My mother-in-law, who is awesome, got me these kickin' tan leather cowboy boots this year for Chanukah. I love them and I never would have gotten them for myself. Go great moms-in-law!
When we lived in the US, my husband and I had a holiday tradition of volunteering at the Salvation Army's "Elf Night," the 23rd, putting together packages of donated toys and clothes for poor families in Baltimore. It was always a really rewarding and fun experience.
Am I the only Jewish girl who loves the Christmas season? Yeah the stores are packed and the music is annoying, but everyone is cheerful, there are great sales, and "It's a Wonderful Life" is on TV.
He-Man, He-Man, He-Man! I wanted the castle, the tiger, the bee-looking dude, the dude with a mace-arm. I used to be such a tomboy when I was a kid. I refused to wear dresses, got pissed when my parents got me She-ra stuff, was always playing with baseball cards...then when I hit puberty and suddenly wanted to be wearing dresses and makeup, I was too embarrassed to tell my parents or friends. It took until the end of high school until I was confident enough to allow myself to be less of a tomboy. I sort of wonder if my 8 year old self would be horrified.
My memory's so crappy that I can barely remember some of my childhood, but... my parents didn't have much money either when I was growing up, but I never knew because they always tried to give me the best of everything, including:
Molly!! (She had glasses, like me! I wanted Samantha but loved Molly's glasses.)
One of those Secret Surprise babies where you pulled off the hat and found out whether or not it was a boy or girl baby (c'mon, 90s babies, tell me y'all know these)
A boombox
Uggs (I wanted these for AGES)
Doc Martens (ditto)
Pinky and Teddy!! (My teddy bears I've had since I was two. They're at my parents' house and I really want to bring them to NYC, Boyfriend be damned!)
@bitchytexan (hellodarling!): Oh yeah! And a talking Cricket doll (who freaks me out now) and a Barbie Dream House that one of my family members made and was way more awesome than the plastic one - IT HAD A LOFT.
My fluffy puppy girl is my bestest all-time present, however, but I got her for my 16th birthday. I miss the crap out of Princess and CANNOT WAIT to see her wiggly rumbly self when I go home!! Chocolate labs FTW!
My very first period, the Christmas I was 12. Thanks a fucking lot, Santa. There was a beautiful new electric yellow 10-speed under the tree waiting for me to ride, and I was too miserable.
The year before, I got my mice, a boy and girl. Good thinking, Mom and Dad!! Withing two months, I had eight more mice. The gift that keeps on giving.
Oh, and Velvet, when I was 9. She came in a gorgeous deep purple velvet dress, and you could pull her pony-tail out to make her hair long.
Rabbit fur jacket, 1978. I had fallen in love with it when my mom and I were out shopping earlier in the year. She did not buy it for me so I forgot all about it. She must have called the store when we got home because Xmas morning that same coat was under the tree. I was so happy I slept in it.
I'm not very good at remembering which presents I was given when because Christmas and my birthday about about 6 weeks apart. Anyway, I haven't cared very much for Christmas since I was about 15 years old, which was when my parents separated. A splintered family doesn't make for that great of a holiday season, and it doesn't help that my uncle has long since stopped throwing his famous Christmas Eve parties. Around the holidays, there's always a part of me that I wishes I were a little girl again and the routine was Mass with Mom and Dad, my uncle's party, going to bed worn out but excited and then waking up early to presents.
I never wanted all the girly stuff my mom bought me, like Barbies, Knit and Stitches, and Cabbage Patch Dolls. The worst one was Baby Alive, who shit her diapers. I was disgusted someone expected me to feed and change that nasty thing. I posed for with it for Christmas Day photo-ops but come Dec 27th she was colelcting dust in the back of the closet.
I remember coveting my boy friend's presents... skateboards, science kit, train sets, army men. I still smart over the fact I NEVER got a Millennium Falcon with Landau Calrissian Action Figure.
But I loved this Make-It and Bake-It Oven I got one year. Cooked many a meat, worm, and play-doh pie in that yellow box. A few Barbies even met their end there, may they rest in peace.
Finally my parents wised up and got me a dirt bike. I rode all over LA in that thing. Good times!
