What was the best Christmas gift you received when you were a kid?

My best Christmas present was in the early 70's when I got my very first GI Joe.



Prior to my first GI Joe I had a litle Major Matt Mason figurine, which doubled as the dogs chew toy.

I got a drum set when I was 11 years old on Christmas morning. I got so excited I actually hyper ventilated and almost passed out. I was a bit of a spaz as a kid.

Also:

First electric guitar (it was from K-Mart - but I loved it ).
Bobby Hull twist hockey game.
A huge slot car race set that filled up half of the basement.
Sony Walkman
Atari Game System

Mine was GI Joe related.

All the other kids were getting all the GI Joe accessories, including the vaunted Jeep And Trailer With Searchlight, but there just wasn't that kind of money for my household for stuff like that. Kids being kids, I got teased somewhat for not having any of that stuff, including making me wait to play to account for the fact my GI Joe had to walk to the battlefield.

So on Christmas Eve I was expecting socks and a bag of plastic Army Men, when I was presented a small box.

Mom had sewn a new uniform for him and a set of TA-50 for him, from web gear to a ruck sack to a parachute rig. She did a really, really good job with it and no doubt spent hours expertly hand sewing it. She had even sewn a little set of jump wings on the uniform.

So the next time us kids played with our GI Joes, mine was already waiting for the guys in the Jeep, having jumped into the conflict.

I was not only the envy of the neighborhood for having cool stuff, but for having the best Mom ever.

Skittle pool. There was no place in our house for a full sized table. I think that got me totally hooked on billiards. I now own a really fine wood based, fiberglass wrapped cue @ 21 ounces. I don't like to break with it (I will use a house cue for that) but it is perfect for everything else.

Now, that's an awesome mom. I had a 'Pulsar' action figure, and his clothing got destroyed, and my mom sewed a new outfit for him. I had an awesome mom too.

A Davy Crockett Alamo fort. Painted tin walls and building, solders, cannon, well and wood pile. Still have parts someplace.

The Millenium Falcon and Han Solo's blaster, both from Kenner.

To my chagrin (in hindsight), when I was in my early teens (and had lost interest), my Mom sold off most of my considerable Star Wars toy collection at a flea market.

Still got that blaster, though. And a Yoda action figure.

Mercury Capsule.

Action man scout car.

I already had...

Kirk
Spock
McCoy
Sulu
Chekov
Uhura
Scotty
2 Klingons

IIRC, each doll action figure was around $5.00, I think my allowance was around $0.50/week (I know I saved for some, I'm sure my mom and aunt bought me a couple.

Mom comes back from Kansas City one winter (business trip) with the ship...



I thought it was the coolest toy ever! Mine had a yellow console and at least four black seats for Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scotty).

++++++++++

The one that got away (mine was *much* smaller)...

for my 14th Christmas my Dad paid half of a fiberglass canoe to match the lawn mowing money i was saving for it. We had private lake just down the street and i learned to carry the canoe on a thwart on my shoulders. Many happy days followed. A Scout buddy and i mastered fast turns and we always won the canoe race on Family day at camp. That was a great moral booster to a scrawny kid.

Daisy BB Gun Model 10 Carbine

I even liked it better than the .22 I got for Christmas a couple years later. BB's were so much cheaper back then.

Millennium Falcon & the AT-AT.

Ruger mini-14. Although not really a "kid". But was 3 months shy of 18 years old. Thanks Mum. I think the I am going to go join the Army did it. Although that is not quite how it rolled. Took 911 to make me actually sign my life away to do that. But it did lead to me shooting expert all the time in rifle quals. She did not like my plan to much, but hell, she volunteered to go to Vietnam so had nothing to stand on. I think she figured it was better that I could shoot straight. Although an old school early 1990's era mini was not exactly on target. Just made me try harder. Never could shoot better than 5.5 MOA iron sighted with that thing before I played around with it in the mid 2000's. Now its a 2.5 moa after all the mods. Never getting rid of it. So out of left field for a Mum gift. She topped it on my 19th however. But not a kid then.

Go Kart. Wanted one for YEARS. Finally got it and hit a growing spurt. A year later I could barely fit in it.
But it was one hell of a year.

S!
Great Mom story!

My parents would not give me anything that dangerous but I did have a Johnny Eagle rifle that they regretted since, on Christmas Day, I shot about six of my mother's glass ornaments off of the tree. It would have been worse if I was a better shot.

