Most memorable Christmas gifts....

[Warped9]

Time for lookin' back to that time when you got your most memorable Christmas gifts.

When I was seven I was a fan of the '60s Adam West Batman series (hey, I was only seven! ). Anyway on Christmas of '66 I got something I'd been dreaming about: a large size Corgi Batmobile with the flicking chain cutter and could fire missiles, er, pellets that got lost everywhere. My cousin later offered me anything I wanted out of his toy collection for that car. No deal.

But when I was eleven I went wild receiving my first AMT model of the TOS Enterprise along with the Klingon Battle Cruiser. While I was carefully, lovingly assembling it and afterwards it took me to the furthest reaches of the universe in my imagination. Awesome!

Anyone else?

 

[Holdfast]

Optimus Prime.

Best. Present. Ever!

 

[Lookingglassman]

I got a toy gun back in the 70's that looked like a German MP 40 machine gun. You could slide a paper strip in the side of this gun and turn on the light and ghosts and monsters would be projected on the wall. You then could "Shoot" at them and tiny holes would appear in their bodies.

 

[Finn]

The Christmas we got a Nintendo console. Around 1988 I think. My brother and I went nuts.

 

[Warped9]

When of the best gifts I ever got wasn't when I was a kid. Many years ago it looked very much like I might not make it home for Christmas. Then almost at the last minute things changed and I was able to book a train ticket home on Christmas Eve. The train actually stopped in the neighbouring town and when it pulled in going on about 10pm when I descended from the train onto the platform it was like a scene out of an old movie. There was snow everywhere and it was crisp but bearable because of no wind. It was so picturesque and I couldn't remember ever being so glad to get home. I had a picturesque white Christmas that year and that's all I cared for.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Last year my dad got me a DVD boxed set of all World Series highlight films.

 

[BDJ]

Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle and Stunt Van! I made ole Evel go where no stunt cyclist had gone before! He jumped cats, dogs, puddles, hogs, little brothers, sleeping fathers, he even jumped a '76 Cadillac Eldorado....well...he didn't actually make that jump but he did suffer many broken bones ... er..wires...with that jump. I also got a whipping for scuffing the paint on that ugly green car!! (it was worth it!)

 

[Jono]

As cliched as it is, my first bike. I remember back in those days I'd sneak down to where the presents were late at night and seeing my bike next to the tree was pretty awesome.

Close second would by getting a Mega Drive II (shared gift with my brother). My mum had bouught it months before and we had been using it for a long time without knowing that it was ours. My mum had tricked us into thinking she had rented it from our local video store (which we did do before she bought it) and so we got it only for special occasions, school breaks, birthday weeks, that kind of thing. When we got it I somehow recognised it as the machine we'd been "renting" and asked and my mum told us what she had been doing. So that was memorable in the way my mum kept it a secret and saved it for christmas like that.

 

[od0_ital]

Christmas '87, I got a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends from my mother. It was the last Christmas gift she gave me, since she died in the summer of '88. I still have the book, even if I haven't read it in years.

 

[TerokNor]

My most memorable Christmas gift was "Julisses", a guinea-pig. I know, normally one should not put living animals "under the Christmas tree", but as I had pets before, my parents knew I would take good care of her. A few days after Christmas I had also convinced my parents, that Juli would be more happy, if she had a friend....so Kasidy moved in with her.

TerokNor

 

[trekkiedane]

I must've been no more than six years old (back in the very early seventies) when my parents gave me the, then *brand NEW* very first, 12 Volt LEGO train set; the system with blue tracks and the 12 Volt power track in the middle.

Sure it could only go round in circles, but that 12 Volt motor with the adjustable power supply could be used for so many different things the 4.5 Volt battery operated motor (mine was black though) simply wasn't good enough for; It didn't take me long to construct an electrically operated catapult and start shooting ornaments off the tree

I've been trying to google it but the closest thing (vintage 12 Volt LEGO train) I could find is this (which is a German version that came out some time the next year afaik).

ETA: Found an image:

 

[Sparky]

Sega Master System. 1986

My parents tried to hide it. They kept it upstairs on Christmas Day. My brother and I wanted it so bad. We made no bones about it.

Come Christmas day we were so excited. We knew this system and it's games inside and out. We knew every groove and shape of the packaging. The fatal mistake they made was putting 2 of the games they bought in with the Christmas gifts.

