Saturday, December 22, 2012

#136. or, Ho Ho Holy crap, this is a long post!

  I think that I'm finished putting up the Christmas lights in my yard. I could actually put more stuff up, we have more stuff, but there has to be a point where you just say, screw it, this is good enough, I've got other shit to take care of! The 22nd of December seems like a good day to make that call.

  I've been working on putting up our lights for some time now. I think that I've probably talked about doing it on at least a couple of occasions. And you probably have an image in your head right now, of Clark Griswald's house, covered in 20 000, imported, Italian twinkle bulbs. The truth is, it's not quite that grand. I like having lights in the yard and on the house. This year though, because we still have some puppies about, we've had to avoid putting things on the ground near the house.

  Cause puppies like to chew on stuff. Puppies chewing on stuff that plugs into electricity, isn't such a good idea.

  Also, if I were to actually put some of this stuff away, BEFORE July, I probably wouldn't have to spend as much time fixing things, as I do putting them up. And, a bit more care at putting the lights away, would avoid messes like this:

The warm glow of Christmas lights just before they melt through the kitchen floor

  So, this is the post where I try to take you back in time, (again) in an attempt to re-live some of the Christmases, of your childhood. If you read THIS POST, I had whipped out my magical Sears Wish Book, from 1974 and asked what you had wanted from it when you were a kid. The thing that grabbed you by the scruff of your polyester shirt, as you flipped through the pages with sticky little fingers from the death grip on your candy cane,  while you stole away to your private hiding spot to see what wonderful treasures the pages held for you.  The thing you circled 18 times in red felt pen, that was at the top of your list to Santa Claus, and made you take out the garbage that one time, without even being asked, just to bump your name, a line or two higher on the "nice" list.

  Let me reach into my magic sack, and see what I can find. (I know that sound dirty, but it's not! Get your mind out of the gutter.)

  It seems that the GI Joe's were pretty popular back in the day, One Day I'll Be That Guy, Queen Holly,  and Wily Guy all talked about wanting one of them along with his Kung Fu Grip!


   And a special add on for Wily Guy, who remembered having the GI Joe jeep:

From the Desert Patrol Set  $15.99
 For Shirley, who had the Barbie car that she had to share with her sister. It might not be the same as the one you had, but it's the only car that I could find that wasn't the motor home or the beach bus.

That's one good lookin' Ken in that car with Barbie!
Kianwi, was pretty adamant that I didn't forget her Baby Crissy doll. Here's 6 of them!

I believe the specific one she wanted was 3rd from the left. $4.99
 My friend CLR, thought she had dreamed about getting some skates.

The girls beginners skates were $10.99
  Stephen, The Chubby Chaterbox, said that in 1974, he was newly married and most likely didn't even check out the toy section. I figured, a newly married couple might be looking in a different section of the Wish Book.

The sexiest lingerie I could find, $11.98 

  So that was all of the items that I could find from the Wish Book. There were a few others who asked about items that I had to do a bit of searching for.

  Like Debra, who asked about the Brother typewriter she got as she went off to university.

hopefully that's close?
  And Heather, who is far too young to have been looking in the 1974 Wish Book, asked about Cabbage Patch dolls.



  Bryan, who lives in England, (I think?) was wondering about the Johnny Seven. I had never even heard of this before and had to google it. Once I found out what it was, I wished I had one when I was a kid!



 Michael said that he didn't have the GI Joe, but it did remind him of The 6 Million Dollar Man action figure that he had as a kid.


  Daniel, who grew up in the Soviet Union, suggested, that as a child, he probably was interested in things like books and microscopes.


 Youngman Brown, remembered having a Power Wheels. It seems that there are hundreds of Power Wheels vehicles. The ones that stick mostly in my brain are the jeep ones. That's the one I found.


 And finally, Shockgrubz and I got into a bit of a discussion about a green power wheels. Eventually, I think we narrowed it down to being The Green Machine. The pimped out version of a Big Wheels.

I remember wanting one of these, but had no concrete to drive it on.

  So that's my list. I hope that I didn't leave anybody out. Although I may have, this post became far more labor intensive than I had thought it would be. If you didn't get on, I apologize. I had a lot of fun remembering all of these things. I hope that you were able to remember some simpler times as well.

  This will most likely be my last post until after Christmas, I wish you all the best and hope the holidays are everything that you imagine them to be. Here's a Canadian version of a holiday classic for you to enjoy.





This week, I'll be joining up with the other Dudes at Dude Write, with this post. I encourage you to pop over and read what the guys bring to the table. You can get there by clicking on THIS LINK


24 comments:

  1. Thanks for bringing back my 1974 Christmas. I remember some of these items and it's fun seeing them again. Take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Stephen,
      Hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.

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  2. Yeah, that photo of the Brother portable typewriter is pretty darn close to the one I had. And I love that video by Sean Quigley. He's very talented.

