A Very Seventies Christmas- nostalgia thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

What are your favorite memories of Christmas from the 70s? It can be toys, TV shows, movies, anything that’s 70s specific.

When I look at my family photo albums from the 70s the things that make me most nostalgic are the shag carpeting, the razor parted hair and, of course, the leisure suits, all of which were present even though I grew up in rural Alabama. (For those who don’t live in the provinces, we’re far more obsessed with current trends than many realize.)

Toys: My favorite 70s toys that I got for Christmas were the Best of the West action figures and the Bicentennial toys (cap muskets, tricorn hats, Revolutionary War soldiers, even action figures of Paul Revere and Ben Franklin).

My mother always went way overboard for Christmas and in addition to the one or two big gifts got a lot of odd stuff at the dimestores that would probably be worth a fortune today. All kinds of Star Trek playsets (one had a five armed monster that came out which was actually of course a green scaly glove), MAS*H action figures (they did exist, though they never sold well), Planet of the Apes board games, etc…
My absolute favorite 70s Christmas memories, though, are the Christmas Specials. There’s nothing like them today-

Dean Martin’s CHRISTMAS IN CALIFORNIA- had Dom Deluise and others as guests and the traditional carols all sung in California sunshine, which was cool since growing up in Alabama I, like most Americans, have never actually seen a “white Christmas”. Cheesy? You bet your bippy, but still fun.

Perry Como’s CHRISTMAS IN ______- he filmed in a different location every year- the Bahamas, the Holy Land, Philadelphia- I’m sure had he gone on there’d have been Christmas in Bangkok and Nairobi and Calcutta. Again, cheesy but good for the holiday spirit.

What are your favorite Christmas in the 70s memories?

2

Everyone’s dressy Christmas clothes were made of polyester.

Always knowing which male family member was trying to be Santa by identifying them via their turqouise or cat’s eye jewelry.

Playing with someone’s Rock Em’ Sock Em’ on Christmas break.

Mitch Miller’s Christmas Album playing loudly in the background while decorating the tree.

Making ornaments in school out of construction paper and Elmer’s Glue.

Driving around to the upper class neighborhoods to look at their X-mas lights because middle and lower class could not afford to “Go Griswold” during the holidays.

3

AAAAUUUUGHH!!! It burns! It burns… damn you…

4

My favorite Christmas LPs were Tennessee Ernie Ford’s and one called Harry Simeone Chorale’s Little Drummer Boy (particularly for the What Child is This arrangement not mentioned on the playlist). The first Christmas album I ever remember owning I got for my birthday in the early 70s and it was Snoopy themed. I’d love to hear it again.

5

Watching the Christmas specials when there were no VCRs and no cable channels. Rudolf, and The Grinch and the A Charlie Brown Christmas were really special when you only got to see them once a year.

Our tree was silver aluminum with white flocking. Silver and gold garland, lots of glass balls, and silver icicle and one of those color wheels because you couldn’t have lights on a flocked tree. It was a beautiful tree.

No stockings because we lived in southern California and didn’t have a fireplace.

On Christmas Eve we each got to open one present (our Christmas jammies) plus one ‘joint’ present for the three of us which was always a board game for us to play that night before we went to bed. One year it was “Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots.”

My mom’s Christmas crafts… Crafts nowadays seem less cheesy than crafts from the '70s did… One year Mom made angels and choirboys out of folded and spray painted magazines (the bodies), styrofoam balls (the heads), sequins (eyes & mouths), yarn & cotton (hair). She also made a stable for her nativity set out of milk cartons, styrofoam balls, paint and glitter. All of this stuff looked much better than it sounds – at least in my memory of it.

6

I might as well be the first to recall those Christmas animation specials like Rudolph and… gosh, I can’t remember the others. There’s the one that was the backstory to how Santa Claus got started. There was the one with Heat Miser. There was the one narrated by a mailman. I don’t know what you call that style of animation.

They don’t really have special Christmas episodes anymore do they? There’s was always one or two that followed the “It’s a wonderful Life” plot. And the Scrooge plotline. At least for a little while George Jefferson or Mannix or Squiggy would be a nice person when they learned the true meaning of Christmas.

Speaking of Scrooge, didn’t they have a lot of variations on Christmas Carol back then? I remember an “American Christmas Carol” with the Fonz as Scrooge. It seems like there were ones staring animals, all sorts of English people, Bugs Bunny maybe, the muppets maybe.

Looking through the catalogs. Back then you still got a Sears catalog, along with JC Penney, and all the rest. The toy section was in back. I used to play “What I’d get if I could get everything.” which basically meant I pretended to get just about everything designed for a boy my age. It wasn’t a very challenging game, but I spent many hours playing it.

Christmas cards. We got a lot of Christmas cards. And I looked at every single one. Even after I realized they all had “Merry Christmas” on the inside with a signature. In fact, I still do this when I go home for Christmas.

