Our Christmas shopping is nearly done. Randy has been doing all the legwork this year and he seems to be having a great time doing it. I have to admit, I do miss it a little bit but it is just as enjoyable for me to hear the excitement in Randy's voice when he tells me about his latest find as it is for me to find it myself. All the kids in our family are going to have a great Christmas when it comes to receiving gifts. I think we got Evan all the major things he has asked for and a few he didn't. Randy had my gift in the back of the car yesterday and he was terrified I was going to see it. He warned me several times not to look. I didn't and I didn't want to. I like the surprise that comes with opening a well thought out gift. Thinking about all the gift giving that will be happening in a few days made me think about gifts I have received in the past. We never had much money growing up so I always made my list keeping in mind that Santa had to give gifts to all the children of the world. I would ask for a few Barbies or a doll or games or colorforms. I usually got the things I asked for. However, there was one item I always wanted that I never got for Christmas: Simon.  It seems silly but I always wanted one. The kids in the commercial looked like they were having so much fun trying to keep up with the lights! Of course, I am no worse for the wear being deprived of a Simon. But for some reason, it always pops into my head at Christmas. Am I alone in my childish longing for a Simon? Is there a gift you always wanted for Christmas but never received?
 | My daughter still has hers and it is kinda fun to play with. Just go GET one and enjoy it, LOL! Or buy one for the kiddos and play it with them. |
 | I agree - just go and get it! I got one when I was a kid and I had it for years. I could still sit down and play it for hours. |
 | No, you know, we were broke, poor, whatever, but I can't ever remember being disappointed at Christmas.
I think I would suck at Simon these days. The old lady's brain ain't what it used to be! lol |
 | In 1978, when I was working as a newbie sales rep, some of the guys got together and bought one of these things.
I got to 22 tones before my mental capacity was outdone by Simon's "razzberry".
It was so popular that I understand the original company re-released it at least once.
Childhood is a formative time. It's always amazed me how much people will pay on Ebay for something they didn't get when they were kids, if only to relive a part of the moment.
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 | I won't buy one for myself now. I have new toys to play with like Guitar Hero! |
 | as a girl I really wanted one of those dolls that ate and drank and peed AND POOPED! (I guess I'll be getting something like that in the future - probably will have more than enough of poopy diapers to play with) also Milky the Cow. Man, I really wanted a Milky the Cow. My cousin had one and he wouldn't let me milk it. (I have forgiven him) However, I don't think that one tops my wishlist anymore.
I LOVED Colorforms!!!! |
| Colorforms and Lite Brite were awesome. I also had a thing called Fashion Plates. Each plastic piece had an outline of a different piece of clothing or a models face and hair. You put the plates under paper and then colored over them to get the picture.
Baby Alive - I had one. Now you're getting the real deal, Becca. I've never heard of Milky the Cow. Did it have udders? I'm shuddering at the thought of how my brother would have corrupted such a toy! |
 | Milky the Cow? LOL -- sounds like something I would have called Miriam when she was breastfeeding.
My brother always got the gifts I asked for.
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| Oh yeah, it was real sexy seeing nipples getting sucked up into the pump. Yikes! |
 | I still have my fashion plates. I never had Baby Alive. My mom said we already had a baby that ate and peed and all.LOL |
| jsandusky wrote on Dec 20, '07, edited on Dec 20, '07 |
| I just had to google Milky the Cow. LMAO! That is gross! Why? Why? |
 | Oh my word..I absolutely love everyone's comments! It's great! I never had a SIMON toy either.
But I got a cabbage patch doll when I was in foster care that I absolutely adored. I still have it too! We had to do surgery on it when I was a kid because its arm was detaching. Someday maybe I'll pass my childhood dolly onto my daughter.
One more story....I never got a Barbie growing up. I always wanted one...when I was in foster care, I had the "fake" barbie...the kind that dented in and was not the same good material as a real Barbie. And when I got adopted...dollies with body parts were banned from the home! So...my good friend Becca...bought me a Barbie a few years back! It was a Christmas wish come true! ;-) I don't remember going without either...my parents were poor Christian school teachers and we shopped at Good will and thrift shops but we didn't mind! |
 | what a great blog forum....I don't remember ever being disappointed about what I got or didn't get, mom always made Christmas more than special... the tree was amazing, and I could look at it for hours.... we usually went for a walk late on Christmas Eve, when the stars were out.... the walks I remember were on snow covered walkways.... and there was always church.... a wonderful Christmas eve dinner and a wonderful Christmas day.... I don't know how mom did it, but she did.... |
| We had Barbies, didn't we Jenn? lmao! ;)
I had toys none of you youngins (not you Monica! lolololol) would even remember! lol.
Charlotte, however, STILL plays with one toy I had as a baby...it was a Fisher Price school bus. Back in the olden days, Little People were wooden pegs with a round head. |
| oh my goodness I had no idea Milky the Cow would be so ridiculed...lol...I guess I should have known. Hey, my daddy grew up on a farm; I guess I was a little farm girl at heart and I wanted my own cow to milk :-) these comments were hilarious. That commercial is a scream. I think my whole desire for owning my own Milky actually arose because my cousin had one and he looked like he was having so much FUN milking it but wouldn't let me do it. I don't remember buying Tracey a Barbie! What a terrible memory I have!!!
Oh - I loved Fashion Plates, too. I wish I had saved mine. I also had a card maker that was the same idea - the plates were interchangable for different occassions. I loved anything artsy craftsy as a kid. |
| ps speaking of toys and LIttle People, etc. this Thanksgiving Brent went to his grandmother's old home to the basement and pulled out stacks and stacks of toys - piles of Star Wars figures, GI Joes, Transformers - I can't believe what good condition they are in! And then he showed me his Little People Barn with all the animals still with it! We brought it home to put in the baby's room. I loved the LIttle People stuff too as a kid. (I had a parking garage it was so cool it had an ELEVATOR) |
 | popping over from becca's blog. I got a hand me down simon from my uncle who was 12 years older than me, so it was a little beat up, never played it but I did love my Kermit the frog Big Wheel |
| I called myself the "Cheri Dairy" when I was nursing the kids :-) I don't remember Milky the Cow and I had Fashion Plates. I can't tell you how much I loved those things. |
 | I had wanted a BB gun when I was a little girl, but my parents didn't get it for me because they said guns were meant for boys. |
 | I always wanted "Crazy Crabs": The new live pet sensation that's sweeping America! (right after Sea Monkeys) http://geminaigraphics.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/upload/RzII7AoKCqoAAD3SWtI1 I got the sea monkeys and, after my parents saw the difference between the ads and the real thing, opted not to try the Crazy Crabs. The two toys I remember loving the most were my Spirograph and um, I don't remember the name of the other. You would have this green plastic circle, with all these weird lines cut out of it, and they were numbered. You'd line the number up at the top, starting with one and going through to the end, drawing in the corresponding numbered line, and when you lifted up the green plastic thingy, you had a drawing of something recognizable! The ones I remember were all Walt Disney cartoon characters. I pretty much loved anything artistic. |
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No, you know, we were broke, poor, whatever, but I can't ever remember being disappointed at Christmas. 