The Gifts of Christmas Past

Oh!  This Buzzfeed article that came across my feed this morning is so full of happy!  35 Awesome Toys Every 80s Girl Wanted For Christmas.

The childhood my sister and I lived was actually pretty awesome in some ways, one of those ways was toys.  We had one insanely wealthy grandmother and another who was insanely good at purchasing super awesome toys.  So, while there were really bad things and troubling times and all that, one consolation is that we did have awesome toys... and quite a few of them!

• Girl Talk Date Line board game

I had a somewhat mild interest in wanting this game.  The game I really wanted for some reason was Mall Madness.

• Fashion Plates

We had those exact fashion plates.  They were a gift from the second grandmother to my sister... so once the newness had worn off I was allowed to play with them as well.  We loved those fashion plates.

• Barbie and The Rockers

The first grandmother sometimes would buy us a Barbie doll for us to have at home.  But mainly she gave them as gifts to be played with at her house, which was completely fine.  Rocker Barbie was one of those shared gifts for my sister & I at that grandmothers house.  

In her old house there were mainly older 70s Barbies and clothes (which my sister received before I was born) and a cardboard and plastic Barbie Apartment complete with elevator.  All of this was located in the second floor bedroom of our deceased grandfather, who I'm pretty sure what still around.

But in her new house the Barbie room was a closet in the basement.  Which sounds creepy, but her basement was great, except the one room without windows.  But this was in the sunniest room and the closet was quite large.  It could accomodate the Barbie Apartment, The Barbie BackYard BBQ Set and Pool.  The Barbie Pink Corvette.  The 70's Barbie's of my sisters and the 80s one's we shared.  Clothes, assecories and me!  Quite comfortably.  And I was away from crazy (not my grandmother), so that was always good.  A nice, safe little Barbie hide-away.

• Colourforms

My sister was too old for these, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.  I had two religious one's; something about Babylon and something about Moses and the plagues on Egypt.  I also had The Gummibears, which was one of my favourite shows then and was a gift from a friend at one of my birthday parties.  The religious ones my mom gave me because she was selling weird religious stuff.  The company was just copying all of the awesome stuff out there and making it religous.  Boo.  So, besides those colourforms, I did also have a few stuffed and small plastic Carebears, only they had a bible verse number on their belly, a dove, and some religousy word like "peace" or "respect" or "responsibility".  Luckily the company tanked and no one had to keep getting those gifts from my mom or her friend.

The kicker is, I could understand if they were a cheaper price knock-off from the originals.  But the company charged the same price for a religious 'care bear' as a real care bear was selling for.  So, my mom's excuse of 'we couldn't afford it' zooms out the window completely.  But the colourforms were fun.  I mean they were just reusable stickers and that's not great, but it was something tangible to go along with my imagination which was cool.  Mom, however, took them away from me, when she found out that I was making the 'evil' Babylonians and Egyptians play the awesome, cool people, while the religious people were not so cool.  hahah

• Get In Shape, Girl!

This is one I actually never wanted.  Not even a little bit.  We had Jane Fonda's work-out record (which I'm not sure how since my parents hated her, though I always liked her), but I did want and was gifted the Minnie Mouse work-out record and VHS tape thing.  That one I enjoyed.  

• She-Ra: Princess of Power

You read that up there about my mom selling religious knock-offs of real stuff?  Yeah, this was her crazy religious phase.  A horrible three year hell we all had to live through.  During that time, She-Ra and He-Man were THE DEVIL!  *sigh*  I knew about the cartoons for them and I knew about the He-Man action figures and castle because my cousin had those toys... and I really wanted to watch those cartoons and play with his He-Man stuff or have some of those toys myself, but it was not allowed.  I actually don't recall the She-Ra action figure or her Crystal Castle Playset.  Probably because my cousin didn't own those.  Another thing that was evil was The Dungeon and Dragons cartoon and I loved that one.  :/

• Tinkerbell Make-Up

I knew kids who had this, but I never really wanted it.  I just wanted to use my sisters make-up.  Her stuff was way more awesome than the kid version.  Tinkerbell had two colours; pink and pink.  My sister had prettier pinks, violets, greens, blues!  

• Fischer Price Medical Kit

Nope.  But I did want the game Operation.  Finally played that for the first time a few years ago.  

• Strawberry Shortcake Dolls

My sister and I both had these.  Gifts from the first grandmother, possibly a random party goer friend too.  They were really cool!  Actually we had a lot of Strawberry Shortcake stuff.  We had these dolls, we had the small little plastic figures.  We had a small strawberry house for them and we were given the mansion for Christmas one year.

• Cabbage Patch Dolls

My sister liked them.  I thought they were just OK, but ended up with some too.  Probably because the first grandmother couldn't buy it for my sister and not me, since we were both the age to like that item.  I did like the premie that I received.  And the Cornsilk hair one, because her hair was all silky and she was dressed in super rad 80s clothes.  

• Popples

OH!  I loved The Popples!  Loved the cartoon and wanted a Popple toy.  I should have been more specific.  I wanted a multi-coloured Popple like the one pictured.  What I received was a baseball Popple on the waning end of Popple popularity and I'm not a sports fan at all.  But it was a lovely gift.  It was a birthday gift from my sisters best friend who was very tomboyish, who never gave me gifts at that.  So, while it's not what I had been imagining, I did receive a real Popple and it was special because of the circumstances.

• Pound Puppies

I did watch this cartoon and my sister had a few Pound Puppies, I think I might have had one.  What I really loved were the Pound Kittens.  That's what I had a few of and they were SO adorable!  Kitties!  

• Glitter Batons

I did think these were really cool and was able to play with one a few times from a friend who brought it to school.  But I'm not too sussed that I didn't get one.  They're great and all, but I wasn't ecstatic to have one.

