1961 - The first snow had fallen the night before. School was closed so Ira went into the back yard bundled in his snow suit, boots and gloves. While Rebecca was making lunch, he made a snow man almost as tall as he was. Mommy had given him an old scarf, charcoal briquettes for the eyes and mouth, a carrot for the nose and Daddy's old hat. But something was missing - arms! Ira walked over to the new Crabapple Tree that Daddy had just planted in the Spring and broke off 2 branches.
Rebecca called her son in the house and noticed the mangled tree. After lunch she went into the yard with the pruners, and tried to even out the branches so that Jacob wouldn't notice.
Later that same day, gathered in the living-room after dinner, Rebecca asked Ira "What do you want for Hanukkah this Year?" Ira got a big smile and replied "a talking 12 inch GI Joe with real hair, uniform, combat boots, and M1 rifle" (nothing Gay about that :-) a man with uniforms and boots.
Jacob, who had been engrossed in the Chicago Tribune, immediately sets it down on his lap and scolded "My son is not going to play with DOLLs!" Ira's chin practically hit the floor, he was devastated. He tried to explain that Hasbro's GI Joe was not a doll, it's an ACTION FIGURE, but once his father made up his mind, nothing could change it, not even his mother.
On the first night of Hanukkah after lighting the Menorah, Ira opened his first present. Rebecca just covered her face because she didn't want Ira see her laughing. It was an instruction book entitled "Proper Pruning of Fruit Trees."
There were seven other gifts, one for each night, but Ira only remembers the first Hanukkah gift of 1961.
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