Sugarplum Visions: Memories of Childhood Christmas Gifts

 

The image above, was the quintessential, be-all end-all for many of us as kids growing up. The sight of a brightly decorated Christmas tree, with wrapped presents underneath it. The very sight of that tree, heralded excitement, knowing that presents would soon be underneath it. And seeing those colorful wrapped gifts, heralded "Sugarplum Visions" of what could possibly be inside. That was half of the fun, in some ways, not knowing what they were, but looking at them endlessly, or sometimes even managing to sneak a feel, or a shake, trying to figure out what they MIGHT be.

For me personally, as I've recounted in the past, Christmastime was pure magic for me. I had a fairly lonely childhood, being raised by an overprotective grandmother as an only child, home-schooled, with few friends. But no matter what, when the Holidays rolled around, I was filled with wonder. That last three month block of the year was my absolute favorite. October brought the spooky wonderment of Halloween. November brought the tasty goodness of Thanksgiving, and every few years even on the same day, my birthday. And of course, December brought the mystical joys of Christmas, and to a lesser extent New Years Eve. But as much as I loved all those other times, as much as I got exited for my birthday and the presents that would bring, I honestly got even more excited for Christmas, just because of the entire ambiance of it all.

The often unappreciated step-brother of wrapped presents.

Before I dive in to what this piece is REALLY about (the presents), I felt I should take a moment to give some respect and due appreciation to the phenomenon known as "Christmas Stockings". I'd imagine not ALL families do this, but if you were anything like me, there were stockings we'd drag out every year, that looked a bit like the picture above, except with hand-made names on each, including one that said "Jesse", for my little self. While the wrapped gifts were the main event, the stocking was the appetizer. And as is traditional, mine would typically be filled with various candies like Hershey's Kisses, or those little assorted Hershey bars, or candy canes, and other things, such as sometimes smaller toys, or baseball cards, things like that. I don't know how you did your Christmas, but in my childhood experience, we always did the stockings first, to whet the appetite (and build that anticipation), I suppose. 

Good ol' Fisher Price.

Now of course, Christmas itself is HARDLY all about the presents. Even for me, as a child growing up, it was very much about the entire package: the candy, the tree, the lights, the music, the TV specials, the general feelings that come with the season, and the high-minded ideals like "Peace on Earth" and the spirit of giving. But this particular piece, is focusing on what most kids cared about most: the gifts. The earliest specific gift that I can very vaguely remember getting, as I assume it was a Christmas gift, was a Fisher Price playset that was essentially what you see above: a zoo. Some of my earliest memories, are of living in San Diego as a toddler, ages 2 and 3, and taking trips to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. This set was not an OFFICIAL San Diego Zoo product, but in my child mind, I always associated it as being such.

Bring on the dinos!

As I've related in past articles, as a child, before I became more of an all-around MONSTER nut in the early 90s, growing up in the 80s, I was an absolute dinosaur nut. I don't remember exactly what age this all started, but it was pretty early on. Certainly full-bore by the time I was in Kindergarten. For a poor kid, I still had an extensive amount of dinosaur stuff: various books, coloring books, t-shirts, a dinosaur blanket of some sort, and of course, cheap plastic toys! I cannot honestly remember specific dino toys that I got on Christmas, but I know as big of a nut as I was during that age range, I MUST have gotten several. 

Whether I got it as an Xmas toy or not, the one that sticks out most in my mind, was a generic, kinda fat looking little gray T-Rex toy, with stubby ass little arms, which I named "Dino". This was my TOP favorite toy for some reason as a little kid, and I carried it around with me everywhere. It was in a very real way, the precursor to what would later in life become my "thinking pencils", as I would hold onto it as I ran or paced around, thinking and daydreaming. At some point, because I used to play with him extensively, poor ol "Dino" got all sorts of wear and tear, including losing one of his stubby arms. But I still loved him, and among many other childhood things, I honestly wish I still had him to this day, just to have, and keep on display somewhere. Until I later got obsessed with Godzilla and video games and the X-Men, things like that, "Dino" was my #1 toy, and as sad as it may sound, in some ways my "best friend". 

                                                 Duplos, too big for kids to choke on.

