Welcome to the Advent Blog Tour 2007 day 4!
Ok,today is revival day. Since Christmas is all about children and childhood I'd like to focus on that, namely *my* childhood and christmas memories. Having divorced parents since the age of 5 has meant for me spending Christmas day in various places. In my father's house, my mum's, my uncles, my grandparents... So I don't really have a tradition that has been going on for years. It has always been different.
But something was always there:
1) the toys!
Man,I loved toys, and since some of them are now kind of forgotten I'd like to pay a tribute to some of my favourites, the wonderful toys of the 80's!
Rainbow Brite
I don't remember getting her for Christmas, but since I got one once and lost it straight away, it has always been very coveted ever since.
She-Ra
She was He-Man's cousin, or something. I was so happy when I got her castle for Christmas, she was very cool.
Micromachines
I'm a girl so unfortunately I never got these for Christmas,but luckily I had cousins and half-brothers who were happy to let me play with theirs! Sometimes boys toys were much much better...
Legos
You could never have enough legos...
This list could go on and on. But if you click here you'll find tons and tons of 80's toys to freshen up your memory. I'm afraid I'm gonna spend hours looking at all of them now..
The second main features of Christmas were...
3)The movies!
I'm talking about the films on tv, not at the cinema. Those films that are always on every year, and that we all look forward to watch even if we know them by heart!
I've come up with my lists of favourites:
The Neverending Story
Probably my favourite kids film ever, I watch it every year around Christmas and still gives me the shivers. Now I have the dvd, but as a child, I was always hoping to find it on tv.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory
Obviously I'm choosing the 1971's version, because that's what I used to watch,but also because I think it's way better!
Mary Poppins
Christmas holidays wouldn't be complete without my favourite nanny on tv.
This also could go on forever, but I'd like to mention some more that give me an instant Christmasy feeling:
The Wizard of Oz (wonderful Judy Garland)
The Sword in the Stone (it's always on on Christmas Eve or day, dunno why, but I love it)
Willow (80's fantasy, not very famous, but still christmasy for me)
E.T. (the cutest alien!!!!)
Herbie (and all the rest of the Disney family movies, cheesy but unmissable)
The sound of music (of course!)
Who framed Roger Rabbit (it's linked to Christmas to me because when it came out in the cinema I was on Christmas holiday but I couldn't go to see it cause I was really sick. My cousins brought me sweets after they went to see it, to compensate)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (such a classic).
I'll leave you with my favourite Christmas memory. I must had been 7 or 8. I was playing with Fragolino and Fragolina (Mr and Mrs Strawberry: I couldn't find them in the list,I'm pretty sure it wasn't Strawberry Shortcake. They were tiny, and had a strawberry as a hat, and a strawberry van) in my granny's house in Sicily. Now, my granny was really religious and she would always set up a nativity near the Christmas tree. She had this tiny figures who represented the Holy Mary, and The Baby Jeesus, the Magi etc... Only the Baby Jesus was horrible looking. Really. He had a serious angry face which I didn't like at all! So I thought of replacing the baby Jesus with my Fragolino,who was much cuter:) I didn't think anybody would mind...but my granny went wild!!! As soon as she saw it she screamed at me "what have you done? What's this? where did you put the baby jesus? heresy!".
I was mortified, but my dad only laughed and thought I had a great idea :D
THAT'S IT!
Now, keep opening this little windows of memory by visiting each day of the Advent Blog Tour!:
5 December - Melissa (Book Nut)
6 December - Laura (Musings)
7 December - Wendy (Caribousmom)
8 December - Nymeth (Things Mean A Lot)
9 December - Raidergirl (an adventure in reading), Chris (Stuff as dreams are made on)
10 December - Dewey (The Hidden Side of a Leaf)
11 December -Suey (It's All About Books)
12 December - Chris (Book-a-rama)
13 December - Jill (The Well-Read Child)
14 December - Robin (A Fondness for Reading)
15 December - Alyssa (By The Book)
16 December - Rachel (A Fair substitute for heaven)
17 December - Literary Feline (Musings of a Bookish Kitty)
18 December - Dev (Good Reads)
19 December - Callista S.M.S. (Book Reviews)
20 December - Tiny Little Librarian (Tiny Little Librarian)
21 December - Carla (Carla Nayland Historical Fiction)
22 December - Carolyn Jean (The Trillionth Page)
23 December - Booklogged (A Reader's Journal)
24 December - Kailana (The Written World) / Carl V. (Stainless Steel Droppings)
Tuesday, 4 December 2007
The Advent Calendar Blog Tour : the toys, the movies, the memories...
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22 comments:
What a great post! Some of your Christmas memories are similar to mine, I guess because we're both children of the 80's. I'd also get She-ra and Legos for Christmas. And of course, the movies! I LOVED Willow! And The Neverending Story, and The Sword in the Stone, and Roger Rabbit. Other 80's movies that will forever remind me of Christmas are Gremlins, the second Ghostbusters movie and Scrooged with Bill Murray.
