‘What did you say you got?’

Christmas comes but once a year and someone once remarked, if there wasn’t a Christmas, it would have to be invented. It’s the time of year that should make bitter people sweet. Most of us, except an occasional Scrooge, are in a festive mood.

I remember the Great Depression Christmas of 1932, when my sister Mary and I didn’t even receive a measly penny in out stockings. That Christmas, when I was eight years old, is my most memorable Christmas. And you might say it left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Returning to my second grade Lincoln Elementary School class on the East Side after New Year’s was about to become a life changing experience. Sitting in my seat next to my buddy Frank, in a class of 40 students, was about to cause little “Mikey” some big problems.

Just as the teacher was about to call the class to attention, Frank asked me, “Mike, what did get in your stocking for Christmas?” I replied “S___!” He burst out into laughter. She commanded him to come to the front of the class. She asked him, “Why are you laughing?” “Because of what Mike LaCivita just told me.” He then related what I had said, word for word, to the entire class. At that moment, my best friend became my worst enemy.

Frank was sent back to his seat and I was marched down the hall by the teacher. As one of the top students, I had never been in trouble. The roof was about to fall in.

We turned into the big teacher’s restroom. She proceeded to the white porcelain sink and turned on the steaming hot gray water. She said, “You put that hot water on your tongue along with that bar of Lava soap and wash out your filthy tongue.” I replied, “I don’t know how!” She said, “If you don’t, I will!” I promptly learned, and have never forgotten one of my life’s most valuable lessons.

Michael J. LaCivita is a Youngstown retiree and inductee in the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame and Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.