Airehead ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #1 Posted December 23, 2019 Now for the opposite. Share a memorable gift-opening moment from your childhood or adulthood. I remember the year I got a Chrissy doll with hair that grew or could be made shorter. They were all the rage and word on the street was that Santa was out of them. I was the happiest kid alive. 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share #2 Posted December 23, 2019 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randomguy Posted December 23, 2019 Share #3 Posted December 23, 2019 I honestly don’t remember many off the top of my head. I got an 8-track one year and cried because I wanted a cassette player. My brother and I got BB guns one year, that was awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Zacharia Posted December 23, 2019 Share #4 Posted December 23, 2019 I got Rush “Moving Pictures” LP for Christmas when I was 10. I got a Spider-Man LP when I was 7 or 8 that I thought was pretty cool. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parr8hed Posted December 23, 2019 Share #5 Posted December 23, 2019 When I was somewhere around 10 years old I got a chrome Mongoose BMX bike. Man, that was awesome. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #6 Posted December 23, 2019 The best were bikes, electric guitars, and the Beatles White Album. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kzoo Posted December 23, 2019 Share #7 Posted December 23, 2019 Maybe my Daisy BB gun. After the opening presents was over and things calmed down my dad brought out a large cardboard box stuffed with crumpled newspaper. He had it made up ahead of time and we set it in a spare room as a shooting gallery. I must have put 500 BBs thought that gun that Christmas day. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razors Edge ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #8 Posted December 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Airehead said: Now for the opposite. Share a memorable gift-opening moment from your childhood or adulthood. I remember X-mas day being a joyous morning for my whole childhood. This was back in the Sears catalog days, so the lead up to and then the actual surprise of opening stuff was great! Probably earliest was Tonka trucks. Then things like electric race cars, trains, Erector sets, etc. Then Star Wars or army men, and various other fun stuff. But also clothes Opening the stocking was awesome as well, and with two siblings, and alternating through gifts, it was a long raucous process that lasted quite a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrapr ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #9 Posted December 23, 2019 Probably Schwinn bike. I wanted a bike so bad. Grandma and Grandpa be were with us in Florida. Kids go to bed. I sneak out and look....there it is! Mom sees me and says Santa might take that back if you aren't good. I could not help it and next time I peeked it was gone. Dayum. Mom says if you go right to bed Santa might have time to come back. He did. The end 1 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #10 Posted December 23, 2019 I don't really remember a particular gift, but I do recall that we always did our stockings on December 6th, the Feast of St Nicholas. That was almost more special because it was the start of the Christmas season for us and the decorations, cookies and everything would start after that. Probably the most long lasting gift memory was the Tammy doll. I don't even recall which one of us got the gift, but I do recall that her shoe was lost on Christmas Day. My poor Dad went through all the gift wrap and the garbage bags to find the shoe, but alas, the shoe didn't turn up. Eventually we found the shoe somewhere in the apartment and every Christmas thereafter we hung Tammy's shoe as an ornament on the Christmas tree. My sister took most of the "special" ornaments that my Mom had (since she's the only one who puts up a proper tree) - I'll have to see if it made it to her tree this year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirtyhip Posted December 23, 2019 Share #11 Posted December 23, 2019 This Barbie store. It was like a dept. store. I got a Barbie car too that year. I remember playing with that. Vivid memory. Never got the townhouse. I think it was too expensive for my family. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
groupw Posted December 23, 2019 Share #12 Posted December 23, 2019 My first Christmas memory is when I was 3. We were at my grandparents. I got a truck with a trailer full of wooden blocks. I don't remember that toy beyond that day. I saw a picture of one a few years ago. They are worth a small fortune, now! I remember several moments over the years of fun presents. Probably one of the more fun was the Sizzlers track. Motorized Hot Wheels cars on a high banked oval track! It barely fit in the living room of the trailer. The cat kept trying to walk over it and would jump every time a car came at her! Our dog watched it all with nervous anticipation. One car leaped that barrier and she caught it in her mouth! My favorite was the year I woke a little early and Dad was finishing the gifts. (He worked night shift). He had bought Mom a stereo and was playing Christmas records. He asked me to go wake my brothers (he never asked that) and then go wake Mom. Mom was thrilled and that was one of the happiest faces I ever saw on Dad! This was the early 70s. She used that stereo into the 2000s...I think a big part of my love for music came from that Christmas... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffJim Posted December 23, 2019 Share #13 Posted December 23, 2019 I remember being called to the principal's office, and finding out my parent's were on the phone to consult with me about which pro football team helmet I wanted. I was probably 8. I asked for a Redskins helmet, because I was wildly un PC back then, but the store didn't have any. My parent's called the school so they could ask if I could live with the Bills. I was cool with that. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share #14 Posted December 23, 2019 28 minutes ago, BuffJim said: I remember being called to the principal's office, and finding out my parent's were on the phone to consult with me about which pro football team helmet I wanted. I was probably 8. I asked for a Redskins helmet, because I was wildly un PC back then, but the store didn't have any. My parent's called the school so they could ask if I could live with the Bills. I was cool with that. that is a very interesting story. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted December 23, 2019 Share #15 Posted December 23, 2019 7 hours ago, Airehead said: Best gift recieving moment Isn't @Airehead an educator? