This is a repeat post from years past. I like to post it on Christmas Eve, a place to share our own best memories of Christmases past.
The Secret Sam was my favorite Christmas present as a child. I still have it, and I will keep it, or perhaps pass it on to a grandchild. Oh, how excited and hopeful I was the year I asked for my own Secret Sam. My mother told me it was a boy’s toy, but I was never a Barbie doll girl.
That was my spy year, my year of intrepid adventures around the neighborhood. It was one of my last Christmases as a child, I think, wanting toys and dreaming of adventures. Not too many years later, perhaps even the next one, my Christmas gifts would be stereos and albums, bell bottom jeans and paisley print turtlenecks.
Perhaps that is why the memory of it is such a treasure to me.
This year my grandchildren will be blessed with the breathless anticipation of what might be under the tree Christmas morning. They will be late to bed, too excited to sleep easily, and early to rise, rushing to the living room in all the excitement and wonder a child can have.
They are being taught the real reason for Christmas, and they will have opened the last flap on the Advent calendar the day before, they will place Jesus in the manger on Christmas morning, and some of them will have caught snippets of the Christmas story, perhaps even at Midnight Mass. They have a book here at my house that unfolds into the journey to Bethlehem, and all the figures are there to travel or meet Mary and Joseph along the way. We read stories, we sing songs, we watch videos.
I want to help nurture faith, hope, and love, generosity, joy, as well as create memories and enjoy the anticipation. I want to see Christmas through the eyes of happy children who see so clearly the joy, the promise, and the simpleness of it all.
Most of all, I want to share the feelings, the very same feelings of a child who exclaims “I love Jesus!” and means it with all their heart.
May your Christmas Eve be blessed with warmth and hope and family and stockings that will soon be full, a house filled with scents of the season, and the anticipation of the birth of our Savior.
I pray for those who can’t be home, especially our service men and women, all those who work to keep us safe and healthy, and those who just can’t be home with loved ones. I pray for those who are alone in the world, for children who won’t have a joyful and warm and safe Christmas.
I pray for the world to share the joy and peace of the season. God bless us every one.
Thank you, Sundance….thank you.
Oopsies…Menagerie…so sorry! Can I claim Bidenmentia?
Bless your ❤️ heart..( the southern good way)😀
Ah, may be a few years ahead of you, but one year I got a “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” set something like that.
And a Vac-u-Form / Creepy Crawler maker.
Good times to be a child (I feel sorry for the children coming up in today’s culture).
Creepy Crawlers…my Dad tried to put a hook in them and use as fish bait….lol
I was ten…and had the flower maker.
My first album as a Christmas gift….The Beatles…Abbey Road
Me too! Loved that thing!
As with everything in the 70’s, we couldn’t afford those too….. pretty cool though.
My best friend and I both got a Creepy Crawler set the same Christmas and we set up a small side hustle (junior high age) custom making the insects for class mates. We didn’t make a lot of money –dimes and nickles–but we had a ball every afternoon filling our orders. Good times and happy memories.
This was another favorite….I had the monster maker….
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/16677461093149072/
Thomas: Creepy Crawlers! I had one and remember that particular bug mold. I used to “cook-up” stuff in the basement of our house.
Dick Tracy two-way wrist radio, circa 1959. What every good crime buster needed back in the day!
The Man from UNCLE set was the greatest!
I terrorized the neighborhood with this ….
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/toys–477663104202842518/
(I might be a few years older) and of course found EVERYTHING that would fit IN it or over the barrel as a projectile…..
No clandestine operations for me……🙀🤣
I harassed my mom for years with the creepy crawler bugs I made with it. I’d slip an ant or a caterpillar into her purse. Fun times!
Merry Christmas, Sundance and all admins who keep this site up and going. 🙏
I had that same gift.. It to was my favorite.. Its long gone as someone decided they wanted it more than i did… Looked all over for it to no avail.. Great memory.. Thank you.
Retired Magistrate here: My favorite Christmas gift ever as a child: A Lionel Train with a tunnel; it was wonderful.
My favorite Christmas gift as an adult: The first Christmas after I was “born again” 20 years ago in November of 2004. A whole new life opened up for me with JESUS as my Personal Savior.
You’d need a couple of solar roof cells for that transformer today Judge!
Glad to see you’ve found the meaning of life 🙂 May God continue to watch over you and yours…
My favorite gift was a toy army set with hundreds of pieces, a flying helicopter, a jet that fired missiles, marching men, fighting men, it was amazing. If I could buy it today I would, my parents still have some of the pieces in a box in the basement. This was 1964 I believe.
