Christmas in the 1970s - Life in America 

So did I at Schofield Barracks 1977-80

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You took the words right out of my mouth.

We all need regular connection with nature and the great outdoors for good mental health. I'm 71 and ride my mountain bike almost daily even in winter. Seeing a young person outdoors is as scarce as a sighting of bigfoot.

Most kids these days won’t camp in the backyard they don’t wanna give up the internet i grew up in a great time 60s and 70s life was great I had a Banana seat Bicycle I road all over my small town delivering newspapers those was the good days

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I 100% agree with you. I'm 36 going on 37 in a few weeks. Let me tell you when I look at Christmas now and think to myself, as a tear rolls down my cheek, "Yup, just another day on the calendar." Seriously, the meaning of it all has vaporized. People would try to tell me every now and then that just because I'm old enough now where the meaning shouldn't be what it was when I was a kid, that I should be thankful for the roof over my head, the food on the table, the clothes on my back, and the little bit of family and friends that I still have. Yes, I can agree with that, and along with that, my gifts go from "want" quota to "needs". No one today will EVER feel that kind satisfaction. Christmas for me now, and the few years gone back, I was eternally grateful whenever now I receive socks, shirts, pants, deodorant, body sprays, you name it. I look at it now and go "Yes, just want I NEEDED."

I feel the same. I miss those days

I will be 60 this July and you are 100% right Christmas is just not the same it seems like how much money I can spend family and friends are no longer celebrated just taken for granted and the TRUE meaning of Christmas is forgotten!

It was definitely magical. Residential areas were into it too. Lights everywhere.

Me either! That's when things were good & wholesome. When people cared about 1 another & gave from the heart ❤️. Today kids r so much different. If they don't like it they give it back, or return it to get the money & do whatever. To me, it's ungrateful & disrespectful!! If we ever acted like that! Well, let's just say that wouldn't of happened! We knew better!

Porn is better today, though😂

Agreed!!

it was us that started them down that road , so dont pity or anything like that , its our fault , but if you look at the little ones during christmas you see the joy. I am tired of people dumping on the kids of today when its us that put them on whatever road you see

@@hiredgun7186 Yeah, & life is having common sense! & yes common sense is just knowing yourself or is learned by u growing & going to school, & seeing how others interact. Now, whether they choose to use it or not? That's up to them! U no how u want to be treated. So, why would u treat somebody else different in a way that's not nice? & knowing u wouldn't want to be treated that way yourself!🤔. Because they don't care or they r selfish! So, they get what comes back to them in life. & back then they had screwed up families too.

That era had a lot of unsolved crimes that have been uncovered in current era.

Those were the days!!

Agree

I was totally thinking the same thing!

I'll be 60 in July. Where has the time gone.

We were blessed

I loved Major Matt Mason!!! Those toys are expensive on eBay!!! I have a mint/unused Major Matt Mason coloring book.

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I was born in 1993, and I didn't grow up with popular toys, as I usually made my own. I can assume that it's similar to the late 90's early 2000s, minus certain technologies, like computers, video arcades, VHS and cell phone. I had a landline until 2008. I would watch TV, read books, play with toys, draw etc.

I was born in 61 and Christmas then was a special time. I never got much but what i got I really liked. I could not sleep at all that night and after all of that Christmas now means nothing to me. It is like doing the best drugs you can get and then going to aspirin. It just wont do the trick anymore. I can still smell a new Hot Wheels.

I was born in 60 also. Great memories.

one year i made a dvd from all of our old home movies from christmas; talk about smiling , laughing and crying :)

I wish I could go back to that era

I agree. Take heart in remembering that our parents and grandparents would lament the loss of the Christmas they remember so fondly.

Agreed!

I'm crying and smiling, as well. I'm 61 now, lost my dad in November of 2021; Christmas has not been the same without him. I fondly remember all my Christmases from my childhood because dad always made it special. I would go back in a heart beat, if I could, to a much simpler time of no internet, cellphones nor social media, but a time that family got together and enjoyed the season.

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Also born in 65. We got to see how great things were back then but looking at life today it makes me sad.

@@zlatte2594 Same here. I was born on Christmas Day in 1964. Those childhood Christmases were magical!

Same here...born in 65...loved Christmas with my family back then

'65 too!! The magic and the memories made with my family warms my heart each season. I try to convey this to my grandchildren and hope, in the crazy world we are now living in, I have instilled in them the core family values and specialness the holidays bring. Can't beat the Sears catalog and the Kodak experience though...

I was born in 1970 also. I absolutely agree with you.

