The Whites Party Photos and also When exactly did JBR die??

[ZoriahNZ]

My son's favorite colour is pink. He gets some ribbing at school for his affinity to the shade but is mature enough to just shrug it off as people being narrow-minded with regard to gender roles and associations.

Historically the associated preferences were even reversed for a time prior to 1940s, with pale blue being seen as the more feminine and dainty colour vs pink.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/10/pink-used-common-color-boys-blue-girls/

To me the colour on JBR's bike looks more blue-green, like a metallic teal. While it's true her favourite colour was said to be pink, I don't think a different coloured bike is out of the question. JR's account of the gift giving plans and the photo record seems to contradict and be more credible than BR's more recent story as presented on Dr. Phil.

 

[icedtea4me]

He didn't say he "remembered getting a bike". He said "I remember we all got bikes". Those are two different things.

Did I say Burke said "I remembered getting a bike", yes or no?

I remember getting a bike for my birthday when I was about 5. I think it snowed and I couldn't ride it, at least thats what I remember. I can tell you with 100% certainty that nobody else in my family got a bike that day.

Gosh, golly, gee. No one else in your family received a bike on your birthday. Do you have anything else obvious to share, like water is wet?

 

[TeaTime]

The point about the bike is that BR didn't get one, but told us that when he took a sneak peek before going to wake his parents, he saw 'new bikes' and got very excited about it. He probably thought PR's bike was for him or maybe even the 'blue bike'. Bottom line, he may have jumped to one of the bikes all excited and happy only to be told, "wait, read the card, who is it for?"

Huge disappointment and there is the sister with her new bike whining about wanting to go outside and ride it right away. BR is more concerned about opening ALL the gifts, he is looking for his "wow!" gift. He was so interested in his gifts that he opened the ones stored away for his birthday.

What was he looking for? What was it that he wanted and didn't get? In one of his interviews he said to either LE or the child psychologist that the only time he got mad with his parents is when they didn't buy him expensive gifts.

The bike in the WC is his from when he was much younger IIRC, PR called it the
Batman bike".

I think he was sorely disappointed about the new bike not being for him. Maybe he was promised a reward of a 'big boy' bike if he behaved and he tried really hard to behave and thought he was being acknowledged. Alas, the bike was not for him. Neither of them were. SHE got a bike but not him. I can hear the whining and crying from here.

 

[HarmonyE.]

The bike in the WC is his from when he was much younger IIRC, PR called it the
Batman bike".

Ironic that his sister's body ended up in that small space with the Batman bike. Probably just a coincidence...maybe.

 

[ZoriahNZ]

Didn't Burke get a nintendo 64 that year? Wouldn't that be a 'wow' gift?

 

[DrollForeignFaction]

For what little it's worth, on the subject of what Burke would or would not remember about getting a bike on Christmas day 1996...

I'm currently 27 - slightly younger than Burke - and I got a bike for Christmas around the same age he would have. Here's what I remember:
The bike was a purple mountain bike with pink brake cords and black handlebars. I tried to ride it around the block that afternoon but there was too much snow. I'd probably recognize the brand name if I saw it but it doesn't immediately come to mind. Something that I saw before Christmas at Walmart. I think it started with an H.

In addition to the bike I got:
- a print of the Mona Lisa. I mentioned to my mother that I was very interested in the painting when she read my report card for art class a month or two before Christmas. We'd had a unit on the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci and Mr. G put a Mona Lisa sticker on the report.
- a general science kit with a crappy microscope and slides in a blue plastic case that snapped shut, and another kit for growing crystals that I never got right.
- a large picture book I felt I was too old for (though it was very beautiful) depicting The Nutcracker
- a Slinky

I woke up with a little stomachache and spent most of the morning after tearing through my presents lying on the couch. I tried to read The Wind In The Willows but I found it hard to concentrate and napped a bit. I fiddled with the Slinky. This was on TV at some point: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_and_Frosty's_Christmas_in_July
It was my least favorite of the three "Rudolph" movies so I wasn't very excited.

I was wearing an oversized yellow T-shirt with writing on it and pajama pants that morning. On Christmas Eve right before bed I had talked to my mother about my grandfather. He served in the Coast Guard during WWII and that night I decided I would go into the Coast Guard too! (Never happened.)

What I don't remember:
My age
The year
What we ate that day
Any of my other presents
Anything more specific than what I described above

Of course, my sibling hadn't been brutally murdered in my home that Christmas so I don't know if my memory would have been sharper in that case. I'm also pretty sure that if I had gotten an N64 for Christmas (my cousin had it, I really wanted one), that would have been a bigger deal than a bike. But I didn't get one so we'll never know!

 

[andreww]

Did I say Burke said "I remembered getting a bike", yes or no?