Me too Marcia! Got a Marx electric train set in ’55 and then Lionel train set in ’58. They both used the same power and the same O27 track! Although I was blessed and received other very cool toys and gifts while still a child, the trains remained my top gifts of all time. In ’55 I also got a commerically-made paper maché tunnel, Plasticville houses, stores, and train station. In ’58 my dad got me a Lionel crossing signal complete with flashing red lights! I was a model train fan for life! I bought a fancy Lionel set for my own son when he was just 4 years old, but he treasured it and played with it a lot but never broke one piece.
Merry Christmas!
Most anticipated Christmas presents:
age 5 – a fire engine (it arrived).
age 13 – a German recording of the Symphony #7 by Anton Bruckner, one of the greatest pieces of music ever composed (my mother bought it, still puzzled, if not entirely mystified, as to how her son had become enamored with Classical Music (hint: Bugs, Bunny, Daffy Duck, Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, et al. and Captain Kangaroo, where I could hear the opening of Smetana’s tone poem The Moldau.}
The latter work describes the flowing of the river through Czechoslovakia: Captain Kangaroo had a little “music video” showing storm clouds gathering, raindrops hitting leaves, puddles forming, the puddles overflowing into rivulets going down a hill into a stream, and the stream into a large river.
Worth 10 minutes of your time!
For Bruckner, enjoy this when you have some free time after Christmas: a spiritual, meditative journey like no other! I first saw the score in late grade school in Dayton’s library, and as I read through the opening pages, my excitement grew exponentially! “I MUST hear this!!!”
And fortunately, this recording was also in the library! Listen to the opening 7 minutes or so, and you will understand my excitement!
Playing the Smetana now! Thank you for the great reminder – love it.
One of my favorites, too!
Don’t forget music to steamboat Willie and the Lone Ranger!
That was wonderful! Thank you for the link.
No problem, and Merry Christmas!
Menagerie, you are a treasure. Thank you for sharing your memories and your dreams for the future – they are mine as well. I have so much more hope and joy this year for my children and grandchildren, and this Christmas I truly believe “THE BEST IS YET TO COME.”
My bicycle !! 1957…7 years old…and in one afternoon I became independently mobile on my Western Flyer. No more walking to school ! Merry Christmas and God Bless Us All.
My Christmas bicycle came from Western Auto store. Was it a Western? I don’t remember. The 1950’s memories have faded a lot. 😄 Merry Christmas Menagerie and all 🌳 Treepers..
Western Auto made Western Flyer bikes 🙂
My bike came in 1958 when I was 10. Freedom!! I still had to ride the bus to school. Then 3 years later my transistor radio. Merry Christmas Menagerie and my Treehouse family.
I received a transistor radio, too, in 1963 (figured out how to put it in the inside pocket of my reversible parka and then plug in the earplug and with the hood of my parka up, listen to the “Beatles” (and whatever else was playing on KRLA) during recess.
Awesome! Merry Christmas!
So many memories with my transistor radio also. My father did not allow a phone in the house until I was 9 (I was the youngest and my oldest sibling was 21) nor a TV until I was 14. That transistor opened up a new world to me, being able to listen to, I think, Fort Wayne, Indiana among others. Mine was a little Japanese brand called Hitashi as I recall. It was like the energizer bunny!
When I grew up, we had to work a year to afford a bicycle. Loved that bike. Wore the tires off and bent the rims jumping ramps.
…. good times!
Menagerie, such memories are what my much loved mother in law called “mental cocktails” as I’ve mentioned no end of times. I’ve stored up an ample supply. As my grown children and their own families drift further and further away during the Christmas season, I open my “cabinet” and pour quite a few. There is never a chance I can drink too many, such is the unique quality of the ingredients. I am so grateful for them.
For those who are away from home or for whom Christmas is difficult for whatever reason among the many I know people experience, I pray that the peace of our loving and comforting Father, His gift alone, rests in all hearts and so will allow their “cocktails” to flow freely with the precious memories from which they are made.
A bless-ed Christmas I wish for you and all whom you love. B 🙏🏻 🌲 😘
A Children’s Carol
Pueri Concinite
“Sing together, children,
Sing songs to the newborn King;
In pious tones, say:
He Who was born of Mary appears.
Now we see fulfilled the word of Gabriel:
Eya, eya! The Virgin has given birth to God,
As the divine mercy willed.
Today appears,
Appears in Israel.
To the Virgin Mary is born the King!
Alleluya!
