Christmas past and Christmas present

[Sarah]

This hit me during the show on Tuesday, but as I listen to the archive today (I miss so much chatting, you know), I'm struck even more by how the childhood Christmas experiences of the callers differ from mine.  I don't know why I'm still startled that it's the norm nowadays for kids to receive video games, watches, cameras, Walkmen--in short, all manner of electronic devices--but I am.  I'm of Dave from Knoxville's generation, so these things didn't even exist when I was a kid, and they still seem luxurious to me.  That they constitute the bedrock of Christmas gift giving stuns me.

Now get off my lawn.

[Wes]

If it makes you feel any better, the best Christmas I ever had growing up wasn't a year when I received any video games or transforming robots or any manner of electrical doodads, thingamajigs or whirlygogs. It was the Christmas my parents gave me a set of wooden toy soldiers that they’d carved together over the course of the year.

They didn’t light up, they didn’t turn into nuclear-powered tanks, they didn’t have any realistic-fighting-action joints and they didn’t make any noises. But these wooden soldiers had something else that all those fancy, noisy, store-bought toys everyone else got that year didn’t: a little thing called love.

Heh, no, I’m just kidding. The best Christmas I ever had was the year my parents got me Blades Of Steel for the Nintendo even though it was sold out pretty much everywhere. It was awesome: you could fight people in it, you could play Gradius between periods and it talked. It talked! “Blades! Of Steel!” “Penalty shot!” “Makes the pass! Makes the pass!” Oh! How I loved that game! Yes, the year I got Blades of Steel for Christmas was the year I decided I loved my parents after all.

[erika]

I don't know why I'm still startled that it's the norm nowadays for kids to receive video games, watches, cameras, Walkmen--in short, all manner of electronic devices--but I am. 

yeah I'm not sure why that's startling either. Considering a kids watch or camera (low-end) can cost the same amount as a board game or a traditional toy. It's not like those things are difficult to produce...

I mean, a 300 dollar game system is a different story, but what kinds of toys would you expect kids to get?

[Sarah]

Erika, you appear not to have realized yet that I am an old fart.  To me, electronics are decadent luxuries (I'm still amazed that so many kids have televisions, telephones, and computers of their own).  Ironic, really, considering how much time I spend on this board.

My childhood Christmases were fairly anomalous even at the time, to tell the truth.  My parents were frugal, so we didn't get much in the way of toys and board games and such.  Still, kids now get much more than did even kids who enjoyed more conventional Christmases when I was young. 

[Chris L]

iPods, iPhones, iTunes -- look out folks, the "iKid generation" is upon us.  I'll have plenty of humorous observations based on that horrible phrase in my future best-seller, But I Kid the iKids.  If this post isn't appetizing enough, just look for me on the cover; I'll be trapped in an iPhone-like device and trying desperately to escape (a feeling I know my readers will be familiar with). 

[erika]

Old farts, young farts, what's the difference?

A fart is only as old as it feels... get young, farts!