When I was about 6 or 7, my parents bought me the Barbie Townhouse. (y'know, the one with the elevator!) EXCEPT: it was apparently "some assembly required". My parents, being crafty, assembled the whole thing the night before and set it up in their stall shower in the master bedroom, where we kids never ever went. Christmas Eve, when we open presents, I see this GIIIIIIIANT box with a "To Nadarine, From Santa" tag. So I rip into that fucker like a wildebeest, noting the BARBIE TOWNHOUSE graphics, only to find that it's EMPTY. I cry, and cry, and scream, and throw a giant fit, as I'm convinced that Santa is a fucker and that he's taunting me with the Townhouse I will never have.
My parents carried me upstairs to their bedroom, where I continued wailing, convinced that I was going to get a Time Out for my tantrum. Now they're taking me into their bathroom! Oh shit, I'm getting a Serious Time Out!
...and then my dad opened the shower door, and there in all its cardboard glory stood my Barbie Townhouse.
Oh my God...the My Little Pony Dream Castle commercial. No joke, that is the exact gift that I always think of first when I think of that one, great, "big present" from childhood. I still remember being six or seven and my eyes falling first on that pink plastic work of art in the semi-darkened living room on Christmas morning...complete happiness.
@CherryAmes_CruiseNurse: You and me both. I screamed my head off when I saw the artwork on the box under the wrapping paper. My parents had spent twenty-five whole dollars plus tax on my present! A veritable fortune!
I think my sisters and I are the only girls on the planet that never even heard of the American girl dolls. We had the Molly books but I thought it was just some kind of book series. But best present ever was my Kitchen knives from my sister and the coloring stuff from my mom. 23 was a good present year.
@aisuru113: I had never heard of them until I moved to NY (at 21). I thought they were a regional phenomenon until I had a Cali roommate that LOVED them. One trip to the store and I was completely floored by how expensive they are. I thought Cabbage Patch Dolls were high!
Ever since I could remember, I wanted a puppy. My aunt had 5 dogs that were rescue/shelter dogs, and I adored them - even though they were all over 80 pounds and I was 5. Everytime I went down to visit my grandma in WV, seeing my aunt was the highlight. Anywho.
When I was 9, a house on the street had 9! puppies. So I called my Dad (parents are divorced)) and let him know that there were puppehs! It was his weekend to have me, and I begged him to stop at this house on the way home. We did, and I picked my puppeh. She was a beautiful border collie/husky mix. And she was mine. I promptly took her on a tour of the neighborhood (we lived in a bad part of town), and knocked on everyone's doors to announce that I finally got a puppeh. She was my Christmas present. I usually had Christmas with Mom, but I had Christmas with Dad that year so I could be with Candi on Christmas morning. I didn't get much that year - I think a doll and some hair things, but Candi was all I wanted. She passed away in 2005, at the age of 16. I still miss her so much. She sits on my dresser in an urn. I have her picture up there also with her collar draped over it. 1989 was the best Christmas ever.
@Nanarama: oh my god, a puppy is the BEST christmas present! i teared up over your story- my midnight was 16 when she died too and 5 years later i still have her picture framed on my dresser.
@Nanarama: Ohhhh, we still have my Cinder's collar on our mantle with her picture. We got her when I was in third grade so... I don't know, 1992? She passed in 2005 and my parents and I still haven't quite recovered.
Has anybody mentioned Lite Brite yet, because that was the shit. I had hours of fun with that thing.
I also remember I had a Brooke Shields doll, and she was wearing a kickass shiny fuschia prom dress, and when you took it off, her panties were painted on.
This was the doll, but mine had a different outfit:
Other kids were still crafting their letters to Santa, but I was already rolling around in my new skates by the 19th. My dad was really into gift giving and wouldn't allow us to wait until Christmas morning to open our gifts. (Seriously, we had to beg him to let us wait until the 24th.)
Besides my first bike and my Cabbage Patch Doll Kate (who I named Kay and still have), I was just delighted to have something to open. Boxes are the gifts that keep on giving. Big boxes became forts and sleds (we got about a 1/2 of snow) and my mom's shoe boxes became all of the cool Barbie luxuries we couldn't afford like cars and houses.