This was mine, Betsy, and we all learned it in kindergarten, all the verses, I think all children leaned that at one time.
It was this version : my favourite as a small child. .
I love that, jb, so sweet. Thank you💕
We tried to get this service on Britbox tonight, only to find that in true BBC fashion they’ve decided to not broadcast until Thursday, completely missing the point of seeing it on Christmas Eve as we were able to here once upon a time. I suppose I should be grateful that after last year when they didn’t broadcast it even in Britain (lest they offend) they have decided to do so once more.
So we shall watch and take in the story and the music and the wonderful voices which make it so so special.
Merry Christmas, dear sis 🌲😘
Merry Christmas to you too dear Betsy and your family and a Happy New Year. .
How disappointing the BBC did not do the right thing and present it at the right time. I am suspicious about why they did that. Probably a token sop to be tossed to Starmer as he and they aim to remove Christ from Christmas. I will probably gleefully blame Starmer for every thing that goes wrong in the British Isles from now on until he is tossed out as unfit for purpose.
The beautiful music and familar stories are so important to out enjoyment of Christmas, as you say, and the familiarity of them is comforting and precious to us.
I will watch, as I always do, the Alistair Sim version of the old black and white movie,’ A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens. I will love it as I always do, and practically know the script, but I love it every year, I never grow tired of it.
I always watch the Ballet of ‘The Nutcracker’,I have watched many different Ballet Companies from different countries dance it, last year I watched an Australian company present it and they were every good.
T there are other favourites, as I am sure you have too.
I was lucky enough to find this beloved series, based on the children’s book ‘ The Box of Delights’ by John Masefield, the famous English poet,.available online free, and in full, some years ago so copies were made and now I can watch it every year..
I think it was written in 1935 and made into a short series, much later but , in a childlike way, with no fancy special effects used. It stayed true to its time. If you have chance to see it I am sure you would enjoy it it.
Trailer : https://entertainment-focus.com/2023/12/14/why-john-masefields-the-box-of-delights-remains-a-christmas-favourite/
There are many good memories from Christmas, including seeing both my paternal grandparents at their place in Dalton, Massachusetts, and my maternal Grandmother and Uncle Pat at their place near Bennington, Vermont, always a slightly exotic visit as it was across state lines up into mountains.
My parents living room on Longview Road had a picture window that overlooked the Taconic Range, which delineated the state border with New York and the Berkshire County, Mass. In addition to the Christmas tree, at the edge of the picture window 20 feet out was a huge blue spruce that served as a home to all manner of avian visitors. My Dad taught me to appreciate birds and this was a good vantage point.
My Mom, a theatrical type who could have gone to Broadway, played the piano and we would sing carols. We Three Kings was always my favorite.
Mom made excellent Christmas cookies, aware over the years that I had found and raided her ‘secret’ hiding place in the large freezer in the basement. My favorites had almond flower and either green or pink almond flavored icing.
My parents moved about 15 months ago to the Twin Cities, and our childhood home is no longer, though fortunately, my parents are close to both of my brothers. A couple weeks ago, Dad had scheduled open heart surgery and is recovering.
However, when I called Mom for an update yesterday, I was shocked to learn that my baby brother had a stroke.
Mom, a retired nurse, assured me that he is relatively young and the diagnosis is for recovery, though it is clearly frightening to learn this news.
If you can spare a prayer, please say one for my entire family, my Dad in recovery, my baby brother in the hospital, my Mom worrying about both of them, and my other brother serving as the hero, shuttling everyone, everywhere in the midst of the chaos. On a positive note, my brother, an excellent cook, has passed the baton to my nephew to serve as the holiday cook.
Praying, GRM.
Thank you, Pinogram, and Merry Christmas!
I will be so happy to say prayers for your whole family GreyRockMan.
I hope and pray that your Dad and your brother and your Mom will have all the blessings they need to regain their health.
Merry Christmas!
Merci beaucoup ColoradoChloe et joyeux Noel!
🙏 prayers for your family…
Thank you, Diceanna. Merry Christmas!
You have my prayers, my friend. For all of you 🙏🏻💕
Thank you, Betsy jones. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Bless, GRM, and thank you 😘
God bless all of you, GreyRockMan!
Thank you, suejeanne, and Merry Christmas!
🙂
Prayers up, GRM!
Thank you, MLK aka Backpain Alarmclock!
Prayers have been sent. You, and your dear family members, can all rest in His great love.
I’m glad to see that you are all trying to keep a positive attitude. That’s good; a positive attitude is so helpful.
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to all of you.
Merry Christmas, JustTheFactsPlease, and that is a fact, love!