    May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. All the best for 2013 too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Debra,
      I'm happy that it was at least close to yours. I spent more time getting side tracked on my google searches for these things than I actually did finding the ones I wanted. It was a bit of fun.

      That video was pretty popular last year, but at the time, I had no clue how to link a video, or a photo for that matter. It's one of my favorites though.

      Wishing you all the best and hope you have a Merry Christmas! :)

      Delete
  3. I laughed out loud at the picture of the Christmas lights all piled up on the floor. Be careful they don't come to life and lurch through the house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merry Christmas, Holly!

      I have to sort them all out in the kitchen and take them out as individual strands to put up because it's so cold, they won't bend properly after a few minutes outdoors. Hopefully, they will get put away with a bit more care this time.

      But I doubt it! :)

      Delete
  4. What a wonderful post!

    I'm thrilled to see the Johnny Seven gun again; such magical memories. Ken, thanks for taking the time to find the picture.

    Wishing you a terrific Christmas for you and your family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank You Brian,
      It was cool having to look up something that I had never heard of before. Almost like Christmas morning for me, when I found out what it was.

      Delete
  5. Yay, how fun :) My doll was a bit later than those, but she definitely had a similar look. I had no idea it was a whole family of dolls. I just had my one baby Chrissy doll and didn't know anything else about them.

    You did good on the whole post! It was great seeing all that stuff and bringing back childhood memories. My brother had a Steve Austin doll, and I drove him nuts by using it with my Barbies :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kianwi,

      To be honest, I hadn't really ever spent too much time in the dolls section before. I was happy when I did find the line of dolls that you were after.

      I'm pretty sure Col. Steve Austin didn't mind hanging out with a gang of Barbies. Although, Ken probably wasn't too happy about the competition! :)

      Delete
  6. Ah, memories...or as we boys later discovered in that other part of the catalog... mammaries.

    This was great fun, lots of research, hopefully it didn't take you too far from the lights!

    WG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was that other section in the catalog, just a few pages away that held all those naughty pictures. Pretty tame stuff by today's standards though.

      I did get my lights up, got the post finished, the only thing that's behind right now, is me, trying to catch up on my commenting!

      Delete
  7. I used to have a microscope and lab set. I invented stuff and blew stuff up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had both of those as well! But as much as I wanted to, I didn't get to blow anything up until I was in my 40's! And that didn't work out so well. I'd probably make a horrible terrorist.

      Delete
  8. I wanted an Easy Bake oven.
    My husband got me one a few years ago but we could never find the silly lightbulb needed to cook those cakes so I returned it.
    I somehow survived without it. My mom did well, even with little money. We had classic Christmas carols and inexpensive gifts but those days stand out the most in my memory.
    Have a wonderful Christmas! I am enjoying my birthday and waiting for spring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy Birthday Funny!

      Our middle son wanted (and got) an Easy Bake Oven one year. And he made all kinds of terrible treats that we happily ate. It really wasn't that bad though.

      The simple Christmases that I had when I was a kid, are the ones that stand out in my memory as well. Those are the memories that I always try to draw from when I want my kids to have a special time. I think they made their own memories though, that are special to them. :)

      Delete
  9. Ken, this is awesome! Seeing that 6 Million Dollar Man box brings backs so many fond memories. Sadly, my 6MDM met a terrible fate. I was walking home from school one day and found his head all chewed up - and nothing else. To this day I have no idea what happened to him, other than some foul creature tore him limb to limb. Merry Christmas Ken!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Michael,
      I'm glad that I could help take you back. It's too bad about your 6MDM. I wonder if that pesky sasquatch finally got a hold of him and wiped him out?

      Merry Christmas!

      Delete
  10. I miss the 6 million dollar man. (But I miss Jaime Sommers more.)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I miss the 6 million dollar man as well. It's a wonder that they haven't remade it into a movie or something already?

      Delete
  11. Friend!
    Oh my gosh - I was SURE I posted a comment on this post. ??? I don't know. The holiday fa la la and such must have gotten the better of me.

    Thanks for the skates! :)

    I hope you and your family had a perfectly wonderful Christmas. Ours was good but went too fast and now my eldest heads back out tomorrow. Time goes by much too fast.

    Happy happiest New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, my friend!

      I can totally relate. I've come back to someone's post on more than one occasion to find that the comment that I thought I had left, was nowhere to be seen!

      Your welcome for the skates, I hoped they were the ones you remembered.

      Our home was overrun with the flu over the holidays, so it could have been better. I'm glad that you got to have some time with your son though, short as it was.

      Happy New Year! :)

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  12. I wonder if the G.I. Joe stuff I had from the early 60s would be worth anything now? Be assured that it was all well played with.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by,

      I'm sure a little stroll through ebay might tell you their worth.

      I think that one would be hard pressed to find some of the toys that lasted today, as well as the ones we used to play with "back in the day?"

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