LOL. Remimnds me of the day I woke up extra early a few weeks before XMas to discover all kinds of Barbie Clothes laid out on the coffee table. Both my sisters had Barbie dolls. Only my sisters had hand made fur lined coats and matching muffs. God bless Mum. She sewed those dresses and coats late at night while we slept.

My best gift? Air Hockey? Billy Blast Off? Electric race set? Sizzlers?

My favorite gift was the Evil Knievel stunt bike, dragster and RV. I don't know how many times I bloodied my knuckles trying to wind those bikes up on the sidewalk. A close second would be the Atari 2600 clone I got one year from Sears. Getting those catalogs every fall was great.

Quickcord

LOL ! The one design flaw in what was a great boyhood toy. I too bloodied my knuckles trying to wind up that thing. Thanks for the good laugh. That brought back some great memories.

What ever happened to Chemistry sets ? I got a few of them thru the years.

Ah yes the chemistry set! I used all of the sulfur, a charcoal briquette, and some saltpeter from the pharmacy to make some black powder. I tinkered around with the formula until I got a long burn, unfortunately it was in a glass ashtray which cracked and the flaming contents set my bed on fire. I put it out with a bucket of water getting ready for my aquarium and slept in a damp bed for a night. there was only a small hole in the blankets but the mattress took a bigger patch.

LOL. Yup. Have the ramps all set up, winding as hard and as fast as you could then...sudden stop to launch! How did that pause launch work anyway?! Was a mystery to me, like the continuous looping of an 8-track tape!

I still have a scar on my chin from 1974 after taking a Kenner SSP Smash-up Derby car right to my face when I was a kid

^ Dayum! Feed the cord in the hole then let'ur rip!

Meccano sets.

Not the new style of plastic kits, but the old steel plates and angle brackets you had to screw together.

Eventually had a big metal box full of the stuff.

Probably why I became an aircraft engineer ......

Andy

PS A Merry Christmas to all on the forum when it comes.

BSA Meteor .22 air rifle, similar to this. Loved it to bits. Scope came later.

Holy flashback Batman !!!! I had those too.

Can't believe I'm the first and only one saying this, but by far the best thing I got for Christmas as a kid was my first bike. Sure I had other cool things too, but NOTHING has as strong of memories as my first bike.

I was 6, and my "world" instantly went from a couple streets to like FIFTY streets (back in the early 70's when a kid that age could actually roam around that much).

I don't even think my first car gave me that much of a thrill.

It was love. And it was Christmas every single day.

My first bike was a piece of crap hand-me-down, my first new *real* bike was the black and yellow one in this ad...



It wasn't a gift, though.

I know what you mean about a bike giving you freedom to roam, also why we were all twig skinny kids back then (a fat kid was rare in those days).

I remember one summer, guess I was about 12 or so, the neighborhood bicycle gang decided to see just how far we could ride out in one day, getting back before our parents returned home from work. Using Google Earth, I estimate we rode at least 10 miles out (on BMX type, no gears). I remember being exhausted on the return trip, wondering if I had the stamina to make it back home in time.

Reminds me of the time I rode in the Bicentennial parade Mark. Mom said I could ride in it but she meant only through town on Main Street (Athens, IL) but I followed the parade out of town heading to Springfield. She didn't catch me until I had made it to the Springfield airport, mainly because she didn't have a clue where I went. Lol I passed out in the truck from exhaustion shortly after she found me. 11 miles on one of those single speed Sears bikes was a workout.

I took the 1A route. http://tinyurl.com/j8svxqn
(via Post St, N Cantrall Creek Rd and IL-29 S)
About a mile or so out of town I couldn't keep up with the motorized parade or the people on ten speed bikes so I rode most of the route alone. I caught the parade at the airport again and that is when MOM finally found me and boy howdy did I catch heck for taking off on my own. HWY 29 may look like a peaceful country road but it was heavily traveled even then and for the most part didn't have any paved shoulders so I was riding in the gravel.


Wheels

Commodore 64 at age 11 or 12. Set me on a course for life!

A bolt action airsoft rifle. To my 12 year old mind, it was mindblowing because it fired the BBs out of cartridges that the action would actually eject. It wasn't exactly durable though

The one that immediately comes to mind is the Aurora Karate Men, my Poppa bought for me when I was 8.