“So I Married An Axe Murderer” is a very underrated movie. I think people see the title and believe it’s a slasher movie. It’s a hilarious romantic comedy mystery!
I agree, Boogystew. That was my ‘first impression’ when I heard of the title.
It is not seasonally appropriate, though the scene with Phil Hartman as John “Vicki” Johnson as an Alcatrez Tour Guide is comic genius.
Happy Hannukah!
Mike Myers’ portrayal of his own character’s father was equally inspired.
“HID, paper, Now!”
Great film.
Thank you!. Merry Christmas (despite the title ) 🙂
I spent 7th, 8th and 9th grades living in West Arlington, Vermont about 20 miles north of Bennington. Norman Rockwell lived in West Arlington all through the 1940s and painted his “Four Freedoms” paintings there. My 4H Leader was a Jim Edgerton who was the inspiration for the young workingman standing and speaking as the lone representative of one viewpoint at an Arlington town council meeting. The actual model, Carl Hess, was the owner of a gas station where my sister and I had our bus stop in West Arlington.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Speech_(painting)
My best friend while I lived in West Arlington was a Jon Trachte. His family home had two original Norman Rockwell oil paintings, one of which was, “Breaking Home Ties”. I was old enough to know how renowned Norman Rockwell was and I knew they were masterpieces. Jon’s dad, Don Trachte, was a cartoonist and friend of Norman Rockwell. Don bought “Breaking Home Ties” in 1962 for $900 and it was sold for $15.4 million in 2006 by his children. The original painting was copied by Don Trachte so accurately that it hung in art museums and was exhibited all around the world as the original! The charade only came to light when cleaning out the family home upon their dad’s death, the Trachte brothers discovered a secret room with the original painting. Apparently Don Trachte was trying to keep the painting away from the Trachte children’s mom upon their divorce in 1973!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Home_Ties#History
Interesting! My grandmother was from Arlington, I believe.
She actually lived in Shaftsbury, where one of the homes of Robert Frost was located.
I believe The Conservative Treehouse’s own “Mr.Piddles” is from Arlington? I guess I was in a hurry to find some common ground with you in that it might cheer you up a bit. I was guessing you remembered Bennington County, Vermont fondly. My story hasn’t a thing to do with Christmas unless one thinks of Norman Rockwell in an Americana version of Christmas. I believe he ranks second to none as a great painter and illustrator. Good luck to you and a Very Merry Christmas to you and yours!
My own maternal grandparents lived in Shaftsbury also.
Small world Boogywstew. Happy Hannukah!
How interesting. Did you keep in touch with Jon?
No, I didn’t. I haven’t spoken to him since my mother and step father moved back to Long Island in 1965. I cannot remember how I first learned of the hidden room in their house and the painting switcheroo. The dad owned the original painting so I don’t think he broke any laws allowing someone to think his fake was the original?
Being a New Yorker, I had to overcome typical opinions about my people that were prevalent among the Vermont folks. I have always been naturally athletic and comfortable in the great outdoors and adverse weather. Things that impressed the Vermont boys were second nature to me. I also had chores to do, and did without complaining, and that made me popular with their parents. I wished I could have stayed in Vermont all through my childhood until HS graduation.
My mom thought the Beatles were cute when they played on the Ed Sullivan Show and somehow or other, Santa brought me a guitar and amplifier for Christmas that year. And 60 years later, I’m still playing. The inside joke was that I only ever learned one Beatles song, Something, which was on the Abbey Road album. I only learned it so if someone came in my dorm room, saw the guitar and said, “Play something!” I could divert the discussion to something else with a bit of a joke.
But the greatest Christmas gift of all time was received by my dad. One year he pestered anyone who’d listen about a watch he wanted. My mom, knowing her man, got the watch, and wrapped it and six other appropriately sized boxes and put them under the tree. Christmas Eve, he starts in campaigning that we should all get to open one gift early. My mom acquiesced to the deamnd. He spent a half hour examining all seven boxes. And opened a Pet Rock. That Rock became the punchline to hundreds of family jokes over the years.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Beautiful memories, Menagerie. A child exclaiming “I love Jesus” warms the heart!
I look forward to the Nativity our 9 year old granddaughter is writing which she will “ narrate”. Her 8 month old brother will be Baby Jesus and her 6 year old sister will be Mary. Her 10 y/o 2nd cousin will be St. Joseph and 3 other cousins will fill in some other parts. It will be great entertainment for the adults.
Merry Christmas Sundance and admins. What a fantastic place to share memories.
