Favorite childhood Christmas memories

[CM Dazz]

For me, it was the whole family getting together on Christmas Eve every year. When everyone left, & it was time for bed, my dad would read us Christmas stories including Jabez Dawes: The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus and Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.

What's yours?

[Non Banjoble Tokens]

One that stands out for me is the Christmas of '89. That was the year the bros and I got our first Nintendo and also the year I got my favorite teddy bear that I still keep in my bed with me to this day.

[mizerable]

'89 for me as well. I got some kind of a monkey/ape puppet (which I still don't know who made it). My parents put it in a shoe box too...clever bastards.

Oh and I used to have "chew on things" problem, so my parents bought me a dog bone. Yup.

[Sephiroth]

I don't remember the exact year, but there was this one time we ate fried shrimp for Cheidtmss Eve dinner. My mother set the fry bucket out on the back porch so the pile could cool before she disposed if it. We then let the dog out and went to a party at a neighbor's house and when we got back and let the dog back in his face was all shiny. That's right-he ate the oil. Sufficed to say he was sick for Chridtmas day and even pikes in my patents bed that very night. To keep him from begging for table scraps when we had the family over we had to put the sweater on him; I still have yet to figure out why, but whenever we put this winter sweater on him he would just plop his butt down and wouldn't move. Not exactly the best Christmas ever, but certainly memorable.

[Phil Parent]

I can't pinpoint the year, would have to be early 90's... my parents who knew nothing about video games got the great idea to shop for games at this small local store. They bought me a 350-in-1 cart for the NES. Greatest gift ever. Obviously, it was like 100 games + repeats, but what a gift to give to a kid who didn't have any friends and lived for Nintendo.

The label is long gone, but I still have the cart.



The ROM for this has never been dumped, so this is pretty rare. the 350-in-1 ROM that is out there is not the cart I have, mine was an extended version of the well-known and appreciated 260-in-1 cart.

[Malcolm]

I think it was in the mid 90s when we got our very first Sega Genesis. We only ever had one game for it though(Sonic 2) because it would shortly suffer from an unexpected accident courtesy of my little brother.

[Sephiroth]

Given the high number of video game related posts I would also mention the year my bro got the original Legend of Zelda. Thus is memorable nbecause he next day our poor mother came down with a flu and as bedridden all day, while in he next room my bro was playing Zelda like there was no tomorrow. By the end of the day mom was ready to throw he NEE out the window sfter hearing the Zelda music over and over and over.

[G✇JI☈A]

My parents sucked at getting gifts for us.

It worked like this.. There was something we really wanted. Parents said 'Santa will do his best'... Then get us something which they claimed was better.. That's not the point I wanted the Optimus Prime Transformer... If I wanted a junior cricket set I would of asked for one,, Oh and taken a f***ing interest in cricket!


Anyway enough of that, this is supposed to be about the good times.


Well anyway my memories of Christmas besides sucky presents (MARBLES, NO KID WAS PLAYING WITH f***ING MARBLSE IN 1990!)... OK they did not all suck, we did get the Masters Of The Universe, Transformers, Matchbox Cars, and Dino-Riders.

Anyway my good memories were that we lived in the Melbourne suburb of Seaford at the time... Being summer in this part of the World, the weather was usually good. So you would see kids playing on their new bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades (new at the time). The local Milkbar and fire department would do this thing for the kids in the area.. They would get someone dressed as Santa, put him on the back of a fire truck, and he would toss out bags of candy to the kids. Cheap candy (lot of peppermint leaves). It became the tradition in our area, waiting for Santa to come back on his fire engine to give us sweeties. It was like the icing on the cake after opening presents.

[Goldenbane]

I believe it was either the Christmas of 87 or 88 that my family has dubbed "The Christmas We'll Never Forget." That year I got the big red Masters of the Universe vehicle that shot these little orange dics, some yellow drum stick things that were attached to a battery box...and if you swung them in mid air they would make a "ratt-a-tat-tat" sort of noise as if you were actually drumming them against something. I also got a musical instrument set, including a red plastic guitar and a red microphone with stand. My brother got a keyboard that played this insanely catchy tune for the demo. When my parents and I went to church that morning, we came back to find all my brothers and sisters in laws playing that keyboard demo song, and pretending to play it with my musical instruments! My oldest brother Jeff, danced and pranced around in his Christmas boxers! Funny stuff!

