Community Chat

[shoesnbags]

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@blackhole99 wrote:

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.

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@blackhole99

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by having everything you need to "arrive socially"  You want your son to move in wealthy circles?  That's why he got an education? To be in the society pages?  I'm not trying to be snarky, but that's what it sounds like you're saying.

[Stray]

it depended on my age....I loved my dollhouse, my doll and carriage....as I got older it was my bike and we always enjoyed board games ....I do remember Cootie, Mr & Mrs Potato head with real spuds, Chutes & Ladders, Candyland & Jeopardy when a bit older. I really loved my Viewmaster .....and as I became pre teen, I loved going to the indoor roller rink...so it was my skates, skating skirt, matching Pom Poms on my skates and the colorful metal box for my skates....of course jump rope and jacks, cards and my first portable radio which led to my first phonograph

i have beautiful childhood memories and times were so much simpler 

[violann]

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@Jannabelle wrote:

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!

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I had a happy Christmas surprise when I found my Alexanderkins (Madame Alexander’s take on the 8” Ginny).

I hadn’t seen her since we’d moved, and I was sure she’d been thrown out in the move.

She was a Christmas present for Christmas 1953.

[tansy]

Did anyone else have a Patty Play Pal?  She was 3 feet tall, I believe, and had long hair to brush.

Books were probably my favorite gifts.

[lovescats]

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@shoesnbags wrote:

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@blackhole99 wrote:

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.

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@blackhole99

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by having everything you need to "arrive socially"  You want your son to move in wealthy circles?  That's why he got an education? To be in the society pages?  I'm not trying to be snarky, but that's what it sounds like you're saying.

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to me what she meant was something like my experience of when I was in grade school a lot of the kids  I went to school with lived in better houses than I did which I saw when I went to their birthday parties 

[AuntG]

Barbie, and all the accessories.

[Carol Diane]

Thumbelina doll,  Little Miss Echo (you turned a button on her dress and you'd speak into her then turn the button the other way and it played back your recording), Tiny Tears, Flopsy Flora, Barbies,  my Schwinn bike with high handles and a stick shift (I wanted the boy's version so I could have the stick shift to shift gears), any Beatles item, and my pogo stick. 

[151949]

I liked dolls, paper dolls and coloring books. I would get 1 doll for Christmas usually and a stuffed animal from my grandma. I got a lot of paper dolls and coloring books.So did my cousins and we would play with them for hours.

[KathyM23]

My brother and I were always treated well at Christmas.  Although we were definitely not rich, we were not poor either - probably in the middle of middle class if that makes sense.  But Mom and Dad managed to give us great Christmas gifts.  We were very lucky. 

I remember and loved different gifts at different ages.  We were given one large gift and several lesser items.  The lesser would have been clothes, books  (both of which I loved and still love today).  And games - I remember all of those already been mentioned.  Loved Mr. Potatoe Head - never thought of using a real potatoe!

My Aunt gave us pogo sticks one year and they were so much fun, I still remember that today.

As I was a really good skater, favorite of all time larger gift was Ray-Ban Precision Roller Skates with an extended square toe stop - they were expensive and I know it must have been a stretch on their budget.  I was surprised by them and very happy.  I kept those skates until I moved into my present house in the 90's.  Got them sometime in the 50's.

Remember my Swinn Blue and Cream 26" bike - My brother got a Brown and Green one that year.  We rode many miles on those beautiful bikes.

One of my favorite things was the Christmas stocking.  It was exciting to wonder what was in them.  Of course there was always nuts and candy and then surprises - Pez holder (how many remember them?)  sleeper yo-yo with "diamonds" (kidding) on the side, lipstick, jewelry, colored pencils, stickers, boxes of colored stars, crayons - all kinds of exciting things.  Mom did a great job of making stockings interesting.

[Kachina624]

I was a very young child during the height of WWII.  There was no plastic, metal or rubber for toys, so my parents thought themselves to be very lucky to get me a used tricycle.  Dad fixed it up, painted it and it looked better than brand new.  We could spend hours building things out of a few boards, nails and a hammer.  I did have a nice 18" Madam Alexander doll for which mom made a beautiful wardrobe.  We also had a cat and a collie puppy, which started a lifetime trend.

At one point dad made my sister and me a large dollhouse, then mom and dad spent evenings making furniture and "decorating" it.  They probably had more fun with it than we did.