Thanks for sharing your memories :)
What a wonderful post! I remember those toys well. My little sis had the Rainbow Brite dolls, I cracked up when I saw them.
Thanks for reminding me about Mary Poppins. I have that on DVD and haven't seen it in forever. I need to watch that this Christmas.
Yes, the wonderful 80s toys. I think Mary Poppins is one of the best movies - I had the record, so I know all the songs.
Thanks for the Christmas memories.
Hey. Marg's link to here isn't working right. Sorry it took me so long to stop by.
The Neverending Story was a favorite book of mine which then became a fav. of my son's. Lovely with the green and red ink. le sigh.
A trip down memory lane! One movie that I watch each Christmas is "Little Women". It is Christmasy for me. I think if I still had lego I would end up playing with it once in a while. haha.
Wonderful post! Love that Christmas memory...sounds like it was a good idea to me!
Oh, I love Willow...haven't seen it for a while, but I think I ought to go dig it right now.
I remember She-ra. I wanted one but I don't think I ever got one :( Great post!
Thanks for the toy memories! My husband *still* cannot have too many Legoes - he's getting more for Christmas and he just got some for his birthday. He's very easy to shop for. :)
I love your nativity scene story - I wouldn't have wanted an angry looking baby Jesus, either!!
Great post!
I was standing in line buying my 4 yo a Strawberry Shortcake doll for her birthday tomorrow, and the lady behind me said, "Aren't you old enough to remember those from when you were a kid." I had to say that, actually, I was.
Darn it. Pegged as a kid of the 80s. Thanks for the trip down toy memory lane.
Oh, and I loved the story!
The 80s had the best toys and cartoons! My favorite was my Fluppy dog but I also had the Rainbow Brite, Wuzzles, Care Bears, My Little Ponies, & all of the little Strawberry Shortcake dolls too.
Thanks for sharing some fun memories!
Thanks for playing the ghost of Christmas past! I enjoyed the trip!!
Thanks so much guys!!! I'm happy you liked the post, it was fun to write too.I'm never tired of remembering my childhood...maybe because I never left it ahaha!
Nymeth, I keep finding things in common with you,it's nice:P
carl, how could you forget about Mary Poppins!Go watch it now!ok,no,wait till it's almost christmas, it's better.
raidergirl, I wish I had the records with the songs, must find it this year!Or I should just get in on dvd...
Lisabea, I have the same edition of the Neverending Story!It's a beautiful hardback, with red and green prints and every chapter began with a wonderful decorated letter. It's still one of the best books I've ever read.
Kaliana, of course Little Women!It's very Christmasy!
Debi,I'm glad you agree with me,it wasn't too blasphemous was it?:P
and yay, for another Willow fan!so underrated.
Awww Chris, I would have bought you one!Or I would have lent you mine to play with!
Tinylittlelibrarian, your husband sounds like really good fun!
Thanks Marg!thanks for having this great idea too!
Melissa, I'm sure your daughter will love strawberry shortcake just the way we did! It's nice that they still produce them. they must be still popular.
Ladytink, you're a real child of the 80's!For a while I was obsessed with my little ponies,my favourite was the pink one, can't remember her name now.
suey, thanks for reading them:)
amy, that's a nice way to put it, I'm happy you enjoyed it!!
Now it's time for bed...work tomo at 9!!arghh...but I'll be looking forward to read the next window memory...cya!
What a lovely story! And you sure did bring back the memories of 80 for me.
I love Rainbow Brite, my favorite doll at the times. You know Sword of the Stones was my very first movie I saw out in film. So it became a favorite. But I agree with all the other movies you named here. Love them too :)
Enjoy reading your Adventure Blog Tour :)
What a fun post! And I SO agree with you on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. It was great--and creepy!--as only a 1970's kids movie could be.
Wonderful post! I was an '80's child as well and your list of toys brought back memories. :-)
The Neverending Story is a wonderful movie. Have you read the book? I haven't yet, but I want to.
Thanks Julia, rainbow Brite was my favourite too, for the brief time that she was with me!
Hey Carolyn, it definitely was creepy,but that was the fun of it too!
Yes, I've read the book as it's one of my all time favourite, should read it again one day.
This post brought back so many of my own memories! Ha ha, your granny thought you worshiped Fragolino!
ahaha!she probably did!poor Fragolino, I wonder what happened to him...
Absolutely love this idea! Not only will I be using it with my students, I think this is what my own daughters will be making for grandparents too! Thanks so much for sharing like you do.
This is a great post for the books and toys. I would love to get those toys, since its valentines, I would prefer to give this to my niece. I am alone this Valentines.
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