quiet neighborhood with alot of young families and as we don't *have* sidewalks, the kids are always in the street playing. It always makes me smile to hear them yell CAR as someone turns the corner, and people in our neighborhood are really good about not speed demoning through the streets because we have a lot of kids. And they all know my dogs because they all yell "Hi Maverick, Hi Lady!" as they walk by and Mav starts barking at them in the windows.
They were out in full force on Christmas and came running up to us to pet the dogs when we went out for a walk.
But then I live in an area where parents aren't too paranoid to let their kids play in the streets with the older kids as supervision, or sitting on the porch to watch them.

 

[Lincsong]

Give your kid a bike? Also give them a bike helmet.

bk

Well, oh nothing. lol