AVA, Mo. — Rick Clunn won’t ever forget the Christmas Day that forever changed his attitude about the holiday gift-giving tradition. It occurred when his two daughters, Brooke and Courtney, were about 16 and 12 years old. They’re now in their 40s.
“I witnessed the mass destruction of presents at an assembly line rate,” Clunn recalled. “It was rip the wrapping off one and go on to the next.
“I sat on the couch and went nuts. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t go outwardly nuts. But I said to myself that I would never buy another Christmas present the rest of my life.”
As you might guess from the B.A.S.S. legend nicknamed “The Zen Master,” Clunn resolved to celebrate in a different style than most. Instead of various presents, Clunn gives his entire family an adventure – a single present that will remain in their minds for a lifetime.
“It was like an epiphany,” Clunn said. “I don’t remember anything I got for Christmas when I was growing up. My parents didn’t have a lot of money, but they gave us stuff for Christmas every year. I remember nothing they ever gave me.
“What do I remember about my parents? I remember the hunting trips, the camping trips, the outdoor adventures.”
So following the Christmas when he “went nuts,” Clunn put one big, flat wrapped gift under the tree for Brooke and Courtney. It was a card displaying various photos of a Grand Canyon rafting trip. It represented the gift-to-come: a whitewater raft trip down the length of the Grand Canyon.
Some of the photos on Clunn’s card were a bit daunting to the young girls – like rafts turning almost upside down in churning whitewater rapids – and they weren’t initially overjoyed with the idea.
Clunn told them, “You don’t have a choice. I don’t care if you love it or hate it, you’ll never forget it.”
They loved it.
“It was a seven-day trip down the Grand Canyon in its entirety,” Clunn said. “It was a life-changing deal. They’ll never forget it.”
It’s been an adventure-a-year Christmas gift ever since. Clunn, 69, is now the father of four. He and his second wife, Melissa, celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary on Sept. 29. They have two sons, Sage, a high school senior, and River, 12.
“From that point (the Grand Canyon trip) on, I’ve given my girls and my boys one gift a year, and it’s an adventure,” he said.
Last year’s gift was a trip to Monterey Bay, Calif., for a whale-watching adventure. Humpback, gray and killer whales make regular migrations near the coast there during winter and early spring.
“By chance, we got to see the largest creature on Earth, a blue whale,” Clunn said.
This year’s Christmas gift adventure for the Clunn family?
Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park.