@AnnoyingFemaleLeadVoiceover: Yes! Boxes are awesome! I spent entire summers playing in refrigerator boxes as a kid. They could be anything: cottages, forts, tanks, prisons, ships, submarines, etc. etc. Those were good times.
12/21/08
When we lived in the US, my husband and I had a holiday tradition of volunteering at the Salvation Army's "Elf Night," the 23rd, putting together packages of donated toys and clothes for poor families in Baltimore. It was always a really rewarding and fun experience.
Am I the only Jewish girl who loves the Christmas season? Yeah the stores are packed and the music is annoying, but everyone is cheerful, there are great sales, and "It's a Wonderful Life" is on TV.
12/20/08
12/20/08
Molly!! (She had glasses, like me! I wanted Samantha but loved Molly's glasses.)
One of those Secret Surprise babies where you pulled off the hat and found out whether or not it was a boy or girl baby (c'mon, 90s babies, tell me y'all know these)
A boombox
Uggs (I wanted these for AGES)
Doc Martens (ditto)
Pinky and Teddy!! (My teddy bears I've had since I was two. They're at my parents' house and I really want to bring them to NYC, Boyfriend be damned!)
12/20/08
My fluffy puppy girl is my bestest all-time present, however, but I got her for my 16th birthday. I miss the crap out of Princess and CANNOT WAIT to see her wiggly rumbly self when I go home!! Chocolate labs FTW!
12/20/08
The year before, I got my mice, a boy and girl. Good thinking, Mom and Dad!! Withing two months, I had eight more mice. The gift that keeps on giving.
Oh, and Velvet, when I was 9. She came in a gorgeous deep purple velvet dress, and you could pull her pony-tail out to make her hair long.
12/20/08
12/20/08
12/20/08
12/20/08
Man, that was a different time!
12/20/08
12/20/08
I remember coveting my boy friend's presents... skateboards, science kit, train sets, army men. I still smart over the fact I NEVER got a Millennium Falcon with Landau Calrissian Action Figure.
But I loved this Make-It and Bake-It Oven I got one year. Cooked many a meat, worm, and play-doh pie in that yellow box. A few Barbies even met their end there, may they rest in peace.
Finally my parents wised up and got me a dirt bike. I rode all over LA in that thing. Good times!
12/20/08
My parents carried me upstairs to their bedroom, where I continued wailing, convinced that I was going to get a Time Out for my tantrum. Now they're taking me into their bathroom! Oh shit, I'm getting a Serious Time Out!
...and then my dad opened the shower door, and there in all its cardboard glory stood my Barbie Townhouse.
12/20/08
12/20/08
Seriously, few things have ever made me so happy.
12/20/08
12/21/08
12/20/08
When I was 9, a house on the street had 9! puppies. So I called my Dad (parents are divorced)) and let him know that there were puppehs! It was his weekend to have me, and I begged him to stop at this house on the way home. We did, and I picked my puppeh. She was a beautiful border collie/husky mix. And she was mine. I promptly took her on a tour of the neighborhood (we lived in a bad part of town), and knocked on everyone's doors to announce that I finally got a puppeh. She was my Christmas present. I usually had Christmas with Mom, but I had Christmas with Dad that year so I could be with Candi on Christmas morning. I didn't get much that year - I think a doll and some hair things, but Candi was all I wanted. She passed away in 2005, at the age of 16. I still miss her so much. She sits on my dresser in an urn. I have her picture up there also with her collar draped over it. 1989 was the best Christmas ever.
12/20/08
and now i also have kodiak snuggled up with me =)
12/20/08
12/20/08
I also remember I had a Brooke Shields doll, and she was wearing a kickass shiny fuschia prom dress, and when you took it off, her panties were painted on.
This was the doll, but mine had a different outfit:
12/20/08
12/20/08
A friend of mine never got one as a kid so a couple years back we all got her one for her birthday. She loved it.
12/20/08
12/20/08
12/20/08
Seriously though. I want one too.
12/20/08
Besides my first bike and my Cabbage Patch Doll Kate (who I named Kay and still have), I was just delighted to have something to open. Boxes are the gifts that keep on giving. Big boxes became forts and sleds (we got about a 1/2 of snow) and my mom's shoe boxes became all of the cool Barbie luxuries we couldn't afford like cars and houses.
12/20/08