Thoughts from me - a preacher's wife, farmer's daughter, mom, and nurse. Posts are mainly intended to help me journal the events of my life - topics will include kids, church, work, marriage, life in general,
and of course my dogs . . . and whatever else I feel compelled to write about.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Top 10 Christmas Presents

Leave it to Brian to bring me out of my blogging hiatus! While not being a member of the "boys' toy club" means I wasn't officially "tagged" to participate, reading the Brians' (What My Dad Saw- Yesterville Toy Room)posts on Top 10 Christmas Presents made me do some reminiscing . . . .

#10 Play Kitchen

While this is not exactly what our play kitchen looked like, it is pretty close. I have vivid memories of playing with our kitchen with my sister. The sink really worked! You could put water in a pan below the "sink" and the faucet would somehow magically pump it out - kind of recycling it. What was even more amazing was that Mother would actually LET US put water in the sink! Many hours of my childhood were spent playing "wife and mom." I guess it paid off!

#9 The book Giant Stories



While I don't really remember unwrapping this book at Christmas, I think it was a Christmas present. Even if it wasn't, this book is hands-down one of my all time favorite books. I am pretty sure it was a book my mom ordered from The Weekly Reader. The pictures were awesome and stories were just a little scary. I would love to have this book again!

#8 Fisher Price Dollhouse



My sister and I played with this dollhouse for years. What a classic! Role playing at its best. We bought Megan the 90's version of the Fisher Price dollhouse and she spent hours upon hours playing with hers. This has to be one of the all time best toys Fisher Price ever made.

#7 Sunshine Family Dollhouse


While not the Fisher Price dollhouse, the Sunshine Family dollhouse ranks high with me because it was such a surprise for me. I saw it in the JC Penney catalog and fell in love. I never dreamed that I would actually get it for Christmas! Pure 1970s fashion and theme - the Sunshine Family was the original "green" family and I LOVED them!

#6 Colorform set


I can still smell them! I loved my Colorforms. So much fun and creativity and reuseability! Great toy. Why don't they still smell the same?

#5 Super Jock

While not a real sports fan, I can remember wanting this toy REALLY badly. It was probably 1977 or 1978. My sister and my dad and I played with this toy a lot. It even survived long enough for my little brother to eventually end up playing with it.

#4 My doll Stephanie

While not a huge doll fan, I do still love MY first doll. Purchased, as most of our toys were, from the JC Penney catalog, this doll is big with kind of crazy wild blonde hair and sleepy eyes - you know the kind where her eye lids close when you lay her down. She even cries when you move her back and forth - can anyone say "shaken baby syndrome." lol The crazy thing about Stephanie is her name. I named her Stephanie - why? I don't know. I don't like that name and never have. Sorry to all the Stephanies of the world.

#3 Yellow Housecoat


This was a beautiful yellow robe/housecoat brought back from Florida for me by my mother's parents. I am quite sure that this housecoat singlehandedly started my love affair with bed clothes! It was nothing shy of beautiful and I felt so special when I had it on.

#2 Dusty and Nugget


This is the only toy I really remember asking - no begging for from my parents. I truly thought I would die if I didn't get this toy for Christmas. I am certain that is was the TV commercial than ran during the Brady Bunch that hooked me. Dusty looked amazing and Nugget - well, he looked real. That year my mom ordered a lot of stuff from JC Penney's. Enough stuff that she had a large box full of Christmas presents in their bedroom covered with a quilt. I am more than embarassed to admit that one day while under my older sister's not-so-watchful eye, I sneaked a peak under the quilt. Seeing Dusty and Nugget in the box was too much for my 8 year old self control. I spent the better part of the afternoon playing with them - neatly putting them back in the box before my parents got home. I hope my mother doesn't read my blog.

#1 Emergency MEGO Playset


Considering Emergency was my FAVORITE TV show, this toy was my FAVORITE toy. John Gage and Roy DeSoto were amazing! And while the MEGO company didn't do that great of a job capturing their awesomeness, I played with this set quite a lot. Rampart, This is Squad 51!

Merry Christmas!

3 comments:

Brian Ashmore said...

Hi E,

I would have definitely tagged you if I had known you might be watching. You're a member of our "club" whether you like it or not. Heh, heh.

Great list!! I was surprised to see Emergency figures at #1. That's so cool! I loved that show, too. When I was about 7, my two favorite TV shows were Planet of the Apes and Emergency. I think I had an Emergency board game but not the figures.

Btw...I'm telling your Mom.

B

Mrs. H. said...

I was just thinking about the Sunshine Family the other day! Do you remember, we had the store, too. And the house was vinyl. I can still remember the way it smelled.

Mrs. H. said...

Oh, and just to let you know. Mother didn't KNOW that the play kitchen sink pumped water for quite a while. We figured that out on our own. :-)