The Christmas claymation shows and cartoons of the 70s bring back the most memories for me as a kid. To me, they signified Christmas was just about here.
I grew up with the Claymation Celebration Christmas as well and have been trying to find a hard copy of it so I could watch it again. Sadly it's like looking for hens teeth.
Those were the absolute best. When the channel would say “Our regularly scheduled programs will not be on tonight for such and such special “. Those were the most exciting times to look forward to for me. My kids baffle me when I try to show them my favorite Rudolf special and they can barely get through a quarter of it and I finally tell them they don’t need to watch it anymore if they really don’t want to lol.
@@Teddythedogsocute All of these shows are back when tv was worth watching and not total trash like it is today. We haven't had cable tv for 16 years so far. Now you're just paying monthly to watch commercials.
I was born in 1966. I remember vividly the Christmas of 1976. I was 10 years old, The Bicentennial year was just about over and everyone just seemed ready for it to be over. That December I enjoyed all the claymation specials, charlie Brown Christmas, and all the other 70s Christmas specials. I got a couple Christmas gifts that were wrapped in special Bicentennial wrapping paper. I ended the 70s turning 13. But I have to say, the 70s were a great time to be a kid. All the PBS education shows, the prime time TV shows and the movies. I'm so glad to say I still have such vivid memories from 1973 all the way to now. I hope I never lose those memories because it was a great time in my life
I'm 1966 too! I remember PBS Miss Jean Hodge Podge Lodge. There was also a Christmas special about a single mother with a son who left, I believe it was NY or another major city, to live rurally. It was filmed like a documentary. Wish I could remember more about it. Recall watching it while playing with my new Charlie, s Angels dolls🤣
It does sound like you have some great memories of the 70s and I hope you never lose those either. Thank you for watching and telling us about some of your experiences in the decade.
My mother was the only one to put tinsel on the tree each year. She also removed EACH STRAND for reuse. She was born into WWII W Germany-Bavaria-and Christmas was especially important to her.
It seemed like we lost tinsel each year but we reused ours as well. Eventually it didn't look as good as it once did because it wrinkled and bent out of shape.
As a child of the 70’s (born 1969), you really nailed it with this video! The bowl of nuts, accompanied by a nut cracker, and picks, really takes me back! Dreaming about the toys, inside the Sears or JCPenney catslog, was more entertaining than the toys themselves! Well, not really, but close! Christmas peaked during the 1970’s/early 80’s, for all of the reasons you mentioned. In addition, families seemed closer and more grounded spiritually.
I miss Christmas tree lots - Even when we couldn't get one, just walking around smelling the scent of pine and fir filled the air and I just loved that. When I married our first Christmas together my husband and I went Christmas tree shopping and he found us the most beautiful tree. He set it in a bucket on the back porch and left it there over night. He said it would help the tree not lose its needles as fast. Once in the house he'd slowly weave the lights in among all the branches until it was perfect, then I'd add ornaments. Even if there weren't many gifts under the tree it didn't matter. We were together. We'd turn off all the lights except the lights on the tree, put on some Christmas music and just snuggle up together. We had so many, many years together but he passed away a few years ago. The memories are as dear as ever. If I close my eyes I swear I can still smell the scent of a fresh Christmas tree as he'd bring it into the living room. Now I have a small, artificial tree I set on the table with a few special ornaments on it - The most special in the one we got for our first Christmas together - A jolly Mr and Mrs Claus hugging each other.
I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your loving husband. It truly does sound like you all made some special memories together and not everyone does that. I believe spending time with those we love is what is most important. It's also a time for us to cherish memories of Christmas past and help carry those on for others. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories with us. I hope you have a Merry Christmas full of peace and good memories.
We had a blizzard in 1978. There are photos at my grandparents' house with my uncle and I playing in the deep snow with our sled. I remember that my aunt snd grandmother had some kind of white snow spray stuff that they used to spray with stencils onto the windows. I haven't seen that stuff in decades. Cellophane tensil and garland was fun. I liked to play with the garland like it was a boa. 😊
I remember that blizzard as well. We normally don't get things like that in Oklahoma. We never used stencils but I saw a lot of people who did including retailers.
