Community Chat

[ciao_bella]

Yesterday, I was at my niece's house and her young children were putting away a ton of toys they received for Christmas.  

It got me thinking about what my sister, brother and I had during childhood.  For us, there wasn't much money to be spent on toys for Christmas, but I do remember one year getting a 'used' bike and a pair of roller skates that you adjusted  by cranking the key to tighten it against your shoes.  It also gave me some really nasty ankle and heel cuts when they would fall off if you were skating on the bumpy sidewalk.   Nonetheless, I wouldn't trade those days for all the toys in the world. 

So, what about you?  What was your favorite toy growing up and why?

[hennypenny]

Chanukah was small gifts, chocolate gelt, marbles, crayons etc.

Christmas was one nice gift, a doll, a doll house, skates etc. We were thrilled by the one gift.

Oh, Grandma would give us a stuffed animal too.

I had those skates with a key. I used a push broom to learn to skate. No sidewalks where I grew up so skated on a long bumpy driveway.

[cherry]

You know ,I grew up right after WW2. My parents bless them, always managed to give us a nice Christmas

It sounds like yours did too. Even if the stuff wasn't new ,it was given with love. If it wasn't ,you wouldn't have such sweet memories

We always had some board games ,because there were 4 of us until my sister came along when I was 12, making 5.

We had some board games we played like cootie ,and I think there was something called mill.  We all played together ,and got along pretty well. We also played things like old maid and  fish

My parents made huge batches of popcorn balls every year and we shared them with friends.

We weren't rich, but we never felt poor, and everyone we knew was in about the same situation

[VenturaHighway]

I got my first horse on my 7th birthday. I spent all my time riding and rarely played with toys.

[jannabelle1]

I sure remember those roller skates - very painful!! My dolls were my favorite toys, especially Ginny (still have her). When I was in about 6th grade I got a transistor radio and thought that was probably about the best gift ever. LOL. Wonderful memories!

[deepwaterdotter]

We always got underwear, socks, pajamas, and slippers from grandparents. Each child got one toy, my favorite was books.

[hennypenny]

Cherry, I remember playing cootie. Mr potato head was with a real potato.

We played tons of card games. I learned canasta when I was about ten. 

I remember the paper napkins had a grid pattern on them and we numbered down the side and lettered accross and played battleship.

We grew up at the same time. 

[hennypenny]

Ginny was my favorite doll. I would save allowance for two months and buy her an outfit.

[blackhole99]

I had such a sad childhood, we really had nothing we needed to arrive socially. We did have food though and a warm house to live in. My Father did have a full time job, but with 5 kids it just didn't cut it. Holiday time was stressful for my Mom when we were little. I remember we were allowed to pick 3 things out of the Monkey Wards catalog from the 88 cent section of toys and games. My Grandma would give us a useful gift which was much appreciated. I remember our neighbor who was a bachelor bought us a bike one year. One bike for 3 girls at the time, but we were glad to have it . I really have never gotten over growing up poor and made sure I educated myself and married a man who was very educated and always had a good job. I never spoiled my only child with things even at XMAS time, but he always had everything he needed to arrive socially, if you know what I mean.

[jlkz]

One of the earliest Christmas gifts I remember:  the twins and I had our presents wrapped and sitting on the cushions of a horsehair fabric sofa.

We each got a " Mr. Potato Head " set, cut-out paper dolls with clothes, and a hairbrush.  At 73, I still have that hairbrush !

As for those metal rollerskates with the key, had them somewhere along the line.  Since we were not allowed outside the gate, my dad mixed some concrete and made a one-person wide sidewalk around the house.  I skated for hours at a time.