Christmas confidential

Young Chang

A heartfelt bunch they are, these Newport-Mesa notables.

When asked about the best gifts they’ve ever received, the worst, what

they’ve always wanted but never owned and their happiest Christmas

memories, none resorted to talking about diamonds or generic sentiments

involving snowmen with carrots for noses.

Newport Beach socialite Eve Kornyei, Newport Beach’s recently

appointed mayor Tod Ridgeway, Newport-Mesa Unified school board member

Wendy Leece, Costa Mesa Councilmen Chris Steel and Gary Monahan, and

Costa Mesa Police Chief Dave Snowden each nearly brought this reporter to

tears with stories about the human side of the holidays.

“It’s not really focused around the presents,” said Monahan, a father

to four, about Christmas. “It’s more focused on making people happy.”

Snowden remembers when his parents bought him a bicycle when he was 12

and how the thought behind the gift continued to touch him through the

years.

“I came from a very humble family,” he said. “But one of the

Christmases that stands out in my mind is when my mom and dad saved up so

my brother and I could have bicycles. Getting older, I realized the

sacrifices they went through.”

That Christmas was spent in Montebello, where Snowden’s father worked

as a musician and a bandleader in the motion picture industry and his

mother took care of the three sons at home.

“So when my brother and I got two bicycles, it was pretty special,”

Snowden said.

Christmas is also about family for Kornyei, who expects her upcoming

Christmas to be the best ever. Her nephew, who has been stationed in

Afghanistan since the end of October as part of the Navy, will be

returning home to mark the close of his fourth year of service.

“It’ll be good to know he’s sleeping home and safe,” she said.

When pressed about the worst gift she’s ever received, Kornyei finally

obliged and admitted she once got a washer and dryer set for Christmas.

“It’s very practical, but it’s not the best present someone looks

forward to,” she said.

Snowden says the attacks on Sept. 11 would have to be his nightmare

Christmas gift.

“It’s not something that goes away just in December,” he said. “And

what makes it so bad for me is not the tragedy itself, but the number of

people who will be left without family to celebrate Christmas with.”

Leece agreed with Kornyei in choosing family members as best gifts.

The Newport-Mesa Unified school board member remembers a Christmas about

six years ago when her daughter Megan joined the family from boarding

school in Florida.

“We all met in Tucson, Ariz., where we have family there,” Leece said.

“It was a great reunion because we hadn’t seen her in quite awhile. All

the cousins were there, and her brother came from Kansas. It was quite a

thrill.”

When asked if she’s always wanted a particular something, Leece said

she’s pretty easy to please and doesn’t have any big wishes.

But the Costa Mesa resident did have an answer for least favorite gift

ideas.

“Candy -- because it’s just like, I want to eat it but I just can’t.

See’s [Candies] and all that stuff,” she said.

Ridgeway said his least exciting gift experience would have to be

getting clothes as a young boy.

“When I was a kid, clothes was not good,” he said.

What would be good?

“A red Ferrari,” he joked. “I’ve always asked for a red Ferrari for 25

years and never gotten one.”

But meeting his grandmother for the first time as a 5-year-old -- that

was a request more easily granted.

“I only had one grandma,” Ridgeway said. “She came in by train from

Milwaukee, so that was memorable. I loved her. She was just my grandma,

that’s all I can tell ya. And I didn’t know what grandmas looked like.”

He remembers she wore a black dress -- “She always wore the same

dress,” Ridgeway said -- and a big overcoat.

“And she gave me a hug,” the 56-year-old said. “That was what was

important.”

Steel, a self-proclaimed “nostalgic guy,” says the little things take

center stage in his memory.

Visiting Santa Claus in the department store in downtown Pittsburgh,

how cars back then needed chain tires to weather the snow, how his

brother received a phonograph one year and played holiday classics by

Bing Crosby and Gene Autry -- these little touches made lasting

impressions on Steel.

“And I have very, very fond memories of when it was snowing,” he said.

“I miss those days greatly.”

Monahan’s favorite Christmas would have to be the year his oldest

daughter first realized what Christmas was. She was 2 years old and

comprehended, six years ago, that Christmas was a specific time of year

for family members to come over, exchange presents and have fun.

“All the fun that was on her face,” Monahan remembered. “I think once

you have kids, your Christmas celebration is mainly focused around them

and keeping the family together and seeing the joy on their faces.”