Near the end of the gift giving my dad handed me a smaller gift. He thought it was a Hardy Boys Book. (Hardy Boys Books and Sega Master System Games were almost exactly the same size and shape) All of a sudden my Mom yelled "No Bob!, not that one!" My brother and I looked at each other in knowing recognition, and before my dad could grab it back we ripped it open.

It was the best thing ever. Choplifter for the Sega Master System. I think we gave those Nintendo 64 Kids a run for their money. Once the jig was up my mom went upstairs and brought the SMS down. They had planned to put it under the tree once everything else was open and done with. They had forgot to keep the games they bought upstairs with the system.

It's the best gift ever because of what they tried to do. It's always a fun family story every Christmas while sitting around the tree.

 

[Mary Ann]

I must've been no more than six years old (back in the very early seventies) when my parents gave me the, then *brand NEW* very first, 12 Volt LEGO train set; the system with blue tracks and the 12 Volt power track in the middle.

My brother had this set! It was awesome, and we played with it for years. It was purchased in the Netherlands, and when we moved back to Canada our dad bought a voltage transformer so we could keep playing with it. This set was never released in Canada so it was the envy of our friends.

Christmas of 1990 I flew from university in Thunder Bay, Ontario, home to Toronto. I didn't get into uni residence so had a little apartment that was sparsely furnished and had no television. That didn't bother me, but most of my friends were horrified. Under the tree for me was a tiny (I think the screen was about 10 cm across) black and white television. There was no cable connection but it could be plugged in to the cigarette lighter of a car, which, sadly, I never tried to do. It was so small I could fit it in my backpack to bring it back to Thunder Bay. Since it had no cable I could only get two channels but I didn't care. I remember watching a Catherine the Great miniseries that winter, and was glad to be able to watch the news again.

 

[Holdfast]

Great stories everyone!

Sega Master System.

... a Mega Drive II

Yeah, I remember getting these on two different Christmasses too. I was definitely in the Sega camp! Actually, I got the original Mega Drive, not the II, and I got it the first Christmas it was available. I remember it being insanely expensive and it took a fairly extended propaganda campaign to persuade my parents to buy it for me.

 

[J.T.B.]

Christmas 1982, just turned 13, I got a Ruger 10/22, carbine model. I had been shooting an older Winchester .22 that my dad had, but that was the first firearm that was all mine. I still have it, and probably 50,000 rounds later, it's still in fine shape.

--Justin

 

[trekkiedane]

^did you shoot your eye out?

 

[J.T.B.]

No, and my glasses were OK, too. But a hot shell did come out of it once, land on my arm and burn me (I shoot lefty). There's still a little scar.

--Justin

 

[thestrangequark]

I remember getting my first CD player and CD at age 9: David Bowie 2 disc anthology, 69-92. Yeah, I was a rockin' kid.

My most memorable Christmas gift from my grandmother was the year she gave me a half tin of hard candies and three button covers -- she was rather Dursly-ish. My little sister got the other half of the hard candy in a sandwich bag for her Christmas gift and my mom got toilet paper and lightbulbs. This is the same year she bought both my cousins each a new computer. Better than my other grandparents though: they are super Catholics, and always sent gifts to my little sister but none to me or my older sister because we were born out of wedlock and I was unbaptized. Mind you, I'm not bitter, nor have I ever been. It's all too hilarious to be bitter about!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

A puppy. I was around 8 and had been begging for a dog for years. My parents finally relented and came home one night before Christmas with a box with holes in it. Inside was a sweet little poodle puppy. We named her Tinky (short for Tinkerbell) and so began my lifelong love of dogs! By the way, they got her at MACY'S. Can you imagine? At one time Macy's sold dogs!

 

[trekkiedane]

I remember getting my first CD player and CD at age 9: David Bowie 2 disc anthology, 69-92. Yeah, I was a rockin' kid.

When I was nine I don't even think cassette tapes were around yet

/.../ grandparents /.../

I don't actually remember this stuff as such (I own the home movies (Super-8) that prove it though!), but my grandparents -when I was the age where I got the LEGO train set and thereabouts- used to carry x-mas gifts into the house in those big bin-bags; and then they had to go to their car for the second load -and then once again!