Christmas, 1976

I'll never ever forget that Christmas. Was taking guitar lessons and I happened to offhandedly tell mom that the teacher was selling the kind of guitar that I wanted. Never had any idea that she would get it! She told me later that as soon as I told her that, she called up the teacher and ordered it, and he said he would like to see my face when I saw it. Was the Christmas of 1976. My brother, his girlfriend, and I slept on the floor Christmas Eve in front of the Christmas tree. On Christmas morning, my brother left the house and came in carrying the guitar. I remember that the guitar came wrapped in plastic inside it's hard shell case. It was a black Ibanez Les Paul copy that may have been about $350. (The same guitar is now on EBay for about double that price). That morning, my brother said (mimicking me), "look at the black next to the white on the frets." Was sad that night when he left to sleep at his girlfriend's. I remember he came to my room Christmas night before leaving and asked if I was happy (about the guitar). It was a sad feeling because the wonder of the day was over, and my brother and his girlfriend were leaving. I banged that guitar up pretty good (not sure how, but I managed to lose the white switch piece attached to the switch that changed the pickups) and ended up selling it for $50. A wonderful Christmas!