Christmas for a child is just so special. One of my favourite gifts was a set of cap guns that my grandma and grandpa got me.
I can still smell this.
My brother and I spent hours in wild gun fights. Long ago memories.
DD
Can’t tell you how many times I burnt my fingers with those caps lol.
file:///C:/Users/jtm52/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/JUMF48F7/IMG_20211006_152144840[1].jpg
Every roll!
I’d take that roll of caps and with a pin pierce the centers with the pin, slide that roll off the pin and tape them together with a match over the powder and bingo, you had a firecracker!
I was a ‘tom boy’ no sissy dolls for me. I got Roy Roger’s cap guns and outfit and boots. Don’t tell any one but, I ” killed” my fair share of cowboys and injuns with those caps…😅😅
Dan: Back then, we were all violent childhood extremists.
😂
Dan Dale, yes, I can remember that smell, too! Merry Christmas!
You just triggered an olfactory response for me! Dang it’s been forever since I thought of those or the Cap guns they fed! Thanks, DD!
I smelled it, too! Long time. They say the most powerful sense is smell.
Please count me among those who remember using those caps, and one who also has probably not seen them in 60 years.
Thanks for the smile and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Sundance. May it be a blessed year for you and your family and the larger family of Treepers!
Christmas blessings to everyone at CTH! Looking forward to Mass tonight. I always love going to church but tonight is definitely one of the most beautiful and emotional times to me.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” How blessed we are!!
This was a favorite Christmas of mine when I first set up my hubby’s trains and made a North Pole scenery to surprise our grandchildren with. We used to set up the trains for our sons when they were little but nothing like this. As our boys like to tease us, saying the grandkids get everything…pretty close lol. I’ll never forget the look on their faces and their squeals of excitement seeing it. They’ll enjoy it tomorrow too.
Anticipation..getting the Sears & Roebuck and the Montgomery Wards Christmas catalogues !
My little brother Steve and I used to watch “The Avengers” devoutly, devotedly. Steve also absolutely loved “Mission Impossible”. “The Man From Uncle” . . . we really loved that, they went into this dressing room in a men’s clothing store, I think. Oh, we loved anything about spies and espionage, amazing cars and derring-do and new technology.
We were with our Dad at a club at the beach our family belonged to one time before Christmas (1966, I think). Steve was 12 and I was 14. The club had a really nice little dress shop. Dad wanted to buy some dresses for me, one was leather and the other one was a lace dress, same pattern (a sort of mini-dress thing that they wanted me to wear to dinner that evening, so I did). Dad and Steve actually “sent” me to the ladies’ salon and spa while they went to the “Men’s Club” around the corner to hang out.
Steve spotted something else in the shop that he convinced Dad I needed to have – it looked just like something Emma Peel might wear in “The Avengers” while doing all those fancy moves – a one piece “suit” that fit sort of like a scuba suit, black except for this white racing stripe up each side – it had a zipper down the front, rather large brass teeth with a ring to close it (or open). Dad bought it. I had it for a year but then someone put it into the “estate sale” or swiped it somehow along with my Ricky Nelson album and my antique French posters.
A sassy Merry Christmas, suejeanne!
Diana Rigg and Mary Tyler Moore…my first crushes…
Mine was the book released about Secretariat by Raymond Woolfe.
With the exception of my mother, my entire family was horse crazy. I grew up hearing stories of my grandparents and dad and the pivotal horse races they had watched and the horses they thought were the greatest champions.
It was a lean Christmas and all shopping had been done. My mom made the mistake of saying she had seen a huge display hyping a book about Secretariat at the local Macy’s.
I told her to please return all my other presents, I only wanted that book.
I don’t know how they made it happen, maybe we ate hamburger more times, but mom had that book under the tree for me.
It’s a beautiful pictorial book.
I still have it.
That is indeed a treasure! Hang onto it and don’t let anyone borrow it!
Amazon has a used-like new from 1974 for $553.00
(My Mom and I like to look up our old books that we have as well as those that got away from us – a hard lesson, letting other people “borrow” books that never come back)
Mine is well worn aka loved. 😁
I took it to Claiborne when I saw Secretariat. It’s got a groom’s signature in it.
Who would have thought the greatest athlete of the 20th Century would not have been a man, but a horse? I can still feel my eyes get moist every time I watch that stunningly incredible 1973 Belmont Stakes. He ran every quarter of the Belmont faster than the previous one. Secretariat is, quite simply, the greatest horse who ever lived. I am truly grateful that I was able to see all of his Triple Crown wins that year on television.
