I mostly liked the sled & bike my dad made up from parts from the dump, they were faster & nicer than the kids that had new bikes but I liked them because my dad made them just for me. My biggest surprise was a Brownie camera from my mom's sister, she had never sent me a gift before & wow what a gift! I could take black & white pics of anything! I thought I was king of my universe!! That's right, I was a tomboy not a princess! I could hang by my knees in a tree & take pics! I think she was the 1 that sent a jewelry box the next year- nice but I still had my camera & that was better. Used it until couple of years after I got married.Jan

How cool was that, to have a sled and bike that your dad made!!! That had to be SUPER special!!! and what a great gift from an aunt :)

I can so relate to being a tomboy...I grew up in the country & I hung from trees, rode dirtbikes and horses, shot BB guns, and played on a boys baseball team. I had 2 younger brothers, my sister is almost 9 years older, so she had moved out when I was 9. We used to love playing in my grandparents dairy barn and climbng the silo...LOL

Well, we must all be related since I was most definitely a Tomboy as well. Having an older brother for a playmate tends to make one so and he delighted in opening my Christmas gifts BEFORE I got up on Christmas morning! One of my favorite toys was a "Timmy the Clock". When you turned him on, his eyes would open and he would walk until the clock went all the way around to the twelve, then his bell would ring and his eyes would snap shut. I loved him! Somewhere along the way, he disappeared, but I never forgot him. My DH found one for me a couple of years ago on Ebay and made him workable again. He sits on my desk at home and watches over all of my computing! He still makes me smile after all these years.

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WOW -- this post made me think back . I feel guilty.

I was a late in life baby from my mom's second marriage. Now - I'm embarrased to admit it - but I had everything. They just made enough $$$$ to survive - I don't how they did it - but I got so much stuff , it was sinful . I was "the baby" . Year after year -- you name it - I got it.

You know what sticks out in my mind ??? My older brother
(11 years older than me - from my mom's first marriage )
gave me a box of 100 crayons. I was on cloud 9 . There were colors in there I never even heard of - I couldn't have been happier. When I think back - I can still "smell" the crayons in my mind & picture the box they came in .

I got more stuff than I ever wanted -- maybe that's why now I love giving stuff away to people. I can't figure it out .
I love giving more than recieving now !

I played 'cowboys and Indians' more than dolls....
I did get a wonderful doll with 'real' hair and open and close eyes one year. Another year I got white cowboy boots that had small holsters on each boot, with small white plastic guns. I loved them. The Christmas I remember most
tho was the one I DID'T get a book--I was soooo upset because I didn't have a new book to read! LOL

nonacook...maybe we were "twins!"

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or my cuz's & me at g'ma's house:
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Great memories...ohhh, so long ago! G'ma's house was always a special place to be on Christmas Eve! Thanks for starting this thread, dolly! Jeanne s.

My parents always tried to give us the one thing we wanted most. One year, it was a doll, another year it was a sled. We always got wonderful things for Christmas. My mom would listen all year for what we asked for consistently rather than buying what was popular on tv after Thanksgiving. My favorite gifts were always the art supplies. Like Toomuchglass, I can remember the smell of the crayons....the feel of the special art paper. As I got older it could be sewing or painting supplies. Every year I recieved some kind of art supplies and every year it was my favorite gift. I now do the same thing for my children. I listen to what they say that they want consistently and that is their main gift each year...and they all always get some kind of art supplies. They are all artists in their own way...My daughters both draw and create costumes. My son loves photography and the feel of a camera in his hands.