I grew up in a small town in the 70s. You nailed the times and thank you for bringing back those memories! Two other little things I did/remember: Santa always came to town so on that night, all kids went downtown to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. The other fond memory I have is the children's' Christmas program at our church on Christmas eve. All the adults, parents and seniors, would come to see our performance. When it was over, the ushers would pass out a paper bag (lunch bag sized) that was filled with peanuts in the shells, fruit, and candy (including ribbon candy 😁 ) . GREAT TIMES
63 now and I try my best to celebrate like we did back then. Believe it or not we still have a mall near me and that's where I shop. No internet orders because I miss the shopping experience. I still watch all the claymation shows. In general I still live ole school as much as possible. No decorating till Dec 1st for me. Thanx again
I miss the days of waiting until after Thanksgiving before decorating. People start so early now that I'm sick of it by the time Christmas finally gets here. Lots of great memories in this video. I spent my first 7 years in the 70s and they were filled with wonderful moments.
I personally think that we have extended the season way to early. I sure don't remember that ever being a thing even up until the 1990s. I thought maybe that was just where I was but I wasn't sure. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories.
That really took me back! We had a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas eve, (Mom picked the gift, it was always pajamas). We also covered the tree with foil "icicles" It made a huge mess, but looked great.
One of the things you mentioned is the most significant for nowadays lack of magic during Xmas... People start decorating so early that it becomes a routine for them watching all that every day for over a month (or sometimes 2 months!)... It wasn't like this back in the day. Music had always been part of it. There were 2 Xmas compilation records we put on to listen to over and over... I still listen to them during this period. I even replaced one of the vinyls with one in mint condition because our record had lots of scratching noises in the recent years! There was a departments' store downtown, and they used to hire a Santa for children to take a picture with, and give him letters. I loved sitting on his knees, touching the thick red velvet which always felt warm no matter if it was freezing cold!! Our tree ornaments were all glass handmade in Poland and Germany in late 50s/early 60s and were passed to us by my grandparents. Since all children left the house and made their own families, they decided there's no need to carry on decorating a big tree, so they bought a smaller and gave us part of their old ornaments. I cherished them as a kid and I still do to this day. They're so beautiful! Every 2-3 years I come across a broken one (because of mistakes during packing them away) and I feel so frustrated! The Xmas dinner meant 2 days in the kitchen for mum and grandma, but they never seemed tired of it. They just wanted to please us all! The only part I had in the kitchen was helping grandma make some traditional sweets we make for Christmas. She prepared the dough in a big plastic bowl and I had to divide it in pieces onto the baking trays. Xmas cards were also part of the house decoration and year by year there were even more of them 😂 Finally, cartoons on TV was my favourite thing! I was so sad when it was time to go back to school and all the festivities were over! I never liked putting the tree away and going back in routine...
I feel that decorating early numbs people out to the magic and charm of the Christmas season. It really was special in the past and it still could be but it may be a tad big over done. I do miss a lot of things about Christmas in the past and I am happy to see that you made a lot of old memories that all sound wonderful as well. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience of the past Michael!
Oh yes, you're so right. Christmas felt so different in the 1970's. We loved Christmas so much! We made everything into a party with Christmas music and Christmas Treats. We would have a party wrapping gifts after shopping for Christmas gifts. We would have a party for decorating the Christmas Tree. We would even have a party while preparing Christmas Dinner. My aunt Sandy brought all the Christmas Albums; my favorites were the Andy Williams Christmas Album, The Elvis Presley Christmas Album and I loved the Partridge Family Christmas Album. Christmas was month long celebration.
It really was a wonderful time to experience Christmas. The parties and family get togethers were really meant for people to enjoy each others company. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
I loved being a child in the 1970's😃Christmas was way BETTER back then than now😁We had an aluminum Christmas Tree with a flood light shing on it with rotating colorsI remember graduating to the adult table and looking at my family at the kids table sticking my tongue out at themThank you Rhetty for History for this🙏🏻I miss those daysMerry Christmas🎄🎅🏻🤶🏻ROCK ON!!!!!!!🤘🏻🤙🏻✌🏻
We never had an aluminum tree like that in our house but one set of my grandparents had one. I always thought they were pretty fascinating and I wanted one in our home. Moving up from the kids table really is a big deal! That is funny what you did thought. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us MrMegaFredZeppelin!
