Old School Christmas

Me and a friend in the days leading up to the Festival of Conspicuous Consumption were talking about how Christmas was growing up for both of us as children in the 70's. We had some similar memories despite living almost 1000 miles apart.

Before my family purchased the current artificial green Christmas tree we still use, we had an artificial silver one with silver foil looking attachments to it that dated back to the 60's. The silver foil tree was backlit with a rotating lightbulb thingy that bathed it in three different colors of red, orange and green light at regular intervals.

We actually bought a real tree one year at Mom's insistence. The additional maintenance and upkeep required to have it stay fresh, the extra precautions we had to observe in order for the tree not to become a fire hazard and the annoyance of vacuuming the carpet almost every day because of fallen needles caused us to go right back to the artificial one the next year.

The radio stations would play classic Christmas music from Thanksgiving until Christmas Day. I loved hearing the variety of soulful Christmas songs that ranged from Nat King Cole to Charles Brown's blues flavored Merry Christmas, Baby.

Stores wouldn't put up Christmas decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving Day. You looked forward to watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, The Grinch That Stole Christmas and the other various Rankin-Bass animated Christmas shows.

The other aspect of it was a lot of the toys we received made us use our imaginations or physically do something. Hula hoops. Easy Bake Ovens. Etch a Sketches. Legos. Lincoln Logs. Light Brites. Sporting equipment. Bicycles.

Playing electronic football games back in the day involved setting up 22 plastic men, a felt football and a electrically charged metal football field, not a video game console. Boxing was the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots. One Christmas I got a foosball table and even a hockey game. I developed a wicked spin shot that I still confound my foosball opponents with. I generate speed with it just by flicking my wrists.

I had plastic soldiers like most kids my age and a GI Joe but would've rather had a Barbie. Of course there was always the box that contained clothes and an occasional book or two for me since my parents friends and my family knew I loved to read.

As I got older I was drafted into the Santa's Helpers Corps. I had to help keep my sister's presents safely hidden from their prying, nosey eyes until Christmas Day. I also learned as a member of the SHC the three most deadly words of the Christmas season: Some Assembly Required.

I ended up discovering the joys and frustrations of putting together various Barbie houses, a miniature doll house and two bikes.

Every time I hear those classic back in the day Black Christmas songs during the holidays my mind drifts to those relatively carefree days when as Stevie Wonder sang in I Wish, then my only worry was for Christmas what would be my toy.

These days I have far more to worry about than I did in the 70's.