Fifty years and a quantum leap in veterinary medicine later, his records still remain unbroken.
The text from the book talking about the valiance of Sham dueling with Secretariat in the Belmont is beautifully written.
I too tear up in the watching or reading of that Belmont.
Few appreciate that Sham likely would have been the TC winner that year sans Big Red. Secretariat’s owner said she believes this to be true.
Sham ran so hard he fractured a bone and was retired post Belmont.
Grandpa used to go watch the horses in Saratoga from time to time.
My favorite Christmas was 1961 or 1962, I’d have to look in our photo albums. One year I got a Cragstan Crane and a Remco Fox Airliner Controller. The other year I got a Lionel Santa Fe A-A diesel freight set from my grandfather with a missile car and exploding box car. Still have the train. Still looking for the crane and plane.
Merry Christmas! 🎁🎄
My brother and I used to stand at the fence and wave to the CN train conductors when they passed behind our house. We were probably 6 or 7 years old.
One Christmas time a train stopped behind our house and the conductors got off and walked up to our house through the back field with Christmas presents.
My brother and I got a CN train set. One of the most memorable Christmas experiences ever.
DD
That is really neat!
Awesome!
Holy smokes! I had one of those exploding box cars! I had a dynamite train set in the basement when I was in grade school. Unfortunately, my dad and my two uncles burned it up in a beer soaked Boxing Day disaster. 😀
Secret Sam was the bomb. The anticipation far exceeded the fact.
A Ruger 10/22 under the tree when I was 10, and a K2 Snowboard when I was 13 were the most memorable gifts.
The go kart with a 5hp Briggs and Stratton was great, but trying to pry my brother and sister off of it were more trouble than is was worth.
Liger: You got some serious gifts.
Those were the “salad days”..
Also, having a birthday about a week out from the 25th, whatever I was Blessed to recieve “was for Christmas AND your birthday”.. folks with similar birthdays know what I mean..
Yes, I have cousins who are twins (girls). Their birthday is originally December 26 but all the family celebrates their birthday on June 26.
Have to say that, as an adult, the 10/22 is a total blast!!!!
Most folks needs at least one..
when my Dad was alive, my favorite treat was when he’d bring home a record player from school and my favorite Christmas story record….”The Littlest Angel”. I’d play it over and over and was always sad to see the record player leave.
My first Christmas without my Dad, I got a shiny new 3 speed bicycle. I have the fondest memories of a doll I received one Christmas…”The Incredible Shrinking Violet”. She had a pull string that would play short phrases…about 8 or 10 of them. Her eyelids would blink and her lips moved too when the phrases played. I think she’s in a closet somewhere in my house.
I had that toy. It was great. Although it wasn’t until my 14th B’day I got a small tape recorder. It was cool.
My birthday’s the 29th plus one of six kids and at least one grandma living with us in an 1100 sf house….so I would get Chribirthday gift. One year it was a Timex watch. I spent the whole day with friends ring sleds in the snow and playing king of the mountain in wet snow. Until the day he died I think Dad was muttering…that doggone John Cameron Swayze. He said it could take a lickin’ and still keep tick in’.
I did not see you post. The after Christmas birthday is oft overlooked..
LOL, not a Barbie girl huh? My sister-in-law would tell me how she and her sister would ask for GI Joes. Why? So that her Barbie doll could have a boyfriend!
Pre Ken, ofcourse!
GI Joe would definitely be a better boyfriend.
Ken was rather effete looking if you ask me.
Thank you. I too have cherished memories as a child at Christmas. Peace, Joy, Love to all. Merry Christmas!
Beautifully written…Merry Christmas to all. Happy Birthday Jesus!
Merry Christmas to all here! Growing up in the sixties as a middle daughter of three stair-step girls was joyous as it can be. Mom ( Miss her dearly ) lovingly and with much talent, made us each a Christmas dress or jumper every year. We all three looked similar, but each of ours was unique and special. We also were given a new homemade flannel nightgown every Christmas ! Today, I tackled the coveted recipe of Moms…THE cake of all cakes. Called a Harvey Wallbanger Cake ! ( Yup…made famous from the drink in the 70’s) She made it for every occasion over the years, and all of us loved it. Then…the horrors! Duncan Hines stopped making the Orange Supreme Cake Mix ( absolutely essential ). This year, 9 years after her passing…I came across the ” Re-introduced cake mix! I dug through her hand written recipes, found THE ONE , and Voila!!! I will be sharing it with my children and grandchildren tomorrow. Surely, Mom was watching over my shoulder as I followed her instructions.
