Christ First Forum

by **Remnant** » 13 Dec 2010, 19:34

The Red Ryder BB Gun
By Frank Holmes

One of my fondest and memorable Christmas's was when I was six years old. We had moved from Georgia to Grapevine Texas, where my father had been hired as an Iron worker. We lived there for about a year and a half.

My father had been told that there was an old ranch house for rent out in the country where they raised cattle. It seemed to be in the middle of no where. The ranch used to be owned by a silent movie cowboy star named Tom Mix. It was still in operation with cattle, horses and a lots of grazing land.
To say the least, I was in cowboy heaven. My favorite cowboys stars were Roy Rodgers, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Audry, Lash Larue, Johnny Mack Brown and Bill Elliot who played Red Ryder and his sidekick was little Beaver, Played by Robert Blake.

It was not long before it was winter and living in that old Ranch house was cozy and fun. Myself and two other brothers loved it. It was a dream come true.

Along came Christmas and in those days everything was ordered from catalogs. We would go through the catalogs and circle the toys or things that we thought was possible to have. We were your typical family in the late forties and early fifties. Just getting by. I knew that getting a Red Ryder BB gun was almost impossible.

Come Christmas morning, I went into the room were we always gathered, around or near the pot belly wooden stove. My brothers and I stood there very patiently to see what Mama and Daddy had gotten us for Christmas. It was usually one toy a piece and that was it. We usually got a box of swell bubble gum, that lasted us until summer. I am the middle boy and my older brother was eight and my little brother was four. Well, My older brother got a Red Ryder BB gun and my heart dropped, because I knew that I would not get one because my mother and father usually bought things for the older boy and he would pass it down. My father went and got a package under the tree and sure enough it was a Red Ryder bb Gun. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I could play cowboys and Indians for real on a cowboy horse ranch. Of course my younger brother did not get a BB gun, for he was too young.

Not long after Christmas had passed, I was target practicing shooting a the garbage cans in the back of the house and they sit right in front of the outhouse. Well, my mother steps out, just as I shot and the BB ricochet and hit my mother in the chin. My Mother saved my little hiney by never telling my dad.

Well, winter was coming to an end and the prairie grass was dead and very dry. My brothers and I decided to go out in to the fields with firecrackers and a box of stove matches. Of course every where I went, I had my trusty Red Ryder, just in case a Jack Rabbit showed up. Our father had warned us not to go into the fields with matches and firecrackers, but boys will be boys. I remember striking the match as my brother held the firecracker and in haste I lit the firecracker and threw the match down. Then we all ran to keep from being hit by the small explosion.
The match hit the ground and we heard a sound unfamiliar to us all. Whoosh and the prairie grass caught on fire and begun to spread like wildfire. We ran back to the ranch house and by time we got there the pastures were on fire as far as you could see.

When the firetrucks and ranchers from the surrounding areas got the fire out and under control, we had burned up a hundred acres of grazing land. As soon as my father got home, he began the tell me what happen boys and of course we all had our little stories. I was very quite and when it came my turn, my father asked me if I had been in on it and I began to studder and stammer. He said, now don't you lie to me boy. Well I knew when he said that he knew what happen. Somehow he knew, I don't know how but he always knew. Before I could get another word out of my mouth, he pulled from behind his back my trusty Red Ryder BB gun that I had left on the ground in the field. The stock had been burned off of it and the barrel was reddish brown from the fire. We were now officially found out.

Not only did my father give us all the spankings of our lives but my Red Ryder BB Gun was ruined. That memory will forever be in my mind. I thought about that Red Ryder BB gun on into my later years and finally about 10 years ago, I bought me another Red Ryder BB Gun and it now hangs in our den with a Red Ryder BB gun sign over it. On display for all to see and to remind me of that special Christmas 60 years ago.

What are some your Christmas memories? Please share them!

by **AHeartofJoye** » 14 Dec 2010, 07:21

What a great idea! - Thank you brother Frank for sharing your sweet memories with others here!

by **sacredvoyage** » 14 Feb 2011, 03:55

Hey u have added great tips..

Thanks for sharing the post....

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