Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and that you get something as cool as I did in 1977.
A King Kong black light poster!

Brian B

Top Ten Favorite Childhood Christmas Gifts

I was tagged at the blog Yesterville Toy Room to list my top ten favorite childhood Christmas toys.
I ranked these by how much I played with them and or thoroughly enjoyed the toy.
So here they are in order.

#1. The aluminum saucer sled!

We wore these out. Great present and they lasted for years even after putting multiple dents in them.

#2 Super Toe

This is a toy that we played with and played with.
I think we played by the rules for a couple of hours and then we played a horse style game that we made up from then on.

Very durable toy.

#3 Jolly Rodger Pinball Machine

This was such a total surprise on that Christmas morning.

Atari was around then but to have an actual pinball machine at home was awesome!
We also got a couple of albums that year so we stacked them up on the stereo and played pinball all Christmas day. And the next. And the next. And the next.


#4 K-Tel Fun Skis

Great toy. Little pieces of plastic that you stood on a skied down the hill.
We never even broke a bone.


#5 Radio Controlled Batmobile

It was my first radio controlled car and it was the Batmobile! Double goodness!
I still have this toy but mine is not in as good as shape as the one in this picture.

I kinda got the radio control thing out of my system with this car. Never wanted another one.


#6 Ghost Gun

We sat in the closet under the stairway and blasted ghosts for hours.
You put a piece of paper in the gun that projected a ghost onto the wall. When you shot at the ghost a hole would appear on the projection and the paper.
Very fun.
#7 AM FM Radio

Grandma and Grandpa White got all us grand kids our very own radio one Christmas.
Most of the stations were AM then. The cool station was WIFE AM in Indy at the time.
Because I had this radio I was there when FM took over.
The cool station then was WKIS Kiss 99 FM.


#8 Ricochet Racers

I don't think this one lasted very long but it was fun.
You loaded cars in a shotgun type shell and then aimed and launched them at each other. Crash!




#9 The Magic Hat

I wanted this so bad one Christmas but alas it was not under the tree.
I know I had asked for it and it alone that year.
I had shown Mom the picture in the Sears and JC Penny's catalog and still didn't get it.

We went to my Uncle Georges late Christmas day and low and behold Uncle George and Aunt Pearl had gotten it for me.
I immediately amazed them with my magic abilities.


#10 Billy Blastoff

One of the first toys I remember playing with and thinking cool.
This was probably around 1969.
He walked and operated other equipment when you plugged them into him.

Thanks Yesterville for the trip down memory lane!

Cousins 1965

Christmas 1965 has me with my cousins on my Mom's side of the family.
I am on my Grandma Whites lap.
And now I will take a stab at the rest,
Rhonda, Sondra, Dee Dee, Bret, Steve and Doug.

Happy Birthday Brett

Happy birthday little brother.
I say little meaning I am older than he is not that I am taller than him.
This is Brett opening presents in 1973.

The first thing I notice is the Mego Tarzan in the box on the floor.

I also see a paint set and another box I can't make out to the left.
Brett is wearing some cool moccasins too.

I am guessing Brett is messing with a gun holster.

Brett is never more than a chest hair away from some sort of weapon.

I also noticed a left over Halloween decoration on the floor.

This next Christmas is four years later, 1977.


I'm not sure what is in the box but I can just hear Brett's thoughts now.

"Oh! I hope it's a sweater! No. A sweater vest! Yeah that would be cool."

"No it's the box is to heavy. Oh boy! Oh boy!"

At this point Brett says out loud.
"I hope it is something to do with the second amendment!"

I say, while digging through my stocking looking for something Batman.
"What in the world are you talking about?"

Brett replies. "You know the second amendment? The right to bear arms."

Which after hearing this I look at him and this is what see in my mind.

Cousins 1966

Aren't I a nice little sailor?

Mom is holding me and my cousins with us are Ann, Georgina, Steve, Gary, Trina, Karen and Larry.

I might have Gary and Larry switched.
Maybe Karen will correct me in the comments.

Triming the Tree

Brett trimming the tree in 1973.
Looks like a lot of hair spray is in the chair in the foreground.

Christmas 1966

Aren't I the snazzy dresser?

I would love to see one of cardboard fireplaces today.
If I remember right it had something that spun in behind the fake logs.
The spinning device crackled and flickered like flames.

I also see one of Mom's Christmas candles on the cardboard mantle.

Spring Mill 1975

1975 finds us at another park, Spring Mill Park.
This is a pretty neat place with an old fashioned settlement you can go through.


We are wearing some nice threads.
Purple and green jeans and look at all those stripes!

Thanksgiving 2009

Hang on to your hat!
This will be a whirl wind trip of our Thanksgiving weekend.

Megan and Elaine prepare our diner.

They cook while we snack on the goodies on the table.
Levi is looking at our favorite book about thanksgiving which tells about the Pilgrims journey to America.
I don't remember the name of it right now.

The boys went deer hunting that morning and then picked up Hope.

Scooby is waiting for one of us to be sympathetic and throw him something to eat.

The girls were doing MacGyver cooking since our stove is out.
So Megan made brown and serve rolls in the toaster oven.

Elaine made the turkey in the crock pot! It was delicious!

My family getting ready for prayer.

My family always smile when we pray.

Friday we went to Elaine's parents for Thanksgiving but I forgot the camera.
So just imagine food, fun and family here.


I remembered the camera Saturday when we went to my parents house.

Dad loads up a plate full along with Joel and Kye.

Most of the gang chowing down.

Each of us told what we were thankful for and lingered at the table swapping stories.

Brett's son, Kye, brought The Beatles Rock Band to play.

The gang rocking out.

Two part harmonies.

Levi, Hope and Joel getting down.

Even Elaine grabbed a mike.
Brett's family was kind enough to let us play a lot that night but they all still sang along.


While some rocked out others played Sequence.

That's cousin Sherri on the left. (See is in the rear-view mirror with us)

While playing the game I noticed Monroe over in the corner.

I took a moment to pose with this very photogenic deer.


Mom says we have the same smile.

This reminded me to ask to see our pet bird Budgie.

So like any normal family would we went in to the kitchen while Mom got Budgie out of the freezer.


Budgie died during the blizzard of 78 and has remained in the freezer ever since.

Good bird!




Mom got the salt and pepper shakers out for her biannual cooking event.
Seen before HERE

Brett's wife, Tracy, decided it was time to Rock and roll on out.


The cousins club posed for a picture before departing.

So did me and my little brothers.


A pose with the parents.

I hope you all had as nice a Thanksgiving as I did.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The food spread in 1979!
My Grandma on the left followed by my Mom's sister Carol.
Grandpa is at the head of the table and Aunt Loraine is on the right.

I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving and for all you kids who aren't allowed to sit at the grownups table I hope you have a fun cousin to entertain you.

Like my cousin Dee Dee!
I noticed a toy laying on the hearth guarded by a rabbit.

A Fisher Price movie!

You can see other posts about this great toy HERE and HERE.