For some reason, I have a happy memory about helping my mom make Christmas cookies. You see, my mom was kind of uptight about the cookie making process. She would get overly upset if we didn’t use as much of the rolled dough to cut out the cookies. So we were extra careful to bunch up the figures we cut out, to use as much of the dough as possible. Even though the remnants would just be folded into the next rolled batch. And she got upset if we cut out big cookies (trees, santas) with the smaller cookies (stars, bells). I guess I was so excited to be helping, and cookie-making time was a sign that IT was getting closer, that I don’t really recall being yelled at for sloppy cookie cutting.

My mom always insisted on buying our trees from non-profit groups. And their trees were never quite as nice as the for-profit places. And she could never make a decision. So we’d all stand around, my brothers holding trees for her to look at as we all froze to death waiting for her to make a choice.

7

One of my favorite photographs of myself as a child was taken on Christmas Eve 1977. I’m 10, wearing a plaid polyester suit, and playing Jingle Bells on my uncle’s trombone.

Ages 8-10 my most desired presents were puppets or action figures. I got many of the Sesame Street muppets and a bunch of Meco action figures…superheroes, Star Trek characters, even a Wizard of Oz series. Each Meco doll was 8" tall and made of rubberized plastic with a distinctive smell that I can still summon up, right here in my office, just by thinking about it.

Following the custom my Dad brought with him from Germany, we opened all our presents on Christmas Eve, dressed in our best clothes (whence the plaid suit). Santa’s visit therefore had to take place in the afternoon, so there was always an “afternoon nap” on December 24th, about 3-5pm while it was getting dark. We didn’t have a chimney or fireplace, so I supposed Santa just came in the front door. One year when my sister was about 4, she was in her room during nap time (naturally, we were all too excited to sleep) and, looking out her window, saw the blinking red light of an airplane in the sky. “Rudolph, Rudolph!” Thus was her belief in Santa reinforced for years to come: in after years, whenever she expressed skepticism my parents would say “But, honey, remember? You saw Rudolph!”

8

Riding our snazzy new scooters and bikes in the street with all of the other neighbourhood children, still dressed in our pyjamas.

Watching the flickering black and white television images of Darwin, destroyed by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve, 1974.

9

I recorded some of the more unusual family Christmas stories and traditions here, but from that site is this one from the 70s:

Ah, the catalogs- my favorites were Sears and Service Merchandise.

The most disappointing gift of the 70s: Lincoln Logs. My first grade teacher asked, when talking about Lincoln, how many of us had “Lincoln logs, so you can build your own log cabins?” and a few students raised their hands. I pestered my parents for these and on Christmas Day there they were- the biggest barrel made of Lincoln logs. I was so p.o.d- these made TOY log cabins! When she said “build your own log cabins” I thought she meant a real log cabin.

One of my favorite Christmas gifts from the 70s though was my first ViewMaster. This was when the slides came in all subjects- battlefields, Revolutionary War dioramas, TV shows, etc… I used to get at least two or three sets of slides each year. I no longer have the envelopes and booklets, but I still have I think every View Master reel I ever got- I keep them on a spindle. The oldest one would have to be over 30 years old now. (One of my favorites was of Matthew Brady Civil War photographs- it adds a neat 3-D effect.)

10

I remember my sister and I going to pick out a Christmas tree, and bringing it home in the trunk of my mom’s '68 Chrysler.

Melting the plastic icicles on the big ass tree bulbs.

The smell of plastic, on Christmas morning from all the toys that were unwrapped.

11

Three words: A Chipmunk Christmas.

Christmas, Christmas time is near
Time for toys and time for cheer …

12

Melting the tinsel on the blue bulbs; they were the hottest…

13

hoppity hops and romper stompers and all that other neat crap that could have killed us :smiley:

14

Cool thread idea!

This is more from the 1950s, but I experienced it in the 1970s – my grandmother’s Christmas tree was always decorated with bubble lights. I thought these were the coolest things ever and begged my mother to get a set for our tree. She told me that they didn’t make them anymore, because they were filled with TOXIC CHEMICALS. I was then torn between my love of bubble lights, and a vague fear that my grandmother would perish any day now from exposure to TOXIC CHEMCIALS (has not happened yet, BTW). This was a special fear of my mother’s, I have no idea if the 1950s bubble lights were filled with TOXIC CHEMICALS, because my mom trotted out this excuse for many occasions. We also weren’t allowed to eat Wonder Bread because it was filled with TOXIC CHEMICALS. Anyway, apparently they make bubble lights again, now sans TOXIC CHEMICALS and my mom bought me a few sets last year, which I thought was nice of her to remember how much I liked them. Of course, she presented them to me by showing me her tree, where they were hanging, and told me that if I wanted them, I was welcome to take them off her tree. Which I declined. She insisted. I still declined. I can enjoy them on her tree. She ended by saying that she would keep them for me, and that I should make sure to find them after she dies. Because no doubt that will be the first thing on my mind.