Gosh, golly, gee. No one else in your family received a bike on your birthday. Do you have anything else obvious to share, like water is wet?

You are starting to become a major pain in the *advertiser censored*.

You said "maybe Burke got the bike in 1995"

I said "he said we all got bikes"

So if he had got a bike in 1995, why would he remember all of them getting bikes? Because they didn't. The all got bikes EXCEPT BURKE! Whats so hard to understand about that?


Frankly your "what if's" and "maybe this or thats" are becoming eerily similar to the type of debates offered by many IDI supporters that have long since been booted from this place. Please stop arguing against fact and logic with fairytales. Everything Burke said on that show was for a reason. Do you honestly think LW would let him purposely spout off about untruths unless there was a freaking reason? Do you think he would just let that whole bit about the flashlight slide if it was a mistake? We all know Burke didn't get a bike. We all know the Ramsey's all denied any knowledge of that flashlight. Now in a LW produced special, that all changes? Give your head a shake and stop being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.

 

[andreww]

My theory is that the parents blamed eachother for not supervising the children after they returned home. John had probably gone to bed, leaving Patsy to finish the last minute packing for the trip the following day.

I think that is probably true. John went to bed, Patsy gets stuff ready upstairs, and the kids are left to their own devices downstairs.

 

[HarmonyE.]

Didn't Burke get a nintendo 64 that year? Wouldn't that be a 'wow' gift?

Yes, most gaming kids that year were on tenderhooks that year hoping their parents would score one for them and would have been thrilled to see one under the tree. They were hard to get and prices were ridiculous. But I suspect Burke assumed he would be getting one, materially spoiled rich boy that he was.

During one of the LE interviews - I think it was the '98 one - didn't Burke say the only thing that made him angry (upset? I can't recall and don't have time to look it up) was when his parents didn't get him expensive gifts? Maybe he thought it was not fair that his sister and mom got new bikes when he didn't. Especially since John says "We were giving Burke a bike" but for some unexplained reason, not that year.

 

[Miz Adventure]

For what it's worth I wouldn't think that Burke wouldn't have been too bothered that JBR got a bike. He would have already have one. There's no point in buying a child another bike until he outgrows his present one.

He seemed thrilled with his Nintendo game, which is most likely what he asked his parents for.

 

[andreww]

For what it's worth I wouldn't think that Burke wouldn't have been too bothered that JBR got a bike. He would have already have one. There's no point in buying a child another bike until he outgrows his present one.

He seemed thrilled with his Nintendo game, which is most likely what he asked his parents for.

Wouldn't be so sure of that. Burke probably got a bike the same time as JB, at 5 or 6 years old. I could see him being more than ready for a new one at the rate he was growing.

 

[HarmonyE.]

For what it's worth I wouldn't think that Burke wouldn't have been too bothered that JBR got a bike. He would have already have one. There's no point in buying a child another bike until he outgrows his present one.

I don't disagree, but there are a couple of potential red flags here. One is that John made that odd comment that they were buying him one, but not that year. Why not just say he didn't need a new bike rather than make that much more cryptic comment? And then we have Burke in the DP interview claiming they all got bikes that year. I'm convinced the DP interview was scripted to a large extent and Burke likely planned on implying he got a bike that Christmas too. Why?

Burke had every reason to be jealous of his charming, favored sister. Even if he didn't need a bike, I can see him grousing about the fact that she got something nice that he didn't. Maybe to the point that it made him angry. And he did say that sort of thing made him angry....

 

[flourish]

You are starting to become a major pain in the *advertiser censored*.

You said "maybe Burke got the bike in 1995"

I said "he said we all got bikes"

So if he had got a bike in 1995, why would he remember all of them getting bikes? Because they didn't. The all got bikes EXCEPT BURKE! Whats so hard to understand about that?


Frankly your "what if's" and "maybe this or thats" are becoming eerily similar to the type of debates offered by many IDI supporters that have long since been booted from this place. Please stop arguing against fact and logic with fairytales. Everything Burke said on that show was for a reason. Do you honestly think LW would let him purposely spout off about untruths unless there was a freaking reason? Do you think he would just let that whole bit about the flashlight slide if it was a mistake? We all know Burke didn't get a bike. We all know the Ramsey's all denied any knowledge of that flashlight. Now in a LW produced special, that all changes? Give your head a shake and stop being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative.

Do kids like bikes yes or no?

Lol

 

[Miz Adventure]

Maybe they intended to buy Burke a new bike on his birthday, when they thought he would definitely have outgrown his present one by then?

 

[Tadpole12]

BR Bday
Jan 27

 

[Userid]

For what little it's worth, on the subject of what Burke would or would not remember about getting a bike on Christmas day 1996...