I agree 💯

I was born in ‘72 in the south, everything about the 70’s seemed like a nice wish for me. Now I wish it could be the 70’s again

Even tho I was born in 1977...I am so feeling your comment! Christmas was just more magical back then...and time seemed to be slower! The Sears catalog was amazing...I would go to the men's section and circle guys that I thought I would marry one day! 😂

@@jenniechurch5337 haha that's awesome. i won't say what i was checking out in the womens pages in the 'big' sears catalog hahahaha. but yes, i think only gen x'ers get it. it was just such a wonderful time to grow up, i wouldn't change it for anything

Are you in your 80's now?

We also watched The Grinch!

I too grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, watched the same Christmas programmes as you, with the addition of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Had the same Christening traditions as you as well! Such a magical time!

May their Memory be Eternal!

Same!

It's ok, some are still around.

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You had to have lived it to explain it to these twenty somethings today the look in their eyes is like what are you talking about.... good memories

The Sears Wish Book - my sisters and I would fight over it, the pages were thoroughly worn and earmarked by December, the toy section was completely memorized, and the excitement was incredible. Years later it was a joy to watch my kids on Christmas morning but nothing compares to those Christmas' of the 60's and 70's.

It was the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalog for me.

The Sears Wish Book in my house of 12 kids was more then one book could take..

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I love the patch !! My dad had one too. He was 101st screaming eagle 🦅

Exactly, I'm the same. I remember the HUGE family Christmas dinners don't really remember the presents

Good point. I miss the days that all my cousins, aunts and uncles would meet at my grandparents house every X-MAS. Today, I only see them during funerals...sad.

Same with me, Wade. Those huge family Christmas Eve parties with all the aunts, uncles, and my gang of cousins running amuck! Out of all those people there are only three of us left now.... thankfully we make sure to get together two or three times a year for a get-together and we remember back to these golden days. How the heck did we end up getting old?

Technology happened. It brought out the ugly in people and cultivated it. And for those of us who could not care less about those things, get left in the dust. I surround myself with all things 70s and 80s, i keep that way of life ALIVE.

it was the dawn of big time consumerism. tasted like sugar back then, but now we see how it has rotted us. even so i was a kid and they were the best years of my life. id go back in an instant

@@TheUnFairAdvantageCrypto that’s a good point

@@diabeatit5189 I agree. Technology has done the human race serious harm for sure especially our children.

@@Sarah-lb8cs I sometimes think it is not technology itself that has caused this harm but the extremely fast pace with which it has been unleashed on us. We are nearly helpless to keep up or to protect ourselves.

The trip to Denver sounds fun and bless your mama for trying to make Christmas nice for you.

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Same with my mom. She passed away in June and I'll never recover from it.

My parents always made Christmas wonderful for us and exciting.I am glad that I was born in the 60s life was simple life was good i am glad I am at the age I am.I would not want to be a kid today.People were different back then They loved and cared more about each other.They help one another at least were I lived they did.I lived on a place I called heaven on earth.

People lived a more simple life back then despite many companies going on strike (unlike today), but I think family and neighbors helped one another more during tough times.

Her voice was a unique MUSICAL INSTRUMENT....not to be duplicated.

Mama Cass should have shared that sandwich :)

I remember my parents playing The Carpenter's Christmas album on 8 track every year until they bought the CD player finally in 1992 LOL! Come to think of it it's amazing that tape made it that many years without breaking or being ate.

@@onefatstratcat haha. Beat me to it.

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Receiving a bike for Christmas, back then, was equal to receiving a new car today! I received a Team Murray BMX bike, for Christmas, in 1978 or 79? - My first new bike!! Bikes cost A LOT back then!

One thing we can definitely forget about the 70s is the Star Wars Holiday Special

@@ericw1314 I loved it! "We" were so hungry for more Star Wars, no one (I knew) criticized the Special.

I was born dec 66, I get it.

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Exactly that as I'm Aug. 66 . Great Xmas days with all the family friends The tree &gifts dinner ect. Video games were the huge item ☆☆☆☆☆

I was born October 1969...great times.👍

Being born in 1967 . . . It's great . . . Think about this . . . Good 1970s were your childhood because in 1980 you became a teenager . . . 13 teen in 1980 and so you were off to a good start for the '80s by being a teenager at the start of the 80s . . . So being born in 1967 is pretty good . . . You got to couple years of the '60s and your childhood was through the 70s and you became a teenager in 1980. . . And starting off the 1980s as a teenager was pretty damn nice . . . It sure was for me anyway .