I got a blanket one year (first year they had those microfiber blankets. Was expecting it to be a remote controlled car. Was completely heartbroken. Then proceeded to use that blanket for years and years and it turned out to be my favorite gift I've ever gotten. I always feel completely horrible about the way I acted when I got that blanket but as a kid a blanket doesnt mean much. As an adult a comfortable blanket is better than any 100 toys I had as a kid.

I would be pissed if I got a blanket too. LOL. I can't remember having any comfort items growing up, not even a Teddy Bear.

Can't say best gift I ever got but things I really did like was an archery set, Daisy BB Gun Red Rider, Rock 'em Sockem Robots, Airfix Racing car set.

It would have been this exact magic set when I was about 8 or 9 years old, so 1953 or 54.






I was kind of surprised that I actually found a picture of one on the net. All my toys for Christmas were ordered out of the Sears Christmas catalog back then. I think I thought that Santa Claus worked with Sears. However, that was about the same time that I figured out that there was no Santa, when I found some stuff I had asked for under my parent's bed a week or so before the big day.

Anyway, it got me started on a life long off and on hobby of learning and occasionally doing magic trick for friends and family. After I retired in 2007, I worked part time in a local magic shop demonstrating the tricks we sold. The shop finally closed at the end of 2015. Like many specialty shops, the owner couldn't compete with the internet and he didn't have any interest or the know how to take his business on-line.

Cheers

A Red Ryder BB gun. Still have it tucked away somewhere, just in case Black Bart shows up.

Was 5 years old in 1966 when I received a Tonka Drag line crane for Christmas.
Spent a few summers with it in the old sand box, loved it.

I would have to say the Atari 2600 gaming system that my dad got me for Christmas in 1979. Man I played the heck out of that thing! I think that's when gaming got into my blood.

Holy cow, I had this as well when I was a kid circa 1980-1981. Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Got one of those for Christmas too, following year I had to give it to my younger brother and I got a BSA Mercury with a Nikko Stirling Gold Crown 6x40 scope.



Gold Crown 6x40 scope,

I, well me and my sister, got an Intellivision when I was 12, 1979. But it was the Atari I really wanted.I never got use to, or liked the Intellivisions weird controller.
Now that I think about it, I can't ever remember my sister using it at all.

The most yearned for and received was the Dinky Tank Transporter and Tank. One pound seventeen shillings and sixpence; quite a sum in 1958.

Then my first Scalextric with a Ferrari and Vanwall. That smell of an over heated hand control I'll never forget.

Ah yes the Dinky! Wasn't that the main British heavy tank that could knock out Tigers and Panthers with impunity?

I didn't have the Dinky tank transporter, but I did have the Corgi James Bond Austin Martin and the Hook and Ladder fire truck.

That looks like the Comet.

Box says Centurion.

LOL! I blame a lack of caffeine. Thanks for pointing that out.

How many of you had some of these, I remember my brother and me spending hours
playing with them. Then the darker side of my brother came out and I found out
how much it hurt to use the track as a whip.

A daisy BB gun when i was 9 but unfortunately with it i slaughtered many birds (including some that it's a fine to harm) and lizards in my backyard, alley and even in neighbors yards.

I regret having killed every one of them and their deaths still haunt me today

I had those Hotwheel tracks. Got my ass tanned by my Mother once too.

Gave new meaning hurt to, My brother left whip marks on my back that lasted 8 months. Needless
to say when Dad saw the damage. His lasted longer.

Though I was into archery, my dad got me a .22 rifle for christmas. Scared me to death when you have no idea how to handle firearms and was annoyed that he took it out shooting often without me :-(

One of these... A Robotech AFC-01.



It was badass, and could transform from a jet to a battlemech. And then my brother broke the arm off a few years later. I'd so love to still have it intact to give to my daughter.

You don't know pain until you've been beaten with a solid injection-molded plastic Johnny West action figure. Being clobbered with one of those is akin to being hit with a billy club. Zero give.

Holy crap. My beating was nothing like that. I do remember my Dad being pissed with my Mother for using the track as a spanking device, (the only time I can recall him being on my side). I was 4 at the time. Thankfully Mom moved on the wooden spoons, broke one a my butt once.
How times have changed.

Red Ryder BB Gun

Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

I only ever shot one bird, my first and last because just that one bothered me enough not to do it again. I didn't actually kill it though, shot one of its legs off and when it fell to the ground one of our cats got it.

I had Hotwheels too but never had a GI Joe. I did play with my friends GI Joes once though. Dolls for boys.

Looks like the Robert Downey Jr. character from "Tropic Thunder".