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #16 Posted December 23, 2019 I worked my way through undergrad college and in 1973 was hoping to get a scholarship and teaching assistantship to Illinois Tech (IIT). It wasn't Harvard but it was a top 20 chemistry grad school. I got a letter fron IIT in the mail, opened it, and was floored to read my application had been rejected! I was SO depressed, even though I had been accepted by Virginia Tech - though with only a half scholarship and less monthly income from a departmental job for the first year than I hoped. I saw my college research advisor the next day, he phoned the IIT chemistry department and learned IIT thought I was scheduled to take the GRE's (the grad school version of the SAT;s) earlier and when they didn't get the scores they assumed I hadn't taken the GRE's. So, with my advisor's info they put me back under consideration and waited for the GRE scores to reach them. The next week I got my GRE scores. I had set the UMBC record (broken just 2 years later!) with a 720 on the 4-hour chemistry exam. On the 4-hour general exam I got a 780 in math (UMBC chemistry dept. record - also for 2 years) and 560 in English. I didn't need a great score in English and I took it for 2 hours after 6 straight hours of chemistry and math tests - all tests taken back-to-back-to-back on the same day. A couple weeks later, a letter arrived. Paraphrasing: "Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded a full scholarship [$9900/yr then: about $50,000 in 2019 $] to graduate school in chemistry at IIT and a teaching assistantship paying $325/month tax-free [about $1700/month in 2019 $]." With my hands shaking, I handed the letter to my mother. She read it, couldn't believe it and kept saying, "What's the catch?" I explained that it was a win-win deal: IIT got a researcher and part-time lab instructor for low pay and no benefits and it didn't cost them to let me go to school for free, while I got the chance to earn a graduate degree from an excellent college. In the following years, that IIT degree got me promotions and better pay than I'd otherwise have earned without grad school. THAT was my best gift I ever received. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted December 23, 2019 Share #17 Posted December 23, 2019 2 hours ago, Road Runner said: Isn't @Airehead an educator? Hey,. we can;t all be as perfect as you, Taylor. i before e except after c and in weird. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted December 23, 2019 Share #18 Posted December 23, 2019 My Handy Andy tool kit when I was about 6 maybe 7. In second place maybe the slot car track when I was 10 ish. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share #19 Posted December 24, 2019 4 hours ago, Road Runner said: Isn't @Airehead an educator? Guilty i spell poorly and my secretary is on vacation. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted December 24, 2019 Share #20 Posted December 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Further said: My Handy Andy tool kit when I was about 6 maybe 7. In second place maybe the slot car track when I was 10 ish. My brother really liked the Rockem Sockem robots and GI Joe. "You knocked my block off!" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Wheels Posted December 24, 2019 Share #21 Posted December 24, 2019 20 hours ago, Airehead said: my secretary is on vacation. I believe the correct term is administrative support staff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 24, 2019 Author Share #22 Posted December 24, 2019 36 minutes ago, Square Wheels said: I believe the correct term is administrative support staff. Yes, I believe you are correct. I am lost without her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Share #23 Posted December 25, 2019 My three speed "English" bicycle. Way to big for me at first but I grew into it. It was freedom, the ability to go anywhere. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petitepedal ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Share #24 Posted December 25, 2019 I remember my grampy holding one of my dolls..when you wound it up..its arms and legs gently moved...like a real baby. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudge ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Share #25 Posted December 25, 2019 I was about 10. I really, really wanted a GB Packers chook. I kept talking about it. My mom was a teacher, so we rode to school with her rather than ride the bus. One day on the way to school I said again how much I wanted the chook. My mom said I didn't need one. I was crushed and faced the truck window so no one could see me cry. I got a Packers chook for Christmas. (I think she had already bought it) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Author Share #26 Posted December 25, 2019 What is a chook? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Further Posted December 25, 2019 Share #27 Posted December 25, 2019 I remember a few times that I gave the perfect gift. I remember the expression on the persons face We were a bunch of broke kids, on our own, in a strange city. Drew names to give cheap gifts. I gave a package of stuff, don't remember it all, but it included a Pez gizmo. Cheach opened that pack, went through it with the smile growing item by item. Busted out laughing "fucking pez, I got a fucking pez" Made his day and mine. Many decades ago, I still remember it. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Share #28 Posted December 25, 2019 A young man friend of a family member (one of the outlaws) won $100 on a scratch ticket in yesterday's grab bag fun. His face lit up like the best thing in the world just happened. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Zacharia Posted December 25, 2019 Share #29 Posted December 25, 2019 8 hours ago, Airehead said: What is a chook? Australian for chicken. Training one to watch American Football must be quite a feat. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smudge ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Share #30 Posted December 25, 2019 13 hours ago, Airehead said: What is a chook? A knit winter hat. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prophet Zacharia Posted December 25, 2019 Share #31 Posted December 25, 2019 47 minutes ago, smudge said: A knit winter hat. I know of them as tuques, touques or toques, but never chooks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airehead ★ Posted December 25, 2019 Author Share #32 Posted December 25, 2019 So glad you got your hat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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