1968 LEMON PEELER Schwinn Sting-Ray Krate. The best Christmas gift ever. (Photo from eBay listing)
The best Christmas gift ever
By Scott White
Managing Editor
Do you have a favorite Christmas or Chanukah gift? One that, even today, you really can’t believe Santa brought you . . . but did, despite knowing neither your parents nor Santa would come through on Christmas morning? You know, the kind of present like the Red Ryder BB gun Ralphie set his eternal hopes on in the movie A Christmas Story?
I remember mine, vividly.
And, as a 9-year-old kid in 1968, who, in the days before ever-present parental surveillance and the mind-numbing of the pediatric digital age and who spent all his time outside when not sleeping or in school, was most certainly on the naughty list—like, permanently.
That was me, third grade Scott. And no amount of last-second extra chores or going a whole month with no visit to the principal’s office was going to be enough to warrant seeing THE gift under my tree. Perhaps I did enough to avoid the dreaded “all clothes” Christmas with, maybe, a few Matchbox cars, a new baseball glove, maybe a kid’s Kentucky jersey . . . tops.
But my Holy Grail was decidedly beyond reach. What was my pole star?
The Schwinn Sting-Ray Krate bicycle.
Schwinn’s website describes the iconic bike this way: “For many children living in America in the 1960s and 1970s, their first taste of freedom and adventure came on the wheels of a bicycle. In the days when motorcycles, muscle cars and drag racers filled every kid with the need for speed, the bicycle was their answer. And the bike of choice? The Schwinn Sting-Ray. The coolest, most coveted of the Sting-Rays was the Krate, a bike name that puts a smile on the face of those who once owned this iconic ride.”
Just reading that description makes me feel 9 again . . . which, in my case, was 57 years ago.
If you are my age and grew up in the United States, then you’ll recognize the photo . . . what a beauty. Banana sparkly vinyl seat with a metal badge saying “Sting-Ray”, the “Lemon Peeler color (or, the Orange Krate or Green Apple Krate), a sissy bar (a chrome u-shaped tube is attached to the rear that allowed the rider or passenger to recline against), ape handle bars, chrome extended front fork, chrome fenders, a 20-inch slick back tire and 16-inch front tire, both with Sting-Ray blazoned on their rim-side.
And on Dec. 24, 1968, it was all I thought about, all I wanted, and I’d of never claimed to be sick on Sunday mornings ever, ever, ever.
Christmas morning dawned. My mother, who was raised in a coal camp town in Eastern Kentucky, insisted my kid sister Marianne and I eat a big breakfast before checking out what Santa left . . . I’m convinced it was some form of torture.
She and Dad went first, made a big deal of getting the camera ready, putting on a Christmas record, and then . . . “Come on in kids, Santa’s been here!”
We ran in, hellbent for the tree. Santa’s gifts were always unwrapped. Quick scan. No Schwinn Sting-Ray Krate. Knew it.
Being 9, I gave in to the excitement of new toys, being with my parents and sister. When it was all over, all the presents had been opened, Marianne cooing over a new doll, Dad letting a cuss of glee peep out when he opened some cool schwag with “UK” on it or a new golf club, Mom crying over whatever sweet gift Dad had given her, sinking into the post-high of a month of waiting, Mom saying, “Hey Jake, see if anything fell off Santa’s sleigh outside.” Dad, “Put on some shoes, and I’ll go look with you.”
Suddenly, a glimmer of hope . . . could there really be something out there?
I pulled on my boots, opened the door and somehow Mom had gotten outside and was holding a camera. Sitting upright on its kickstand, it really was . . . a Lemon Peeler Schwinn Sting-Ray Krate.
That is the all-time best Christmas gift I ever received.
Now, every Christmas, I think about that bike. It reminds me of what I always felt growing up until now: that bike, and in so many, many more significant ways, taught me how blessed I was with parents who just loved me, and did so much to help make my dreams come true.
Merry Christmas, Mommy and Daddy. I miss you and love you so much. Wish you were here.
Editor’s Note: Please send us a letter or email telling us about the best or most meaningful gift you received at Christmas or Chanukah, and we will publish what we can. Please keep the submissions to 250 words.