[edgestar]

I enjoy being with my family every Christmas Eve. One of my favorite gifts that I was given was my Barbie car. I was 4 years old, and had surgery that year and was in the hospital for 10 days. I wanted Santa to bring my brother toys and He-Man stuff because I had gotten a lot of get well gifts and didn't want him to be upset. We opened our presents, then when we were done, my parents said that I had one more thing. I went into the hallway and saw the car sitting there and couldn't believe it. My brother and I took turns driving it for hours!!

I also enjoy giving gifts. I gave some Doc McStuffins puzzles and a doll to the toys for toys display at the doctor's office mom works at. 2 of my favorite gifts I've given were a Wii to my best friend and her sister, and last year, I bought tickets for my brother, his wife and I, to do WrestleMania weekend.

[CM Dazz]

These posts reminded me of a couple things. Different years for sure, just not exactly sure when.

In another thread I mentioned I'm the oldest of four kids. My sister is two years younger than I am. From maybe six to 12, she would come wake me up around 3:30-4:00 because she was too excited to sleep. We'd sit in her room till 5:00, at which point we'd start bugging my parents to wake up. We were constantly told to go back to sleep. Yea right! Usually around 6:00 or 6:30 they'd finally realize they'd never get back to sleep & would finally wake up.

The tree/presents were in the basement most years. When my parents finally gave in, my dad would make a pot of coffee and then go downstairs to check and see if Santa came. He'd set the camcorder up on a tripod, turn all the Christmas lights on, & put on a Christmas record. While this was going on, us kids were supposed to wait upstairs while he got everything set up. You couldn't see the stairs because they were behind a wall, so we would wait on the bottom step & race out once he gave us the go ahead. We we're always amazed at the pile of presents, & would want to rip right into them all at once. We didn't though, but instead took turns opening stuff up. I guess it was a good thing though, because instead of having everything open in five minutes, we'd spend about 30 unwrapping everything.

We got a Sega Genesis one year that came with Altered Beast. We played that game all day, every day, all Christmas vacation long.

I remember getting my first real bike too. My dad put it together after we went to sleep on Christmas Eve. That morning I came downstairs, and freaked. I took it outside in my pajamas, & rode it in circles in the driveway for an hour before even opening another present. In the freezing rain...

Oh to be a kid again! I wish I could still get that excited for Christmas now. Instead, I get excited watching my wife and nephew open their stuff. I guess that's a good thing though, since really, that's what it's all about!

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I always enjoyed the big family get together on Christmas tree where we'd all get together at my Dad's side of the families house, have a drink, have a buffet, play some cards and just generally catch up. It was always a laugh. Likewise when we did the same thing on boxing day but with my mum's family.

First Christmas away from my family this year. Really gonna miss that.


Giftwise. I was so utterly EXCITED when my damily bought me a PS1 for Christmas. That stands out as my favourite Christmas prezzie.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I remember being pretty excited for a Nintendo, think I got that around 90 or so? Also, pretty excited when I got an aluminum hockey stick, it wasn't the same one Gretzky used, but it was aluminum none the less. Now, I wish I could find a damn proper wooden stick.

[Rumble McSkirmish]

Getting a Nintendo 64 from my mother...No I wasn't "that kid" from the video, but I was still pretty happy to get one because I was totally not expecting it all. (Didn't even ask for it either, my Mom just knew.)

[A Platypus Rave]

the year that I got my security blanket a pound puppy named "Coco" that is still at my parents house after over 25+ years of battle damage... including my brother's friend almost lighting it on fire...

The year me and my brother got the WWF Hockey game... which we played a few times... but was just far too big to keep anywhere... no idea what happened to it.

and of course my Super Nintendo the first system that was technically "mine", the NES we had I was either my brother's or something my parents got "for the family" reading myself and my brother

Of course if I tried to pull any shit about not letting my brother use the SNES I would have gotten yelled at by my parents... but still..