A Walt Disney Christmas Story

Above image from Vintage Disney Collectibles.

Author Jim Korkis shares a story about the young Walter Disney and a Christmas present that changed his life in a way that no one could foresee. (This is not in his book THE VAULT OF WALT.)

It all starts with Walt's paper route:

"Walt never forgot his days as a newsboy and some of those memories weren't always pleasant ones ....

"Young Walt's route was in a fairly wealthy neighborhood. Those folks were certainly much better off financially than the Disney family at the time. Walt would start out at 3:30 a.m. Some of the kids in the neighborhood had wonderful toys and often they would leave them out on the porch after playing with them the previous evening.

"Walt didn't have any toys. If he got a top or marbles or something, it was a big deal. Everything his parents gave him was something practical like underwear or a winter jacket. His older brother Roy was the one who set aside some extra money from his job so that Walt and his younger sister Ruth would always get some small toy for Christmas.

"Anyway, there would be kids' toys out on these big porches. At 4 a.m., in the dark, Walt would put his paper bag down and go up and play with these wind-up trains and things. He'd sit there and play all alone with them. One time he came to a porch and there were some toys, as well as a box of half-eaten candy. So he sat there and ate some of the half-eaten candy and played with the toys."

The rest of the story, which goes on to tell about that particular present that would change his life, is here.