Brack: On chemistry sets, fire trucks, bicycles and family love

Seeing kids open Christmas gifts makes one recall favorite presents received in years gone by.

In the days before everything electronic, one holiday brought a Hot Wheels race track. Another year, Santa apparently sent a BB gun first to a grandfather to do something that made it impossible to shoot actual BBs. Then there was the chemistry set used unsuccessfully to concoct a special formula to blow up things.

Thinking back to all sorts of gifts (including ugly sweaters) brings a series of chuckles and fond memories.

S.C. House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope, R-York, particularly recalls getting Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, which he says were a lot sturdier than the ones offered now: “You could take out your aggression on your siblings and ‘knock their block off’ without getting a beating from your parents,” he said. “Considering this was the era of Jarts (lawn darts) and BB-gun and bottle rocket fights, my parents were probably relieved we were playing Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots – even though we were in the house making noise. At least no one had to go to the emergency room!”

Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Hutto, has a vivid Southern holiday favorite: “Mine was getting a shotgun at Christmas when I was 12 and killing a deer that afternoon.”

Former state Rep. Jimmy Bailey of Charleston said his favorite Christmas memory was of providing presents to youths who might not otherwise have gotten gifts. “Several years ago, my son was approached by a lady who told him she and her children experienced holiday cheer because of our gifts,” Bailey said. “So my favorite gift is seeing the joy of these families.”

Charleston philanthropist Linda Ketner says she loved the red bike with training wheels she got when she was about 5: “I lost my mind! It represented that I was a ‘big girl,’ and it represented freedom and adventure,” she said. “We lived in a very small town at that point, with lots of dirt roads, few drivers and no predators. Once those wheels were off, I probably clocked 20,000 miles on that bike in the first year!”

Easley pundit Chip Felkel remembers a drum set he received as a boy in Kingstree. For former Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, the magic gift was a harmonica he got in first grade that he says “led to my musical ‘career.’”

For Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie, holiday memories are filled with love and joy from his grandmother’s home in Belton: “One year, Christmas Day was very cold, and that night as I lay under a big warm quilt trying to get to sleep in a house full of family and joy, I heard a train whistle echoing through the rolling hills of the Piedmont. I told myself at that moment as a child that my grandmother’s house was the absolute most magical place for Christmas. That was more than half a century ago, and I still feel that way today.”

Incoming Charleston City Council member Leslie Skardon cherishes the memory of a pink-and-white bean bag chair she got when she was 11: “To this day, it serves as a reminder of how engaged my grandparents were in my life, how I have always enjoyed a book and nature, and the joy of being a 13-year old girl dancing with friends.”

Former Greenwood editor Richard Whiting also recalled a family treasure: “One of the greatest gifts was in 1966 when my dad returned from his tour of duty in Thailand.”

Fair elections advocate Lynn Teague of Columbia remembers a special Madam Alexander doll she got when 4. “I only learned later that my mother had to save money for quite a while to buy her. After years of doll tea parties and a lot of quality time together, Suzie retired, but she sits even now in my bedroom, a reminder of the best of my childhood and my mother’s love.”

Former Lancaster County Administrator Steve Willis apparently had an itch to be a volunteer firefighter when he was about the same age: “My grandmother got me a toy red fire truck that connected to a garden hose and squirted water from the hoses on the truck,” he recalled. “Obviously having such a neat toy meant my friends and I needed things to extinguish.

“For a while, my grandmother’s backyard consisted of small burnt areas where we extinguished countless grass fires, toy soldiers, old plastic cars and other miscellaneous items that were sacrificed to the fire gods.”

Here’s to a happy holiday season – and a better 2026.

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.