Christmas Nostalgia Thread

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I remember that movie! We got to watch it in class at school.

 

[mrsheppo]

I remember in our town, no Christmas decorations went up until the day after Thanksgiving. It made the anticipation of the holiday so wonderful, not like now with the decorations in stores right after Labor Day.

My dad putting up his wonderful decorations he had made. We had a large sleigh and handmade wooden reindeers on the roof, large wooden candlesticks by the front door and lots and lots of lights. The funky silver aluminum tree with the color wheel.

I remember seeing for the very first time - Rudolph, Charlie Brown Christmas, when they were first introduced. The Wizard of Oz was always shown on Thanksgiving night.

I really miss those days.

 

[Buckalew11]

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i59/DISUNC/XMASKNEEINGSTICKEDPIXIES1A.jpg[/IMG]

Yay! My mom had these. She probably still has a few! I loved playing with them. I remember how long and skinny their legs were when you untucked them!

My Grandmother had those elves and now I do. She also collected old like from the 50's and 60's, Annalee figures. I have those as well and have collected more over the years.

My mom collects these also! (Annalees) She has given several over the years. My sisters collect them also but I am not much of a fan but the ones I have a cute!

Christmas memories:

-Laying in bed, trying so hard to fall asleep, because Santa wouldn't come until all good little kids were asleep.




-waking up mom and dad at some ungodly early hour and asking, "Has Santa come? Can we go downstairs now??!!??"

Going to sleep on Christmas Eve was soooo hard!

I'd wake my parents up at 3:00am!!! My dad would turn on the radio and listen for an update and always say, "Nope, Santa hasn't been here yet. Go back to sleep." I never heard them say he had not been here yet, but oh well. I'd lay there til it was time!!

Once I decided to sneak down the stairs and see for myself if he had been there yet. When I got to the bottom of the stairs---there he was sitting in a chair!!! I SCREAMED bloody murdered and ran back up the stairs as fast as I could, crying!! Dad caught me as I ran by their room and I said, "He's here! He's here!!" Turned out my mom had sewn an almost life sized Santa Claus and put him out in the chair Christmas Eve night!

Once I caught Dad eating Santa's cookies!!

When I was little my parents did not put up the tree until Christmas Eve after we were in bed. We'd wake up to this glorious tree with REAL tinsel piled on! My mom can really adorn a tree to this day! She loves Christmas decorations.
I remember as you walked across the carpeting, you got all staticy and if you got close enough to the tree, ithe tinsel would attach itself to you as you went by!!

I remember the 3 of us walking down the stairs and my dad capturing it all onto 8mm film with thse humongous lights that blinded you to look at the camera! We were always squinting and waving to the camera! Those are bittersweet memories now.

I remember every Christmas morning we'd get up and call pop-pop and nana and say we were ready for them to come over to watch us open gifts. My mom made a stolen every year and life was good! I didn't care much for stolen but I dearly loved my grandparents (RIP). I am 43 yo, and If I live to be 100, I will always miss my grandparents on christmas morning. Thank God for salvation because I cannot wait to see those dear people again.

 

[islangrl]

[
- Sears "& Roebuck's" Christmas Wishbook


- Pixie Elf Dolls

Okay what are some of yours????

-

My mom put these exact same dolls out every year, and has now given them to me. I love them, totally remind me of childhood Christmases. When are they from?

TAMALES! OMG...the tamales. We would wait for hours in line at a little resteraunt in Fort Worth for these wonderfully delicious tamales.

From 8th until 12th grade, I had a friend named Lisa, she was half mexican. Every year around Christmas time, all the females in her family would gather to make tamales. The year I met her she invited me over to help. It was so much fun, and I was invited back every year. There were about 17 of us, all ages. Crazy stories, family history and of course tamale making. I swear we would make 1000 of them. I had nearly forgotten, thanks for reminding me!


One of my favorite things, the last day of school before Christmas break. The first half of the day we had a field day; races, games and parades.
Then the rest of the day was the class Christmas parties. Lots of food, candy, gift exchanges and movie watching. I volunteer for my kid's class parties so that I can get a little taste of childhood again!

 

[PatsMom]

I remember when the Christmas specials were really special because we didn't have VCRs and DVDs. It was a big even when Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on TV. One of the few evenings my mother would make onion dip for us kids.

I remember my mother going "downtown" to shop. We had Woolworth's, Grants and a few other stores. She would leave us kids at the movie theater where they would show free cartoons all afternoon to support the Merchant's association. I know we weren't very old - you would probably get in trouble these days for leaving kids that young with no supervision but a theater usher or two.

Going to my grandmother's for dinner. All of us kids would be bouncing off the walls wanting to open presents and the adults would dawdle over their meal.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

I have fond mememories of all the sitcom episodes and the Christmas specials.
Caroling on Christmas Eve, school parties( meant you were off for at least a week. ), and the snow! We don't get snow anymore like we use to.

 

[Grandmouse]

OP -- I work for a major department store and we are open until midnight MANY nights before Christmas. In fact, we are open until midnight tomorrow and Wednesday nights just because there is a sale. There is NEVER anyone in the store after 9 pm, even nights when we are open until 10. Such a waste of electric, etc., not to mention the salaries, and makes for a long boring evening for all of us. How I wish it was only Friday/Saturday nights that we were open late. This has been the case for many years, not just this year with the price of gasoline so high. I have noticed a huge drop in the number of shoppers this year though.

 

[Grandmouse]

One of my favorite memories is the black and white cartoons that only lasted a minute or two -- Suzy Snowflake, Frosty the Snowman, and the one about the 3 elves -- Hardrock, Coco, and Joe. You never knew when they would be on and it was such a treat when they appeared. One of our local stations brought them back a few years ago. What a delight for me and my kids just didn't understand my fascination with them and trying to catch them from the beginning to tape them.

