Christmas past

As I sorted through the boys' presents today in preparation for wrapping them for Christmas, I started thinking back to the Christmas holiday when I was younger and the presents I once got. Sadly, it's easy to remember specific Christmastimes in terms of what presents I received and less about the experiences leading up to and including the holiday. It's not all presents -- I remember not falling asleep one year, my dad watching "The Main Event" and "Alien" on video while I tried to sleep in my bedroom next to the living room, and the incredibly warm Christmas of 1982. All those memories are for another post; this one is strictly a look back at the presents. So here it goes, by year and what I remembered getting:

1977: Simon, Super Jock Football (I also may have gotten Super Jock Soccer this Christmas)
1978: Mattel electronic football
1979: Electronic Detective, Chutes Away
1980: Risk, electronic Space Invaders (which I own again, found one on eBay)
1981: Missile Command, Maze Craze, Video Pinball, Dungeons and Dragons basic set
1982: Atari 400
1983: Columbia 10-speed bike, Monster Manual II
1984: Dual cassette boombox
1986: A lot of clothes (including my only pair of suspenders), Bruce Springsteen Live 1975-86, Sears stereo w/turntable

1987: Ghosts and Goblins, Ikari Warriors
1988: Super Mario handheld game/clock
1989: Leather bomber jacket, brown fedora
1990: Gameboy


As I type these up (and I'm sure there's more if I really thought about it), there are a lot of electronics and video games. Things haven't changed much over 30 years.

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