Can you say Anticipation ?? Merry Christmas !!
🙂
As a kid, I also liked the Kodak-type camera that converted into a Luger with the press of a button. Pressing the button would release a spring-load pistol barrel and a pistol grip.
For all the wonderful Christmas prayers offered up through the Treehouse community, I claim God’s promise: John 14: And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments.” What a Gift we have been given. Merry Christmas, Sundance-whoever/wherever you are – and a Happy New Year, a VERY Happy New Year, to all.
PS…I loved my Vac-U-Form!
When my husband and I were younger and starting off in the world, one of our very dear little nieces wanted one thing and one thing only for Christmas, a Strawberry Shortcake bike. That niece just adored Strawberry Shortcake; when we adopted one of their kittens she made sure we gave him the middle name Strawberry Shortcake. We did.
Her dad was in the Air Force and her mom was taking care of the family at home, and with two young children there was not a lot of money for mom and dad to buy their daughter her fancy dream bicycle.
They lived hundreds of miles away so we were not able to be there with her when she opened her present from Santa Claus, but that year my husband and I spent all our Christmas money to make sure our sweet little niece got the present she wanted.
I think that is one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever gotten.
I too have enjoyed the giving to the children and the laughter of watching their eyes light up when you have given the special gift. I just got back from doing exactly that this year. That granddaughter surprises me everytime that twinkle of anticipation appears while opening her gift. And I receive such joy from being able to share that experience with her.
Sounds like you are full of joy after seeing such a wonderful “twinkle,” Grandma. God gave you a great gift, too.
Love those two-fers from the Lord.
When I was a youngster, my dad traveled long distance more than once to get me something I wanted for Christmas. It wasn’t easy for him, but he did it anyway.
My dad always backed me up even if he knew I was not always on the right path. He allowed me to make my own mistakes and to learn from them.
What I wanted for Christmas that year won’t matter to anyone, but for me it was everything. To this very day I cry in remembrance when I think about the sacrifices he made for me that Christmas and always.
To be so blessed to have a parent, or parents, who love their children sacrificially is a glorious thing to see/hear.
I know you have to miss your dad, but especially when Christmas comes around.
A gumball machine. A 45rpm record player. The brand new “Rubber Soul” LP by The Beatles.
1965 – Best Christmas ever.
What a wonderful thread. Joy to the World.
Being able to have Christmas with 4 generations of my family will continue to be my greatest Christmas gift.
It all started with 2 poor kids from single parent homes married at 18 yrs old in 1978.
2024 we are sharing special memories with our great grandchildren.
I received the baby Thumbelina one year for Christmas. In my eyes she was so real! I loved the smell of a new baby doll. 🥰
Oh Menagerie… How fun!
When I was 5…(1960) I received a Glitter Paint Set. Loved it so much, that to THIS DAY…I am a Glitter Girl!
And in 1968, my Mama bought me my first guitar. I learned 4 chords from a girl friend down the road, and from there…I taught myself how to play. I am FAR from accomplished, (I don’t read music)…but when I sit down to play…it soothes my soul.
Then, in 2010…although it was not Christmas…(but it was going to be my Christmas Present)… My husband bought me a Ramirez Classical Guitar off Ebay. It is wonderful. What a “voice” it has.
Merry Christmas to All at TCTH, and a very, very Happy New Year!!!
Secret Sam….. Scorpion EVO 3+….. Kids will be kids.
1965 Toy of the Year was the Corgi James Bond Aston Martin DB5 metal cast car.
https://www.toyretailersassociation.co.uk/toy-year-1965-present-day/
Happy Christmas memories everyone, and God bless you all.!
My memories go back further than most of yours, that was certainly not my choice :-)) but although my childhood in general was somewhat unusual I wouldn’t swap it for another.
I was born in Cheshire, England, and I can remember the 1930’s. It felt peaceful, naturally, but I remember only a flower- filled garden with bees buzzing, a greenhouse where my father pottered about and grew grapes and tomatoes in there, and we had a pear tree. I remember only warm summers and my beloved parents and was fortunate to have a loving father and mother, and vague memories of a dog called Peggie.
My first major toy was doll’s pram for my baby-like dolls, the Christmas when I had just become 3 years old, all hand-me-downs from a cousin who was a little older than me. ( I have a picture) I loved it so much.
My next and last mayor toy was a similarly hand-me -down tricycle (repainted a cream color, by my father) when I was just four years old . After that Christmas, 1939 the war started, for us.