Dolly, I got the same Chrissy doll, but I think it was a couple of years before 1972. I loved her dearly, but as with most of my dolls, including a Shirley Temple doll and a Chatty Cathy, she suffered a serious haircut. I was a country girl too, I think my favorite gift was an orange Honda mini-bike, which I named Marigold, I spent hours and hours and hours on it. Before that my favorite was a purple bicycle with a banana seat and high handle bars and Barbies were always a favorite. Okay, I'm almost done rambling on. Jeanne, you are such a doll. I never had a cowgirl outfit, but I did have a pony named Peanut with a black and red saddle which I loved.
Frou

My favorite doll wasn't for me...it was for my youngest (who is now 17 and driving). He was just a bit over one year, and asked for a "baby doll." We had no money, but I found one for a dollar in a consignment shop. He would kill me if I told anyone he knew, but he carried that doll everywhere for years! It's tucked safely away in his box of stuff I've saved for him; one day I hope I'm a grandma and he can pass it on.
By that way, so many familiar "faces." Hi old friends.

All of your Christmas memories are so special and heart warming. My favorite toy was always a doll, my mom made sure I had at least one doll but most of the time 2 under the tree every year. And every year my mom made lots of doll clothes for the new doll. She enjoyed that task as each precious little outfit was made with love. My favorite doll I named Tinker, she had a cloth body with a rubber head, hands and feet. After my DD was born my Mom took Tinker and made a new body, she was pretty stale after all those years! and of course new clothes and to our delight she became my DD's favorite doll! My Mom took in iroining so that my brothers and I could always have a good Christmas. And of course I couldn't forget the homemade chicken and noodle soup that my grandma made on Christmas Eve for all of her children and grandchildren, which was ahouse full! After everyone finished a big bowl and second helpings Santa always delivered gifts to me and all my cousins. That WAS the good old days!!

This is a hard one! Was it the little organ with the color coded keys that I played to death and learned to play regular sheet music with it? Or was it cowboy boots and a hat along with a real live horse kept on my aunt and uncle's farm (where I used to spend my summers)? Or was it anything related to Barbie? My Barbie dolls had the most awesome adventures. Or was it one more Breyer horse statue to add to my extensive collection? Hmmmm ... it's impossible to pick!

Btw, I had a Velvet doll. My sister made a number of wonderful outfits for her and I loved to play with her hair.

I have really enjoyed reading all the memories from each of you! I knew it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane :)

Frou, you probably had one of the earlier Crissy dolls. They issued the first one in an orange lace dress, with hair that grew to the floor in 1970, shortened the hair in 1971 (same dress) in 1972 she came in a blue satin mini dress. That was the one I had. Which Chatty did you have?

The cowgirl outfits made me nostalgic for the one I had. It and my stick horse were probably my favorite presents. At any rate they got the most use. (Until I graduated to riding lessons and later, in adulthood, to real horses of my own, the last of whom still lives on at age 34.)

Like others who posted I was more into catching frogs at the pond than playing with dolls. But I did have one doll that captured my imagination. It was a life-sized rag doll. It had loops on its hands and feet so that you could dance with her. However, since dancing was never one of my interests or aptitudes, I just carried her around, sat her in chairs and the like.

Frou Frou, we must think alike. Our first car when we got married was a metallic gold dodge that we also named "Marigold."

Did I mention I still have all my Breyer horse statues ... something like 40 to 45. My late sister-in-law had one just like one of mine but she paid $75 for it! Yowza! Although most of them go for something like $20 each. I can't imagine selling them though. I had names for many of them and played with them constantly.

Oh Spedigrees....I totally forgot about my stick horse! I LOVED him....I must have ridden him a million miles when I was a kid...those were the days of fun exercise! ;-)

Well there were 8 of us and things were tight.In 1954 my father made us 4 younger girls a sink,stove,cabinet and table with chairs out of wood.It was the best.We also got the metal dish set.Later in 1974 my father made each of my girls doll cradle for two younger girls, and the oldest got a crib.He wasn't a pro,but it was made with his heart.My two girls now have the cradles and crib for their girls.The kitchen set lasted many years.But then it either was given away or,we just played til it was done.Our stockings always had fruit,nuts and ribbon candy in them.
Joan

Joan, sometimes those handmade gifts are the very best because you know a lot of love went into making them. I know we made cars, beds and sofas for Barbie out of shoe boxes so I would have loved a homemade kitchen set and cradle/cribs for my dolls made out of wood!