 

[arminnie]

Mr. Bingle

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=191240803

 

[EthansMom]

Stringing popcorn for the Christmas tree with my Mom.

Having Dad tell me "The company gives you extra pieces in case you need them," every year when he put my toys together (until I learned to read and would force him to follow the directions).

Making and decorating Christmas sugar cookies. I still do that with my husband and kids every Christmas... one of our favorite things.

 

[JessicaR]

I am really enjoying reading everyones posts!

My uncle gave us the lifesavers for a bunch of years!

thanks for the commercial, that brought back happy memories!

You're welcome!

When I was really little my mother would help me make a chain from ribbon and hang it from the door facing in my room. Each morning I got to snip a ribbon circle. It told me how many days until Christmas.

I love that idea! Thats a really nice memory. We do an advent count down since my boys are little and they still love adding a toy from santa's bag each morning. Even the cool teenager. Just don't tell his friends.

That was a HUGE part of our Christmas stocking, too. I still buy them every year for my kids. There are only 8 rolls (there used to be 10), and they're a little difficult to find...but they're out there!!!

I do it with my kids too! I just bought them over the weekend and they are down to 6 rolls!

One of my favorite memories is the black and white cartoons that only lasted a minute or two -- Suzy Snowflake, Frosty the Snowman, and the one about the 3 elves -- Hardrock, Coco, and Joe. You never knew when they would be on and it was such a treat when they appeared. One of our local stations brought them back a few years ago. What a delight for me and my kids just didn't understand my fascination with them and trying to catch them from the beginning to tape them.

I have never seen or heard of these black and whites but I found them! I enjoyed watching them a lot! Thanks. I'm going to show it to my kids and see what they think.
Suzy Snowflake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaUBpsn4QjQ&feature=channel

Hardrock, Coco, and Joe, The Three Little Dwarfs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDM6Bbt9WDY&feature=channel

 

[HunnyPots]

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" brought to you by, Dolly Madison Zingers!

 

[Planogirl]

I liked a commercial that had a little guy riding a shaver through the snow. I also loved all of the Budweiser and McDonald's commercials over the years.

My cousin sent everyone a copy of an old article he found on how to make felt animal ornaments. Does anyone remember these? Our family members had several in their trees.

 

[agentpleakley]

I liked a commercial that had a little guy riding a shaver through the snow. I also loved all of the Budweiser and McDonald's commercials over the years.

Loved the commercials -- don't forget Coca-Cola's I'd like to buy the world a coke commercial.

Retro memory: gift from grandma: a shirt box w/ a pack of underwear, lifesaver book, an orange, and a box of twix. Same thing every year.


We totally do retro Christmas at my house. Big C7s and C9s on the tree and outside + bubble lights (although I have a hard time getting them to stay upright on the tree). Big plastic light up figures. TINSEL TINSEL and more TINSEL on our big tree. Plus, I have an aluminum tree (still in the original box) w/ the color wheel. I have a huge collection of the elves, Santas and Mrs. Claus' with the plastic faces and felt bodies. The tackier the better.

 

[ead79]

I remember the Hallmark commercials that would make me blubber like a baby. I especially remember the one that they aired during Operation Desert Storm. It involved the soldier bursting in on his family and joining them in singing "O Holy Night"--a 3 Kleenex commercial for sure!

We also had those bubble lights as a kid, and I loved them too. Now I have a bubble light night light that I use during the holidays.

I remember the first year we pulled out my dad's Lionel train set from when he was a kid. It was such a thrill to see that it still worked. I would love to put that up again this year!

 

[JohnMouse]

And remember the original sponsors of those animated Christmas shows?

Rudolph-General Electric(as part of the "GE Fantasy Hour" series of specials)
Charlie Brown-Coca-Cola("Merry Christmas from your Coca-Cola bottler")
Frosty-Reynolds Wrap
Santa Claus is Comin' To Town-Milton Bradley(maker of "the best games in the world")

As for Kraft, they sponsored Perry Como's holiday shows. They were advertised in TV GUIDE as "Something special from Kraft". Yes, they featured those recipe spots narrated by Ed Herlihy.("Good food, and good food ideas")

And remember those Bob Hope holiday shows? They were the same thing year after year-the opening monolouge, the spots with the AP All-America football team and the Rose parade queen and her court, and Bob and his female guest star dueting on Silver Bells. As I said the Hope show was the same thing each year, but you never missed it nevertheless!

 

[mandy200587]

The old Christmas shows that use to come on. I loved the Disney Christmas Carol.

 

[MA pigletfan]

This thread is great!
i remember the budweiser commercials..and the one that they still show now and then from the 80's , i think it was for folgers or maxwell house..their college age/adult son comes home unexpectedly and everyone is all excited..i think it was " Jimmy's home!!!" something like that
Wish books were always wonderful!
I fondly remember sitting on my parents couch the day my mom picked up the wish book and circling toys like crazy!!!

 

[Diznotyzed]

I remember the GE commercials from the very first airing of "Rudolph" featured some of the elves from the show. Richard Deacon (Mel Cooley on The Dick Van **** Show) voiced one of those elves and that's why there's a tall, bald elf that looks like him!

(I knew part of that name was gonna be bleeped!)

 

[DisneyMissy318]

What about the "melted plastic" decorations?

We had some for every holiday - although I especially remember a Santa and an Angel.

Didn't know they were still around - until this thread & Google!

Great thread!

DisneyMissy