Soon it would strict food rationing , bombers overhead, many nights in the back garden air-raid shelter, a hole in the ground with sandbags, very few toys available, or made then. All materials went to the war effort.
Christmas meant, Home made paper chains hanging from the ceiling, maybe one orange, and a few nuts, and a couple of children’s books (used, but much loved by me) maybe a little jigsaw puzzle made for a small child.
But I was happy. I didn’t know any better. However, I felt safe, and loved, what could be better than that. 🙂
(My father died of Cancer in Jan 1945.
He did not serve in the armed forces, he was needed at home doing secret work on radar for the Air Ministry.)
I’m a little jealous. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas Hoo vol!
Many thanks and best wishes for wonderful Christmas for you too.
We all have our most heartfelt recollection of Christmas from days past, long since gone. I recently saw a rendition of the historic, impromptu truce in 1914 during WW 1 amid the carnage and destruction that only man can create. That moment was created by real people who had faith, if only for a moment, in the human spirit and God. No regime or government has that capacity for good. I pray that people worldwide have another more lasting time of clarity and humanity. We only have one planet and it is our home. Merry Christmas.
My greatest gift?
This year, 2024, the election and a long shot hope that one man (and his supporters ) can turn the tide.
The bible teaches quite plainly not to place your hopes on man.
So my prayer is that God the Creator will guide this one man into 2025, President Trump. He has the hopes of millions around the world riding upon his actions and the only way possible forward into a better way is for God the Creator to guide his every step. He’s just a man like us all and it will take divine intervention for him to make a difference. For the worlds’s sake and my family’s sake I pray that his every step will be guided each and every day.
Amen
You are the BEST!
Always love this story! Hope you have a blessed Merry Christmas
Hi Menagerie,
I didn’t have one of those, but I did have an almost real Tommy Gun. I cut grass on weekends to earn the money, then rode my bike to the Friendly Shopping Center (that was its real name) and bought one. That was almost 50 years ago. I also bought model airplanes. A few years later, when I enrolled in French class, I’d ditch my homework in favor of building model airplanes and listening to my shortwave radio… in French! I did poorly grade-wise because I didn’t do my homework, but I explored the world with my shortwave and that new language.
Nobody shot up schools back then, even though boys brought their rifles to school in their trucks and there was a hunting club on campus. It was a high trust society, because… I’m going to say it… it was a homogeneous Christian culture.
Merry Christmas!
My most favorite Christmas present ever…Still have it too
1973 Schwinn Pea Picker 5 speed
So crazy, Talcom X.
I’m checking out the bike you got (and still have which is a pretty cool bike!), and I notice the bike “mom” has in the background. A yellow ladies Super Sport.
My young boyfriend bought me, his young girlfriend, a yellow ladies Super Sport — that same bike — in 1972, the summer between the 10th and 11th grade.
I married that boyfriend who is now my husband of 50 years, and like you, still have the bike.
Great story…My dad got me the bike…My mother who was a nurse begged him not to because of the gear shifter…
If the plastic gear knob (which shows to speeds of the bike fell off) and you slid forward of the seat…you could do some great damage to you private parts…
Moms, moms, moms.
Part of their job was/is to make sure we don’t shoot our eye out, or damage anything they can’t fix with a little Mercurochrome.
That red stuff was the fix for just about everything.
Glad your dad won out. That is a super funky bike!
Merry Christmas, Talcum X!
Me and my maternal grand pa & grand ma… Paul Harvey (yes really). After retirement when they would come to visit, we’d camp in their RV either at the curb or in area campgrounds and we’d sit around the radio and listen to him.
It’s always a reminder of many fine and well loved days with my grandparents and Paul Harvey ‘s “The Rest of the Story”.
Here’s a good one for Christmas, blessings Treepers and God bless you and yours this Christmas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaZ3AD0opSM
Sweet!
Nothing quite so heartwarming as listening to a good storyteller tell a good story.
Am old enough to have participated in caroling as a child – back when that was routinely done. I miss that kind of environment in this country. Maybe it will return. Merry Christmas to all Treepers new and old.
You’ll put your eye out, kid!
Got a Seccret Sam gun when i was a small boy. It was a great Christmas.
My Granddaughter who is 4, got all my daughter’s My Little Pony collection from when she was a little girl. For Christmas this year we found her a New in box My Little pony Barn from 1984. Looking forward to her delight when she opens it up on Christmas Morning.
This morning the yard engine from the train yard on the edge of town was playing Jingle Bells on the engines whistle. You could her it all over town.
The joys of Christmas in a small town. and the rain just turned into snow
Merry Christmass ! God bless Y’all