That big ol' Bucket o Legos!

Another toy I'm certain I got on some Xmas or other, were of course Lego blocks. But BEFORE I got Lego blocks, around the age of I'm assuming 4 years old, I got Duplo blocks first. Duplos are basically giant Legos, that kids can't choke themselves on like idiots. Duplos were something I had a lot of fun with as a toddler, I'm sure. But the REAL fun started within the next few years, as I got old enough to have actual Lego blocks instead. I acquired several specific Lego sets over the years, the ones that come with specific pieces that you build a specific thing out of, like a race car, or a spaceship, some of which I'm certain I got as Christmas gifts.. And don't get me wrong, some of those were awesome.

BUT, hands down, the most fun I ever had with Legos, were just using random pieces, and my imagination, to try and build just whatever came to mind, within my limited means. One year, let's say when I was probably around 6 or 7, I got a big old bucket of Legos, very similar to what you see above. Except that somehow I also had a much bigger, thinner "ground" piece, and a lot of tree and flower pieces. I used to try and build houses, or a castle, or whatever. There weren't enough pieces in that one bucket, or even adding stuff from those specific sets, to REALLY go wild. But it was more than enough to take up hours of my time. 

Good ol' 80s robots.

Oh look...it's Mouse Trap.

Holiday Oddities.

Of course I got various assorted random things over my childhood Christmases as well. I got a couple of different battery-operated Robot Toys, which were neat because they moved around and lit up, or even made noises. I got card or board games, I'm sure, such as Uno, or Mouse Trap. You remember Mouse Trap, right? It's that game with all the crazy pieces, that it turns out is FAR more fun to put together, than it is to actually play the game and spring the "trap". And then there were SUPER random things, such as the late 80s oddity known as "Rodney Reindeer". I'm not even sure of the history or story behind Rodney, but I know it was what you see above, and I had most of those pictured. Cool little guys, that again, I wish I still had. But also super random. Must've been a fad like one year, and then gone. 

All aboard!

Now as a little kid, again probably around 4 or 5 years old, I know that I got what was probably a fairly cheap, battery operated train set. Have no idea if it was name brand or not, as we were fairly poor. But I probably still loved it, because it moved. Later in life, I'm guessing about Christmas 1988 or 89, I got an actual, honest to goodness Lionel brand train set, and THAT thing was pretty cool. It was nothing likely as fancy, and certainly not as expensive, as what is shown above. It was simple, pretty basic, a couple of different layouts you could set up the track as, several cars, and an on switch. But it was a neat present. Even though I wasn't SUPER into trains, I do remember thumbing through the Lionel catalogue, and daydreaming about having fancier, far more elaborate train set ups. 

With FULL Battle Accessories!

Deinonychus was cool, before anyone knew what the hell a Veloceraptor was.

Just your average hang-gliding setup.

The villainous Rasp, aboard his fearsome Pteranodon.

Circling back around to dinosaurs for a moment, pictured above are relics of a late 80s phenomenon known as "Dino Riders". As part of the VERY 80s phenomenon of having cartoons with toy lines, Marvel actually produced this particular venture. There was a one-season cartoon series, that was actually quite serious for an 80s kids show at the time. I myself had a coloring book telling the Dino Riders story. And of course, the toys. Now precisely WHAT toys I had, is a little fuzzy. I know I didn't have too many, and certainly not the big, cool ass ones like Rulon leader Krulos, riding his giant battle T-Rex. But I DO know for a fact that I 100% had Rasp, the snake dude pictured above, complete with his decked-out Pteranadon, who had a button in its back, which would make the wings flap.

Where it gets fuzzier, are the other pictures figures. Because on the one hand, I definitely remember having the Deinonychus toy, as outside of T-Rex he was my fav. dino as a kid. But I don't have strong memories of having that Rider. Meanwhile I also KNOW that I had Llahd, the blonde kid Rider, and the hang-glider setup seems familiar, but I have less strong memories of having that Pteradactyl. But, thing is, obviously, if I remember Llahd, and I remember that Deino, I MUST have had the rest of that stuff, right? Either way, Dino Riders was a very cool, but short lived phenomenon. What I REALLY wish, however, is that the OTHER action-based late 80s dinosaur show I loved FAR more, Dinosaucers, had had a toy line. I would have ate it up.  