So many of the same memories: tinsel, the nut bowl, ceramic tree, Grandma’s ribbon candy (so stale). The aluminium tree with the rotating color wheel was my favorite.
One set of my grandparents had that silver tree! I was always mesmerized by it. Now those popping up in antique shops and they are asking good money for them. I'm sort of shocked that there hasn't been a company selling them new in stores again. Thank you for watching!
You're right about that. You could but them in any hole but it would look funny if you did. Thank you for watching and sharing that little tidbit with us Teddy!
You're welcome and thank you for watching Pamelas! We had a color TV in the 70s as well but it was our main console TV in the living room. We had a couple other little TVs but they were black and white.
The Christmases of the 70's and 80's absolutely HIT DIFFERENT! People and pop culture have fundamentally changed, and certainly NOT for the better. The world just isn't as fun when we spend 90% of our time buried in our iPhones. The 70's and 80's holidays were about experiences, incredible visuals, special memories, and FAMILY. We have all this technology now, but we certainly aren't happier as we were in these simpler, more intimate times.
I do think that smartphones have changed a lot of things but the Christmas experience has definitely been affected by them. Everyone wants to be first in this or that or possibly the flashiest and that sort of fits in with the commercialism which has also changed. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts.
I grew up in the 70's always looked forward to Christmas tv specials and I still do from back in the day always had to watch Rudolph Frosty Santa Claus is Coming to Town the Year Without Santa Claus and the Charlie Brown Christmas like you we didn't start decorating till after the beginning of December usually a couple weeks before Christmas if that soon my dad would get a real Christmas tree it was always so much fun to decorate pile on as much icicles that we could also remember the different Christmas carols that my mother would play on the piano or we would listen to on the record player / stereo my dad was just as big of a kid he was always excited about Christmas morning such great memories thank you for sharing
As a kid I always wished we would have gotten a real live tree but we never did. When I got on my own I did up until a couple years ago and then I went back to artificial since all my kids are grown. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories. I really enjoyed hearing how you experienced 1970s Christmas seasons.
Nothing will ever be the same again. The 70’s were the best. 😁 Now with parents gone, it’s definitely not the same. Christmas was always at their place. I love all the pictures Rhett and Merry Christmas 🎄 ❤Jodie 🇦🇺… Hi Paul 👋🎅 😁🇺🇸
I definitely understand where you are coming from Jodie. I've went thru these things as well as you know. I like to believe that these memories live on thru me and that I am carrying on some of their Christmas'. I try to share what they taught me with others and especially my kids. I have some old ornaments that were made by an old family members that are long gone. They had passed long before Sarah and I ever got together. But she wanted to learn how to make them and did so because she was inspired by what she saw. In a weird way she is carrying on their traditions which is strange since she never physically met them. Thank you for watching and I hope you have a Merry Christmas Jodie!
What beautiful memories this video brought me. This video is a Christmas present in itself for those of us who experienced Christmas in the seventies. I was a February 1968 baby, which put me at almost 3 years old at Christmas, 1970, just in time to live out a very memorable decade. I had that exact AFX Slot Racer Track (4:38 in the video) with car 17. One of my all time favorite toys was the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle (14:02 in the video) I would love to have one of those today! I would play with it! Oh, and the big show window at Woolworths was decorated with all the coolest toys for both boys and girls, along with all the colorful, flashy Disco lights from the mid seventies and up. All those cool things made growing up in the seventies special, but there is one thing that peaks all of it. That's that warmness you feel inside when you wake up that morning; when your closest family knock on your door, bringing in food and gifts to get the party started. it was that warm feelig of togetherness, being with family, those you love the most. It was a true feeling of home. Merry Christmas to all of you.
Merry Christmas to you Stephen. Sounds like you had some great gifts that you had received. It really is all about togetherness and family as you mentioned. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
I remember we didn't put up the tree til a week before Christmas. My dad had a simple lionel train getup he put going around the base of the tree. However except for testing the lights, the tree lights were not plugged in til Christmas morn. Also no tinsel on the tree til after us kids went to bed Christmas Eve. The tinsel was to symbolize a guaranteed White Christmas. Plus no train til Christmas morning either. And every year my dad would add something to the train display. What a magical time the 70's were.
Thank you for watching and sharing some memories of how you and your family celebrated Christmas. I bet waiting definitely made it more special and it definitely sounds magical!