Okay, that was more about my mom than the 1970s. I’ll do better. Good 1970s toys in our house included:

** Star Wars action figures
** bead dolls
** an Evil Knievel doll and motorcycle set – you wound up this plastic contraption and it would spit the motorcycle about three feet before it fell over
** an OJ Simpson doll
** this sno-cone maker thing, which never worked right and made a terrible noise when it ground up the ice cubes, and why we wanted a sno-cone maker in December in Buffalo, is beyond me.
** the good GI Joe sets with all the little pieces that were choking hazards
** and I’m not even kidding about this – a Charlie’s Angels make-up kit, complete with a cosmetics case with the Charlie’s Angels silhouette on the top
** Lite Brite
** Baby Alive
** the Family Feud home game

We were not allowed to have the EZ Bake oven, because, you guessed it, the cake mix contained TOXIC CHEMICALS.

Oh, another Christmas tree lights thing – the kind of tree lights that had these spiny sea urchin shaped hard plastic covers over the bulbs. I am completely serious when I say that if you ever stepped on one of these bulbs in the 70s, and take just a moment to think about it, your foot will hurt right now.

I also loved my Holly Hobbie themed Christmas stocking. Actually, there was a lot of countrified, prairie type decor going on, it blended with the bicentennial stuff. A lot of decorations had a Laura Ingalls vibe. We had a set of cornhusk Christmas angels. There was a lot of gingham involved.

Listening to Christmas music on vinyl records. I will never quite get over the loss of snaps and crackles in recorded music. Our hit parade included the Chipmunks Christmas album, and the Jackson Five Christmas.

We also had full-on Christmas in public schools, except for the day that someone’s Mom would come to school to make potato pancakes. Although we must have, I don’t recall doing any actual school work at school during the month of December.

15

delphica’s Holly Hobby mention brought back a long forgotten memory of my own - the year my mom made two Holly Hobby dolls complete with hair the color of the Ingalls girls’. I remember the time she took sewing on all of that yarn hair and making the outfits, and being convinced that they were for my sister and I, even though Mom swore they were for our cousins. See, the year before, she’d crocheted us afghans in front of our noses claiming that those were for our cousins and then surprised us with them. Man, those were the only dolls I ever really wanted too, and were we ever disappointed when they did turn out to actually be for the cousins.

Our 70s Christmases were full of homemade stuff like that. There was a lot of knitting and crocheting and sewing going on, and I swear I remember some macrame. My mom was very into the crafts.

It was years before we had a tree with tiny twinkly bulbs, so the big bulbs that got just a little too hot are a big part of that decade. Oh, and the lights outside were the big bulbs too. We always went to a cut-your-own tree farm outside of town, and spent at least an hour debating on the perfect tree. I’m sure it was always one of us kids that got the final say, because there are quite a few Charlie Brown trees in the pictures. And there was always tinsel!

16

I remember getting some of these. The gifts that define my childhood Christmas though are the old Matell Handheld games, TV Tennis (Pong) and the Star Wars Soundtrack Album.

The thing that I always think of when I think of a 70’s Christmas was my Dad taking my brother and I out on Christmas Eve to the local sporting good store where his friend worked. There they would have donuts for the patrons. Dad would take us there so that my mom would have time to wrap presents. After hanging around there, dad would take us out to the “Coney Island Hotdogs” restaurant for lunch.

The sporting goods store has closed down and eventhough my brother and I have grown up, we still go to "Coney Island Hotdogs " on Christmas Eve with my Dad. In fact, I take my kids with me so the tradition is passed on.

17

The absolute, very first program we ever recorded on our Beta VCR was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. There was a “remote control,” a single button, labeled pause (in case you forgot what it did, I guess) attached to the VCR by a wire. This allowed you to pause the recording during commercials from the comfort of your couch, provided that your couch wasn’t too far away from the VCR. Miraculously, we managed to work it properly, and we had a pretty good commercial-free recording of the Grinch. We watched that tape over and over and over. Still my favorite Christmas show.

But, I guess technically that’s early 80’s Christmas nostaligia.

Legit 70’s nostalgia: bubbler lights on the tree, and matching Christmas dresses crocheted for my sister and me by my mom (yes, seriously, and they were just as barfy as you’re imagining).

18

What do bubble lights look like?

19

My big 70s Christmas memory was one year when I was 9 or so I got a pink satin shirt that went with a fake denim skirt and vest and a gold chain that probably came from Avon. I was such a grown up disco woman! That was the same year me and my brother got the Bontempo!

When my aunts and uncles came over there was so much smoke in the house that the kids actually used to wet washcloths and breathe through them while lying on the floor. We were taught to do that in school in case we were ever trapped in a raging inferno. You would have thought that would have provided a guilt trip to someone but it did not.

And we would go to the Pop Shoppe! We hardly ever went there but we went there to get pop for the Christmas party and it was so rare for us to get pop at all it was like the hugest thing to go to the Pop Shoppe.

I was a Pioneer crazy kid too. All that 1970s pioneer stuff really gets me nostaligic. My grandma was heavy into it. Her and my grandad even made us homemade toys and everything. Even a jumping jack.

20

Just out of curiosity, how did you convince your mother to agree to the sno-cone maker? Surely that flavouring goop is just as full of TOXIC CHEMICALS as Wonder Bread or EZ Bake cake mix.

Also, I have to say that if the sno-cone thing didn’t work very well, it’s reassuring to know that I didn’t miss out on anything by never convincing my parents to buy me one, even if that is an 80’s memory, not 70’s.