Luna We made doll cradles out of oat meal boxes.LoL.
My oldest daughter when she was dating her husband they were going to a Halloween party.I sewed fringe on a dress for her,made a band with a feather for her head and she was a flapper,Her husband was a gambler gangster.I took the cardboard roll out of gift wrap,and a oat meal box and a toilet paper roll.Put the roll thur the oat meal box,taped it good and the toilet paper roll the the handle and trigger. and made a machine gun and painted it black.Todd said mom what made you think to do that and I told him we had to use our minds to play.I had 2 brothers.

This is little off subject I think but Joan talking about making things with toilet paper rolls & oatmeal boxes made me think of all the fun I had making forts, school houses, or a fine house- all out of the refrigerator or appliance cartons. The ones we got were around a new appliance & had wood frame & heavy cardboard or maybe even lightweight paneling with reinforced corners. They did well in summer rains(I added some kind of roof) & in winter dad had gotten 1 for me to retreat to in the basement. I put 3-4 of them together on a vacant lot & "taught" school, played house with other neighborhood kids or fought off cowboys or Indians as we often changed which ones we wanted to to be. There was a tree on the lot, so we could escape the fort & go up in the tree & be lookouts, of course the lake was right below so we had to watch"on land & sea" it was quite a job & we were very serious about it. Too bad I didn't have my camera yet! I was shy but always road after the appliance truck & asked if I could have the crate, I think we ended up with 4 on the lot, they were very heavy but delivered right to spot I wanted.So disappointed when torn down & new house went up in there. Dad really started something fun by bringing that 1st 1 home tho. Jan

This has been such a great post! I'm enjoying reading about everyone's toys and such wonderful homemade gifts! I also made doll houses and furniture out of boxes, old tins, etc. and absolutely LOVED it when my parents finally got a washer and dryer and my brother and I got to play house in them! Such great memories!

Yup, imagination was the main ingredient for "playing." When visiting my g'ma, she had an old attic in her house with a cardboard type ceiling & lathe boards on the exterior wall. We turned that into a "school room" ... cut out paper dolls & clothes from Sears catalog ... used chalk on the attic ceiling to solve math problems, wrote who liked who, etc. etc. And it was guaranteed on Christmas Eve, when you came back from carol-ing the G'ma's neighbors, that "reindeer tracks" would be by G'pa's garage! Oh boy, those were some wonderful Christmas'! Jeanne S.

I love reading all the stories too!!! I used to make houses out of old shoe boxes and then cut out pictures of curtains, beds, rugs and furniture to glue or tape inside...my Barbies enjoyed those houses...LOL

And those appliance boxes were super cool to play in!!! :)

Don't ya all wish the good old days could come back? I think from all the post.That we had great times using our imaginations to have fun.The kids today miss out on alot.I guess that's how we got to be Garden Junkers....making all kind of things out of stuff that was going in the trash. LOL.
Have a very Merry Christmas !!!!!!!

I don't remember if this was my favorite gift but I do remember that as I was getting older Santa was becoming a memory.
My brother and I were up very early and found all of the packages under the tree.
My mother always worked nights so it seems to me she missed a lot on Christmas morning. As she came home from work, she whispered in my dads ear.
All of a sudden he went up into attic.
He came down with a forgotten gift. It was a beauty shop doll. She was so life-like with long hair.. She even came with a hair dryer. The big one on a stand!!
Santa?
He will always be in my heart and my memories.

You know, I remember a brunette doll that walked as a special Christmas present, but my best memories don't come from Christmas gifts. My Dad was a factory worker and farmer. He worked in the shipping department. He must have built pallets or shipping boxes because he used to bring home scrap boards too short to use. These became the best roads and houses, but even better farms. We would build barns and fences and corrals for our plastic farm animals. Oh the hours spent on the floor of Grandma's living room. Years later when there was an auction of my Grandmothers belongings, I bought the plastic cows we played with. They were Breyer-type animals and will remain in my possession for the rest of my life. They bring back such wonderful memories.....