As a little kid, very few experiences compare to Christmas morning. The excitement and rush of running down the stairs to see that Santa had visited overnight was truly overwhelming. Presents surrounded the tree, with so many different types of wrapping paper filled the once empty floor. As a farm kid, waking up early was never a problem, especially on Christmas morning.
Many of us realize that not everyone has the same upbringing. However, one thing we have in common is the love for tractors starting at a young age. Whether it started due to the admiration from watching mom and dad drive the tractor or merely gazing at the monstrous beast. Some kids grow up playing with tractors, the lucky ones still do.
As a farm kid, I still remember getting my first toy tractor, it was a John Deere. Growing up with only sisters, I would make our barbies drive the tractors along with the horses that I accumulated over the years. I was just 4 years old. My sisters and I played with it for hours. We didn’t care what brand or how new it was, my dad always said the best kind of tractor was a running one.
On the other hand, my husband doesn’t remember receiving his first tractor, he had them for a long as he could remember. It started off with tractors and combines but then the “farming” operation expanded and they needed semis to haul the load to the elevator (dining room floor). They had all they needed in that operation, two happy little boys doing what their daddy did, farming. Who knew that would give light into the future.
Some tractors were for playing, other tractors were for looking. My grandparents had – and still do – old tractors in their original casing. For example, one of the tractors my grandpa has in the box is a small replica of the first tractor he ever owned — a 1953 Ford tractor. No matter what the age, tractors have a special meaning to us all.
Being a farm kid during Christmas is truly the best. From playing farm on the carpet to getting a sprayer to complete the collection or adding another black Angus to complete the herd, so many memories are made.
Even though our tractors either got handed down to younger cousins or still sit on the bookshelves on proud display, we will forever be appreciative for the experiences. Flash forward twenty years, we are operating life-sized versions of what we grew up playing with. The real life farming operation takes much more than crawling over to the kitchen floor to dump the “harvested” grain, but we wouldn’t change it for the world. We wouldn’t give up Christmas on the farm for anything.
