Another jerk child

Last week I wrote about children’s letters to Santa, and I mentioned about what a little jerk of a kid I was on one particular Christmas. I got a fantastic email from a woman named Karen McKellips:

I can relate to today’s column. I, too, was a jerk as a child who wanted “boys’ toys” for Christmas but always got dolls. At about age 5, when at Grandmother’s house my two boy cousins unwrapped the requested b.b. guns and I a stupid doll, I promptly kicked over the Christmas tree during my tantrum. My aunt gave me my cousin’s “last year’s gun” to calm me down. I have the picture on display today of the 3 of us posing with our weapons. (I am 70 years old.) Although he wasn’t present when this event occurred, Fred Self, of Fred’s Signs, who painted Santa’s Official Mailbox, was only a couple of blocks away. He and I have known each other since birth, both being natives of Thomas, Oklahoma.