Yep, everyone's era is always the best and worth remembering year after year. Our Christmases back home in a 3rd world country were so simple, that having a bottle of coca cola on Christmas was a big big feast to our eyes. Having a loaf of bread with a margarine was already fabulous Christmas, no gifts , no santas. I am in America now where i can have access to all the luxuries of Christmas i want, but this is not the Christmas i grew up with. I always desire to celebrate it the way it was back then, simple. I have Jesus Christ now, HE is the one that matters to me now whether it's on Christmas or Easter. Jesus Christ is my Christmas every moment of my life.

@@createinmeacleanheartohgod6871 Ain’t that the truth! It’s family traditions/celebrations around the birth of Jesus that makes Christmas so special. As a young child, and the baby of the family, it was my job to put baby Jesus in the cradle in our nativity set. I felt like a big shot. The memories we have are priceless.

Yup, i was born in 1999 and the year 2006 to 2012 is the most magical year for me

Yeah! I remember having Christmas parties in the school classroom just before the two week Christmas holidays started. I remember buying a Christmas present for my teacher and having to pick a name out of hat and buying that student's Christmas present. I remember having chips and popcorn and cookies and cake at the Christmas party and I remember my grade 4 teacher taking us students down the street from our school to buy a real Christmas tree at tree 🌲 lot and setting it up in our class room and decorating the tree with homemade decorations we made for the tree including a cut out star from a box that we wrapped it up in tin foil and put it on the top of tree. Those happy days with children laughing and being excited about about Christmas coming closer. Now a days none of this would happen in today's time because it might upset some teachers and students who don't celebrate Christmas. The same can be said of Halloween party in the school classrooms too no more of that or no more Valentine's day party and exchanging Valentine Day cards with other students. A lot of these traditions and parties were taken out of the schools. But it's perfectly okay to teach the children from kindergarten to grade 4 about transgenders and tell the students that there are like 67 genders. This is the type of society that we live in now. 😔

A very sweet memory :')

Remember the Valentines parties? Can you imagine the shear confusion and fear of 'offending' if they had one these days?

Marxist have taken over every aspect of life in the United States.

We did the exact same thing. I had the thrill of finding the wings in a closet a couple of years ago in the church i grew up in. They were selling it because attendance was low, and a woman who was in a Bible study at the new woke church coming in took the wings and said she was going to use them for her students at a pageant. It never happened. She took the wings and they were gone. Still breaks my heart to this day. She knew I had made them in Sunday School; I told her. She saw how thrilled I was to find them. Oh well.

Yes!! That was my experience as well and it was understood that we more appreciated whatever we woke up to... I guess it was more about the dreaming of what if you could just have these things. Here we are decades later when kids can do so online.. haha

Same here. Had the Sears, Wards, JcPenny all circled. Maybe got one or two items. Money was tight, one or two was all anyone needed.

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And I believe the toy section was in the back of the catalog so I would start there and work my way to the front....until I got to the clothes section - BORING!!ha ha!

My cousin and I went through my grandmother's Sears and JC Penny catalogs every year and circled our wishes, with the same results, but it didn't matter. The dreaming was its own gift. Lying on the floor in front of her tree looking through those books together was amazing. That time of year is literally magic when you are a child. Besides, millionaire kids couldn't have gotten all of the things we circled! :P

born in 67 here and I have to disagree, I watch my grandkids at christmas and see the same joy and wonder, different , but not absent

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Me too

That is so sweet. I'm sorry for your loss.

@@jamesfrost7465 : Thank you so much, James - happy holidays

I've been saying that for years, only I would like to return as the middle-aged adult I am so I can enjoy the decade more and give my younger self some good advice! Thankfully most of my family is still living, and I would gladly take them with me in the time machine

❤

So funny!! I bought my mom a Black and Decker Scum Buster one year. She complained, constantly, how much scrubbing the shower hurt her shoulder. I thought it was a fantastic gift! She examined the wrapped gift, placed under the tree, for weeks! She was sooo excited while unwrapping, but what utter disappointment once the wrapping paper was removed!! She didn't say anything - but even as dense as I am, could read her expression. I never bought her a practical gift again.

Pron

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I was born on Christmas Eve so I REALLY cleaned up then. But I lived in a cold climate so when I got a baseball mitt and a bike I had to wait MONTHS to use them, Real torture for a kid!

I asked for a diamond ring every year and never got one 😁 - I’m glad you have this memento to cherish!

I loved that Mattel football game.

@@KnightOnBaldMountain I remember that crazy little blippy game, we would get in trouble in grade school on account of playing that thing during class. The Nuns would confiscate the game and we wouldn't get it back until after school, sheeeeesh, ha-haa

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I still have a Mattel football game like that. Wore the buttons out on it.