Look at those sweet ass cars.

Not quite what I had.

M-m-m-MICRO Machines!

Similar to trains, I was never (and am still not) HUGE into cars. But of course some of the earliest toys  I remember having, were little toy cars. And chief among those, were Hot Wheels. In fact I'm sure that I got some of the Hot Wheels I had, from that very McDonald's promotion pictured. I know for a fact I got that weird drag racer type car from there. But one of the VERY few things I still have from my childhood, somehow, are two plastic cases mostly full of old Hot Wheels cars. So I clearly had enough of them over the years, to fill two cases. I also have vivid memories of having some kind of "Gas Station" playset that I used my Hot Wheels (and other toys like Monster in My Pocket) with. It wasn't THAT playset, I don't think, but it was very similar, with two stories, a garage, a store, etc.

Coming out in the late 80s, while I remember them being more of a 90s thing, I also got at least a handful of Micro Machines. You remember those old commercials, with fast-talking John Maschitta Jr? They made Micro Machines sound SO cool, and I got myself a pack or two in my day. Nothing specific, no specific cars, really stand out in my memory, and I sadly no longer have them. But they were a very neat thing back in their day. Look up one of those commercials sometime, they're hilarious.

 

 

 

This cute little guy.

THESE dudes.

 

Now we're getting down to the "REAL shit", some of my top most loved and remembered Xmas gifts. Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with this blog, and the Retro Revelations brand in general, knows that I love Godzilla. Hell, he's my unofficial mascot! You would think, as huge of a G-fan as I was in my late childhood/pre-teen years, that I would have had a lot more Godzilla type toys. But nope. Largely due to the fact that, frankly, by the time I was into Godzilla, he just wasn't a popular entity in the states at that time. I mean I don't think there were ever a LOT of Godzilla toys, but there were like NONE when I was a kid, really.

The lone exceptions, were what you see above. The first, is a little rubber Godzilla clip, essentially. In the late 80s/early 90s, these kinds of clip dolls/toys were pretty popular. All kinds of stuff, from Mickey Mouse to Garfield to Bart Simpson, etc., with clip arms that you could use to have them hang from things like curtains, or whatever. Well somewhere, I don't remember where, we found this very generic "Godzilla" one, and naturally I HAD to have it, as it was the only Godzilla type toy I had ever seen, anywhere. I DO still actually have Clip Godzilla, as one of the few things I somehow managed to hold onto.

As for the other dudes, growing up, my Aunt Maggie, who lives on the East Coast (I lived on the West Coast), would send us these big, HEAVILY taped packages every year for Christmas, with all kinds of stuff inside. I always looked forward to her packages, because there was always something neat stowed away in there for me. Well one year, coming as a total surprise, I got these two 1-foot or so figures, of which I had no idea they even existed. They must have been something she found in a Goodwill or something somewhere, and knowing I loved Godzilla, she got them for me. Doing research as an adult, it seems they were made by a Taiwanese or somesuch company called Dor Mei, which made knock-off generic "Godzilla" type toys, among other things. Neither one of them was really "Godzilla", or any of his other monsters for that matter. But I still thought they were hella cool, and again, something I REALLY wish I still had.

 

Hard but fun.

Totally Radical!

Fun...if you have friends.

Now we get down to what you might call the "Main Event" of this piece. Obviously, I had a great love and appreciation for most of the presents, certainly the FUN ones, that I got during my childhood. The cars, the dinosaurs, the Legos, the random occasional robot, you name it. But when I got my Nintendo Entertainment System in late 1990, all bets were off. As much as I was (or would become) obsessed with things like Godzilla or other monster movies, or Fantasy/Tolkien type stuff, or Goosebumps books, or superhero cartoons like the X-Men or Spider-Man, once I got my very own NES, everything paled in comparison. Not unlike other kids growing up I'm sure, video games were from then on, always, ALWAYS my top most desired gifts.

