Christmas for Kids in the 70s and 80s #christmas

If you grew up during the 1970s and 1980s, there was nothing that compared to the joy of knowing that the Christmas season was upon you when we saw our first Christmas department store catalogue. Whether it was the Sears Wish Books, or maybe the JCPenney's Christmas Catalogues, or perhaps the Montgomery Ward's Christmas Catalogue, but only till 1985 when those We knew that we'd be spending hours with our siblings flipping through the pages of these catalogues looking for the perfect gift that we wanted for Christmas. Maybe it was a pair of roller skates, or even a remote-controlled car, a racetrack, possibly even a motocross-style bike so you could do your own racing and stunts. And who could forget about your first big wheel? Or perhaps an electronic toy, or even our own personal record player. Naturally, you can't forget the Star Wars action figures. We would just circle every item we wanted as we went. Who remembers the malls filled with huge crowds of shoppers, the extravagant Christmas decorations, and the huge oversized Christmas trees that we all stared at while waiting in and our parents hoping that we didn't cry when the picture was taken. How about our own live Christmas tree that you may have even helped cut down yourself, draped with all that tinsel, or maybe you just had one of those ceramic trees, or you made a magazine tree from an old magazine in school which you then spray-painted green. Who can forget the Christmas lights with the little sharp plastic starbursts, the bubble lights bubbling away on the tree, the very fragile glass ornaments that seemed to break if you just touched them, and you'd spend until next Christmas finding all the broken pieces, along with the pine needles that hid in every corner of your home. Who knows, you may have even had a Trapper Keeper ornament to match your Trapper Keeper. Or even the handmade satin and sequin beaded pushpin ornaments. Nowadays, most ornaments are plastic. But don't worry, we had plenty of plastic things in our day as well, from our plastic Santa Claus, varying from small to large, to the oversized plastic candles lining our driveways, all lit up with bulbs inside. What about those melted plastic popcorn glitter plaque wall decals? I mean, what was up with those? They look like chewed-up gums stuck together to form a picture. Christmas Eve finally arrives and you watch the pile of presents grow as relatives stop by to drop off their gifts. If you're one of the lucky ones, then your parents would let you open one gift early that evening. However, it was usually a pair of pyjamas. If they had your favourite team on them, then they weren't that bad. For clothes. Christmas morning finally arrives. The excitement of finding out if you got all the toys that we'd circled in the catalogues. We all knew what that squishy package contained. The worst gift out there. Socks. Really? The second worst gift, of course, being underwear. I mean, aren't these the things that your parents should buy you as an everyday item? Although, if they were underoos with your favourite superhero, that did make up for it. You may have had parents who fought the crowds, maybe even throwing an elbow or two to get your favourite Cabbage Patch doll. Or perhaps you received that jumping Evel Knievel stunt cycle. Maybe an Easy Bake Oven. Who knows, maybe you got really lucky and you got that portable TV. Probably black and white though. Once all the paper was torn off and thrown away, our gifts all inspected, we proudly stacked them back underneath the Christmas tree to show off to our family and friends that we got everything that we asked for and finally started to eat our way through the tin of popcorn. I think we can all agree that we lived through the best decades ever growing up. So, to all the Gen Xers and everyone else, Merry Christmas and happy memories. Please comment your favourite Christmas memories below.