Oh yes, I loved driving around at night looking at all of the houses lit up! Always hated to see them taken down, wanted it to last longer. :)

Funny you mention Sears. I have a theory: I believe Sears was undermined from within, by a series of really bad CEO's, with golden parachutes. Funny how Sears died and Amazon took over so precisely... If anyone doubts this theory, consider this: Sears always hired the brightest people out of College. There is ZERO chance that Sears did not see the internet coming!! I wish Sears was still the Sears of my childhood! What an amazing place during Christmas!!

Hickory Farms and JCPennys 👍

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One of our neighbors was a manager at the Sears store and would always bring one to us.

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Do you still have it?

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OH YEAH, it was ALL about Star Wars stuff then, Battlestar Galactica stuff got real popular around 78--79 too.

Agreed, the specials back then no longer are "special" anymore, which is kind of a shame. Christmas 1978 was a very very bittersweet one for me. My Dad had died suddenly and unexpectedly in Mid July 1978 when I was just 11. I remember Christmas Eve night turning to my Mom and I asked her "How am I ever supposed to feel happy at CHristmas ever again?" and without missing a beat, she said "Because that's what your Dad would have wanted for you." Little did she realize at that moment, that she gave me the best and most healing Christmas gift of my entire life. I will love her forever for that. It's already been 21 Christmases since my Mom passed and 44 since my Dad. I am grateful to have had them while I did and more grateful to have had parents like that TO miss...

@@willmack5909 ....I was 8 years old in 1974 and my father committed suicide and I have been fearful in life ever since. It just felt scary to not have a father when you're a kid.....I wish I could have a do-over

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Ha! Mine was stock in Baltimore Paint & Chemical. God bless Gram, never forget her.

right there with you, I still get that 'feeling' at Christmas time

We had the best of both worlds - that's for sure!

"Generation X" was the FIRST generation to have ANYTHING digital as a child. It was a defining era.

I remember my first calculator and digital watch in 1977 and 78. They cost a mint back then. Now I can pick up both at a dollar store for less than 4 bucks.

Man I remember getting the Atari 2600 Christmas Eve 1979 , my mom and dad got me a Donkey Kong Cartridge, I played till 3-4am into Christmas Day

@@carriagecrestkid5626 it was probably Christmas 1982, as Donkey Kong for the 2600 wasn't available until around the Fall of '82. Great memory though!

So great miss those times. I remember my sister received the Pizza Hut oven

Wish I had the foresight to save all my toys back then! Wow 🤩 it would be so cool to have them now

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Oh my gosh! I had that too!!!!

I loved that Karosel kitchen! So neat how the whole thing rotated. Loved the little spinning chicken. Really unique toy.

I got the Barbie Townhouse one year and I was never so happy!

That's cool

I loved wearing the shiny polyester shirts from the 70's

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I miss my Stingray.

I had a Tonka Dune Buggy! My one and only as they were expensive back then i guess…

I had the Coleco baseball game. There was a way to silence the beeps so we could play it in class at school and not get caught.😁

Same here!! My mother wouldn't buy us anything - ever. I wouldn't even ask out of fear - she'd get pretty mad! Birthday's we're pretty lame, gift-wise, too. But Christmas...!! My Mom never failed to impress! Three days after Christmas, I'd find a gift or two, I forget about - never removed from the package, buried under the abundance! I will never forget how my Mother softened, and became child-like on Christmas day. She was more like a best friend than a parent! I'd give about anything to go back for one day!

Was born in 68 too..tomorrow my birthday

I had one of those too! Awesome stuff.

I still have one of those, along with a cheesey Oculus VR version.

@ Bianca Grade - wonderful memories...I can remember.🌄☺️

I loved wearing the shiny polyester shirts from the 70's

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I just close my eyes and play "Silent Night" to help remember what X-MAS used to be. It used to be the birth of Jesus, today it's just another day.

I totally forgot about that! Wow. Thank you.

❤️

That’s a wonderful story! Thank you for sharing it!

@@noble604 Thanks, Merry Christmas ⛄🎄🙂

I'm tearing up - nice story. Thanks

@@janismacolley2395 Thank you Janis 🙂

I loved The House Without A Christmas Tree so much I bought it on DVD a few years ago. Such a special story.

The other three are pretty good. I was glad they were all available on DVD. They all have the same charm and timelessness as the first one.

Amen to that brother!

Yes I vaguely do remember the sound you're talking about.

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Thats so true but in a way it made it more special , the whole family would plan the day around watching it together . Such a special time i wish i could go back to

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See also, his Halloween and Thanksgiving series that are the same genre! Great stuff! 👍😊👍

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