• My Little Pony

Yes, we had a lot of My Little Ponies.  Or I thought we had a lot, until I met the girl who's room was entirely filled with nothing but them.  Then I was glad our collection was so small.  But we had a stable with some award arches and hurdles.  And the castle!  And several, several ponies.  Regural ponies, miniature ponies, ponies with wings, ponies with irredescent wings that you could push a button and they'd move, sea ponies, unicorn ponies.  

• Sweet Secrets

I remember these after looking at the photo.  I thought they were pretty OK, but was never dying to get one.

• Rainbow Brite Dolls

OMG!  I loved Rainbow Brite!  I watched her cartoon all the time and wanted all the peoples.  I was lucky enough to get Twink from a random birthday partier.  And that was epic!

• Charm Necklaces

I did want this and was able to have it after I found one on the ground.  It was just that necklace with one or two charms and I would trade other things; pencils or food for charms from the other kids.  

• Keypers

I did have one of these.  She was a pretty snail.  I liked this gift.  I think it too was from a random party goer.  By random I mean fellow school-mates I might invite and they might show up, but not my regular group of friends who were three people.

• My Child Dolls

Creepy!  I've never seen or heard of those until now.  Eh, no...

• Barbie Dream House

We did have this exact one.  It was several years after it was popular and my grandmother purchased it and the groovy furniture at a yard sale.  It was to be kept at her house and since it wouldn't fit in the Barbie Closet, the room it was in became The Barbie Room.  It was awesome.

• Monchichi Dolls

My sister had one of these.  I was too young when they were popular.  He was pretty cute though.

• Pillow People

I remember them, but never wanted them.  I did want an animal backpack, but I got something shaped like an animal with a handle and a slit in it's back and it was supposed to be a sleep over bag.  It wasn't something I wanted, but it was actually kind of cool.

• Fischer Price Roller Skates

No.  I had real roller skates from my first grandmother.  I did, however, want moon shoes, which came out in the 90s.  But I was too old for them (as in they wouldn't hold me or fit my feet).  

• Big Wheels

I only slightly wanted a Big Wheels, but I had tricycles and they were alright.  What I wanted was my own car to drive around.  I wanted a Power Wheels.  But, I never got that as they were insanely expensive.

• The Heart Family

I remember kids really wanting them and they were sort of cool, but I had Barbie and I had imagination, so before I got a Ken doll, I just pretended this Barbie was Ken and this Barbie was the kid.  So, I didn't need The Heart Family.

• Rose Petal Dolls

I ADORED Rose Petal Place.  I watched the cartoon and wanted stuff, but never got a doll.  I did. however, receive The Rose Petal Place board game one year for my birthday.  It was from that family friend that went into the religious knock-off business with my mom, but before they got into that business.  I was very lucky.  Also that same family got me a Rose Petal Place birthday card the same year.  I loved that year.

• Care Bears

We did have actual stuffed, little plastic, and very small plastic Care Bears all from our first grandmother.  Also Care Bear cousins.  We loved the Care Bears.  LOVED!!

• P.J. Sparkles

Never wanted.  At all.

• Herself The Elf and Friends Dolls

OMG they're SO cute!  I'd never heard of these until just now or I totally would have wanted them.  So cute!!

• Poochie

My sister had some Poochie things.  Some miniature stationary/stamper set and perhaps a miniature Poochie.  I was not allowed to play with these things, but they were really cute.

• Sharp Boombox

I'm pretty sure my sister had this exact one.  I never wanted this one.  But I did want a boom box, I think anyone would have been OK.  My mother refused.  She liked me only listening to bible stories, lullabies, and childrens books on tape.  A boom box would mean I'd have access to the evils of radio.  *sigh*  But it didn't stop me from asking every year for birthday and Christmas.  This is one of the gifts my second grandmother (and my grandfather) gave to me for Christmas one year.  That Christmas at their house is actually on video and you can hear me exclaim, "OHHHH Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!!  Now I don't have to wish for one anymore!"  My mother was less than thrilled, but luckily didn't take it away from me.  

• Jem and The Hologram Dolls

I, of course, loved Jem.  My mother thought she was evil, but oddly enough never kept me from watching the cartoons.  But I never did have anything Jem related.

• See-Through Phone

They were cool and all, but I never really wanted one of these.  I wanted a vintage rotary dial phone.  I was fascinated by them.  And my grandmother gave me one she no longer used when I was a teenager.  Huzzah!

Since there is only one thing on here closely resembling what my second grandmother would gift us, I'll just share.  They were never the super hot IT item, but generally were along the same lines.  Example.  Third Star Wars film comes out, everyone wants The emperor or his ship or the Ewok Village play-set.  Those would be the IT items.  What my grandmother purchased were Ewok plushies.  We didn't even know they made those, we didn't even know we wanted them and they were the most epic gifts that year.

One year I received a real doll, unlike Barbie or Jem or anything.  She came in a beautiful box and had a doll stand.  She was dressed as a little girl would dress and wear her curls in the late 1850s/early 1860s and there was an information booklet on what life was like during that time and and a bit about the Civil War.  I loved history and historical fashion, even then, so it was an excellent gift.

One year I received a miniature computer.  It was a one piece monitor and keyboard and about the size of a football.  It came with some disks that contained games.  It was like a glorified Speak and Spell.  It wasn't a real computer and the keyboard had the same style buttons.  I never even dreamed that something like that had been made.  It was so cool!

When the Land Before Time was popular, my sister and I received character plushies.  We didn't know they made those either.  I got Cera (probably because I'm Sarah, but maybe also because she was a little fussy) and my sister got Little Foot and my grandmother got herself Ducky.  We liked that grandma had one too and we liked the one's we got.  A lot!