So that same aunt, a year or so later, surprised me with what I'm sure was another thrift store pick-up. This time in the form of two random NES games, both of which happened to be published by the great Data East, both of which were (very decent) ports of arcade games I had, at that age, never heard of. I feel like this was a Christmas where I didn't get any other video games, so the fact that Aunt Maggie hooked me up with not one, but two, was pretty bad ass. And, as it turned out, NEITHER of them sucked! In fact, both of them are rather fun games, and while a bit hard, I eventually put in the time and was able to beat them both. As for Spy vs. Spy, I DO believe this was another Xmas gift from that same aunt, just on a different year. Either way, it was still cool to get, though in all fairness, Spy vs. Spy is not as fun or good in general as Kid Niki or Breakthru were. And it was really meant to be a 2-player game. Playing without a friend, against that bastard computer, lost its charm after a bit. 

What's up, Doc?

Speaking of Doc.

THE best NES controllers.

THE best, IMO, game ever crafted.

I have shared this particular Christmas story many times, in various mediums, including the RR Youtube channel. But it was so great, so epic, that it deserves repeating. For Christmas 1990, just a few short months after I had first gotten my NES, I received a package gift that will forever stand in my memory as the coolest/most exciting Christmas present I ever received. There it was, this mysterious, unwrapped, plain brown box. I honestly had zero idea what was inside. But when I opened it, you could easily have played that stereotypical "HALLELUJAH" song, like right out of a movie. Within this plane ass box, sat not one, but THREE NES games, and two controllers to boot. 

In point of fact, as I was opening the box, I couldn't tell how many games were in there. All I know is I must have seen either Dr. Mario or Bugs Bunny first, both games we had already rented. And I thought that was pretty cool. I was happy. And then I see another game, whichever of those two wasn't first. And I got happier. But then my eyes REALLY lit up, as I remember it, Mario 3 was hidden further down, probably on purpose. When I saw THAT bad boy, my eyes lit the fuck up, let me tell you! I had very briefly experienced SMB3 at an aunt's house earlier in the year, and embarrassingly, I actually barely played it, because the map felt awkward to me. I spent more time with my first TRUE gaming love, Super Mario Bros. 1, which I had been playing the ever-living shit out of in the months before Christmas. But having a real chance to play SMB3 again, I was absolutely beside myself. Let me make it clear, that Super Mario Bros. 1 IS the game that made me fall in love with gaming, it's the game that turned what had always been a fascination with video games, into a full blown childhood obsession. And to this day I love SMB1, I always will, it's a fantastic, timeless classic. BUT, when I really got to dig my mits into SMB3? It was game over, it was instantly my favorite game, that I played a ridiculous amount over the next several years, and to this day it remains my favorite game of all time.

As for the controllers, while an afterthought, even then, they bear mentioning. They were Sansui Joycard controllers. Yes, a very odd, very Japanese name for them. And I don't know, my grandmother must have seen them in the Finger Hut catalogue or something, otherwise where would she find something like that. I'm not even sure why she got two. But they were awesome, and instantly became my favorite controller. They were modeled very much after the Japanese Famicom controllers, with more comfortable, rounded edges. They also included a headphone jack, so you could listen to your games without annoying people. And most importantly, they had rapid-fire switches, to enhance that gaming experience!

Now you[re playing with power. PORTABLE power.

Still the best Zelda game, to me.

Last but hardly not least, were the last video game related, and probably anything related, Christmas gifts I remember getting while my grandmother was still alive. So essentially the last Xmas gifts from my childhood, before I hit my teens and life changed a lot. As stated, that "Mystery Box" with Mario 3 and Co. in it, was THE coolest, most exciting gift I ever got as a kid. But perhaps a close second, was Xmas 1993, when I received my very own Game Boy. 

For a little bit of background, before my 12th birthday that year, one fine fall afternoon, I had been playing, you guessed it, Super Mario Bros. 3. I was playing it when my grandmother went to go take a nap. And unfortunately for yours truly, I was also STILL playing it when she got back up, a good 2-3 hours later. Why had I been playing so long, you ask? Well, it was simple really, I beat the game, and because I had never bothered/been able to beforehand, I decided I wanted to beat it through a SECOND time, with all of those P-Wings in tow. I was curious to see if you got ANY sort of different ending if you beat it twice. The answer was big, fat, disappointing no. But then, in one of my less smart childhood decisions, I decided, being bored, that I would for no actual good reason whatsoever, KEEP playing it for awhile, a third loop through. If I had been smarter, I would have turned that shit off after my "Second Loop Experiment" was done. If I had, my grandmother would have still been laying down, and I would have been just fine. But instead, she got up, asked if I'd been playing the entire time she was asleep, to which I stupidly said yes. And she flew off the handle, as she so often (and irrationally) did, and in true Grandma fashion, she grounded me from video playing Nintendo for TWO whole months.