I'm currently 27 - slightly younger than Burke - and I got a bike for Christmas around the same age he would have. Here's what I remember:
The bike was a purple mountain bike with pink brake cords and black handlebars. I tried to ride it around the block that afternoon but there was too much snow. I'd probably recognize the brand name if I saw it but it doesn't immediately come to mind. Something that I saw before Christmas at Walmart. I think it started with an H.

In addition to the bike I got:
- a print of the Mona Lisa. I mentioned to my mother that I was very interested in the painting when she read my report card for art class a month or two before Christmas. We'd had a unit on the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci and Mr. G put a Mona Lisa sticker on the report.
- a general science kit with a crappy microscope and slides in a blue plastic case that snapped shut, and another kit for growing crystals that I never got right.
- a large picture book I felt I was too old for (though it was very beautiful) depicting The Nutcracker
- a Slinky

I woke up with a little stomachache and spent most of the morning after tearing through my presents lying on the couch. I tried to read The Wind In The Willows but I found it hard to concentrate and napped a bit. I fiddled with the Slinky. This was on TV at some point: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_and_Frosty's_Christmas_in_July
It was my least favorite of the three "Rudolph" movies so I wasn't very excited.

I was wearing an oversized yellow T-shirt with writing on it and pajama pants that morning. On Christmas Eve right before bed I had talked to my mother about my grandfather. He served in the Coast Guard during WWII and that night I decided I would go into the Coast Guard too! (Never happened.)

What I don't remember:
My age
The year
What we ate that day
Any of my other presents
Anything more specific than what I described above

Of course, my sibling hadn't been brutally murdered in my home that Christmas so I don't know if my memory would have been sharper in that case. I'm also pretty sure that if I had gotten an N64 for Christmas (my cousin had it, I really wanted one), that would have been a bigger deal than a bike. But I didn't get one so we'll never know!

Wind in the Willows -- fantastic book. Although, of course I'd say that, being a Syd Barrett fan. Anyways...

Yeah, I can barely remember my Christmas over the years; just what I got, but like you, I can't remember the exact year. I remember the best gift I got was a guitar when I was young -- maybe around 8 -- which I found before Christmas (at the time, I remember being so excited, but then feeling sad that I found it beforehand). What I ate that year, and more importantly, what my other family members received, I have absolutely no clue at all. I also have no idea what else I got that year, or even where we celebrated Christmas dinner (it usually rotated between my Uncle's houses). So I agree, BR could have very easily mis-remembered.

 

[Userid]

The point about the bike is that BR didn't get one, but told us that when he took a sneak peek before going to wake his parents, he saw 'new bikes' and got very excited about it. He probably thought PR's bike was for him or maybe even the 'blue bike'. Bottom line, he may have jumped to one of the bikes all excited and happy only to be told, "wait, read the card, who is it for?"

Huge disappointment and there is the sister with her new bike whining about wanting to go outside and ride it right away. BR is more concerned about opening ALL the gifts, he is looking for his "wow!" gift. He was so interested in his gifts that he opened the ones stored away for his birthday.

What was he looking for? What was it that he wanted and didn't get? In one of his interviews he said to either LE or the child psychologist that the only time he got mad with his parents is when they didn't buy him expensive gifts.

The bike in the WC is his from when he was much younger IIRC, PR called it the
Batman bike".

I think he was sorely disappointed about the new bike not being for him. Maybe he was promised a reward of a 'big boy' bike if he behaved and he tried really hard to behave and thought he was being acknowledged. Alas, the bike was not for him. Neither of them were. SHE got a bike but not him. I can hear the whining and crying from here.

In regard to the bolded, is that definitively what those gifts were for, that were in the wine cellar? Or is that speculation? It's completely fine if so, I'm just curious because I've always wondered about those gifts.

 

[icedtea4me]

Didn't Burke get a nintendo 64 that year? Wouldn't that be a 'wow' gift?

Yes, the Nintendo 64 was, indeed, a 'wow' gift for 1996.

http://www.thetoyinsider.com/growin-up-90s-christmas-1996/

 

[Userid]

^ Agree -- very much a "wow" gift and just as good, if not even better, than a bike.

To me, the bikes are a bit of a red herring. I realize it's impossible to truly know for certain, but I'd bet that everyone (or, at least the two children) were pleased with their gifts, before I'd assume that there was some sort of jealousy that had occurred among them. But that's just me.

 

[HarmonyE.]

Anyone who has kids knows there is always jealousy. And usually lots of it. If only I had a nickle for every time I heard "But she got a bigger piece!" when the complainer was not hungry enough to even eat half of his own. Or "How come you blame me for everything and never her?"

Sibling rivalry is very real and often very powerful and can surface over things parents think are totally trivial. And our Burke didn't just have any little sister. He had a beautiful, charming princess for a sister.