One Christmas when I was three or four, we spent at my Grandmother Hunt's. She of the pomegranate trees and rules about playing with children in her trailer park that got me my pretend spanking. She who made the best popcorn balls in the world. As usual when the entire family gathered, my parents and I stayed in the spare bedroom and my Uncle Leland and Aunt Lena stayed in the tank house.As usual, since I was the only child in the family, most of the presents under the tree were for me. Dolls. Tea sets. Children's books. Dresses. Balloon glue (where you blow up a clump of plastic gel and have a longer lasting bubble). And, from my Uncle Leland (who did not understand about children and humor), marked as from Santa Claus, a bundle of switches. When it came time to pack up the loot to leave, my parents told me to go get my presents, and all I brought to the car was the switches. Uncle Leland was so upset that he broke the switches right there and then. I understand he never forgot what he had done. And neither did I.
*Things have changed so much since I was a child that when I did a Google Image search for a bundle of switches, this is what turned up. Page after page of variations of this. No matter how I worded it, even including variations of spank or Santa or naughty. To get the other image, I had to ask for a bundle of twigs.
9 comments:
Shame on Google. A bundle of switches...this world sure has changed, huh J?
Geez! Temper, temper!
Thanks for your comment back at my place which led me here. You have a wonderful blog!
Oh, and I remember that balloon glue from my youth as well - I believe its even making a come-back!
We never received switches for Christmas, but my mother kept one in the kitchen. She didn't use it very often, but we were always mindful of its prsence.
Your posts have a way of dredging up memories! :)
This search might get you closer -- in a general sense anyway.
spank +switches
AC, naw. That got me one picture of a big vase with switches in it titled "switches used to spank women" but not only wasn't it a bundle, it was so small the switches melded with the flowers behind them and just look like flowers. And, it was copyrighted.
All the rest of the pictures on that page were electronic switches.
I never knew it was called balloon glue. We just called it "that rubbery stuff you can stick a straw in a blow a bubble with."
I'm curious about one thing, though, when you went to leave why did you only pick up the switches and leave the other toys? Were you being a wise-ass or did you really take it seriously as a gift?
Pseub,
That young is too young to be a wise ass. I thought that since that was what Santa gave me, that's all I deserved.
A child's mind is so different from an adults -- I was hardly spanked at all as a child, had at that point maybe been spanked twice and I knew my father didn't approve or allow it -- but to a child, Santa is like God -- he knows if you're bad and he judges and delivers you for punishment.
Post a Comment