To kid me, that was a prison sentence. It was devastating. Never mind that the VERY same day she pronounced sentence, we went to Wal-Mart and she bought me Mario Teaches Typing for PC. She DIDN'T want me talking about goddamn Mario for two months, mind you. But she DID like the idea of an educational game. Unrelated, at some point I eventually also got Mario is Missing on PC. However, on that SAME awful trip to Wal-Mart, I learned by seeing it through the clear blue plastic bag, that she was returning one of my birthday gifts: a copy of Kirby's Adventure, which I had rented once and adored. I was DOUBLE devastated to learn that. I could hardly have been more miserable at the time. She DID allow me to play NES with my friends on my birthday for a couple of hours, and as it turned out, Harold's family got me a copy of Super Mario Bros. 2. She ALSO still got me a cool "Nintendo Chair", even though she was sicking of hearing about Nintendo. 

A really fantastic expansion of a classic.

SUCH a great, truly unappreciated entry in the franchise.

Anyway, with all that in mind, my grounding was over by Christmas, for sure. And that's a good thing, because she ALSO still wound up getting me a Game Boy, and at least a few of initial games. Even though she was sick of hearing about Nintendo. So Xmas 93, I got a Game Boy, packed in with Tetris, which much like Dr. Mario she herself played WAY too much. And I also got, at least, Kirby's Pinball Land, and Zelda: Link's Awakening, which is still my favorite Zelda game to this day. 

Where it gets a bit fuzzy, is precisely WHEN I got the other GB games I owned, because all told, I only had six of them. The others were Wario Land, and as pictures, a bad ass 100 level Donkey Kong remake, and Mega Man V, which is my 2nd favorite MM game behind Mega Man 2 on NES. But here's the thing. All three of those games came out at various points in 1994. And Mega Man specifically, according to the internet, didn't come out until September of 94. Which really throws a monkey wrench in my memories. Because for years, I've remembered it that the last video game gift that my grandmother got me while she was still alive, was The Jungle Book on NES, for my 13th birthday in 1994. Which by the way, was a bit of a letdown. But since she DID get me Mega Man, and I DIDN'T get it for my birthday, that leads me to believe that I HAD to have gotten it for Xmas 1994. There's no other logical explanation, because I know for sure I didn't get any new games from her in 1995.

So, memory fuckery aside, yes, my last two Christmases then, were filled with Game Boy goodness, as I imagine I probably got both Mega Man and Warioland for Xmas. I didn't have many Game Boy games, but I'm proud to say none of those I did own, sucked. They were all QUITE good in fact, and I enjoyed them all, and played them all, quite a bit. I will point out, however, that I didn't actually play my GB "on the go" very much, mainly because the screen was so damn DARK without a direct light source. To that end, both for me and for her Tetris addiction, my grandmother eventually got me a "Light Boy" attachment, which was both a light for the screen, as well as a big bulky magnifier for the screen. I would sit in my bean bag chair in the corner of my room, with the GB plugged in, and play that thing with the "Light Boy", sometimes for hours. Which to me was a major win, because I had originally wanted to put the NES in my room, and wasn't allowed to. So getting to play games in my room finally, was great! Funny side note about the "Light Boy" though. I also got a Game Genie for GB, and both peripherals attached to the top of the system, in the game slot. So you could ONLY use either the Game Genie, or the LB. You could either use cool cheats, or actually SEE the screen, your choice. 

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So that's it for my Christmas Gift memories. There were likely other cool things I got as a kid, but frankly I can't really remember them, or they weren't that important to bring up. I hit on all the big and landmark ones, for sure. 2020 has been a real garage year for pretty much the entire planet. I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and here's hoping we ALL have a MUCH better New Year!