Thank for all of the old Christmas family pics! Also thank you for the downtown pics. I remember as a kid our downtown had big elaborate Christmas decorations at every stoplight. The decorations stretched from corner to corner to corner to corner! Beautiful memories ❤❤❤
I loved seeing those old downtown decorated. If I pass thru a smaller town and they are still doing it I get super excited. Thank you for watching! I'm happy to hear other people enjoy that as well. Thank you for watching Lois!
The fixing the strand of light with a cigarette and crown royal...Great. I love it lol. That's awesome. I'm dying laughing. Love your videos buddy. Merry Christmas.
I can't believe I just spotted the big wheel my sister used to have at 4:40. That yellow and blue big wheel. I had the green machine big wheel which was green and black. Many fond memories of those Christmases
HEY,... RHETTY Hope You and Your family have A wonderful Holiday Season. Yeah, we always Had a real tree 🌲 And had the old big Christmas Lights from the 1960s and old glass Ornaments and some newer Ones yes lot's of silver tinsel as well. yes I got The Evel Knievel Stunt set which I Think was one of My favorite 1970s Christmas gifts Of all time Ok RHETTY Thank You for doing this One brought back A lot of wonderful Christmas Memories Take care and Stay safe on your journey's 👍✌️🙏🇺🇸 Mark.D Barre,vt
Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories of how Christmas was in your family. Some of those older Christmas lights could get really hot but I love the nostalgic look of them. I miss seeing them. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
That reminds me of how my family used to be divided into kids and adults at family get-togethers. It was better when I was old enough to sit with the adults.
As an Army brat, I was lucky to spend the late 70s in Germany. Christmas is BIG in Germany- the Christmas markets were magical, the tree ornaments were cool, and the lebkuchen was so yummy!
I think it was more magical when we didn't celebrate it for two months. In my opinion, November should just be November. Thank you for watching and sharing how you feel.
Regarding decorating too early - don't forget that some houses in the 70s subrbs left theirs up on the outside all year, but only turned them on during Christmas, Rhetty! Haha! We were not allowed to get a tree until the two week Christmas vacation started! I used to love the way the lead weighed tinsel looked and it hung better on the tree! Plus when it came down you could step on a clump of it and it would retain your footprint! We would pick the peanut shaped hard candy that was PB filled out of the candy dish first! When Christmas was near I always let my thumbnail grow out because my mom taped all of her wrapped boxes on every bottom edge!
I never remember anyone leaving their lights on the house all year. In the late 80s or early 90s I could remember when people didn't take down their lights until late February but that was about the extent of what I saw where I was. Great idea on letting your thumbnail growing out to help on gift opening. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories!
Thanks for sharing this video.. it brought back floods of happy memories of those years..Christmas doesn’t hit the same way from those years..looking at the catalogs,the smell of a fresh tree,hot cocoa,listening to Christmas songs and so much else to list I could be here all day,lol..once again thanks for a sweet video..Merry Christmas to you and your family.🎄🎄
Thank you and I appreciate you watching Robert. It's great to hear your thoughts of how Christmas was for you. We used to wear those catalogs out. I miss having those. Sure sounds like you made some great memories. I hope you have a Merry Christmas Robert!
My hubby and i decided to string up popcorn and cranberries. I didnt realize how time consuming it is! Wow, about half way through, i was so ready to be done with it. We eventually finished it.
It really is a lot of work. But it does make for a memorable experience. Just pop in a movie or some holiday music and it's ok. We have cheated this year and went with some artificial cranberries and popcorn. Our kids are older and it's not something they are into anymore. Thank you for watching and letting us know what you and your husband did.
Rhett, I loved your Christmas show about how Christmas felt different in the 70's, it brought back a lot of special memories. I remember one year l wanted a real Christmas 🎄 tree my late parents and l looked all over and we thought we had one but it turned out to be a branch. The owner of the tree lot said l could have it l brought it home and decorated it like a full tree, and loved it! Have a fantastic week. Take care 🐎
Was it a big branch? I'm figuring it had to be since it was something you all thought was a tree. I remember seeing some big trees sometimes and I used to wonder who would ever buy them? What did they fit them in? Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us Brenda!
I'm a child of the 70s and 80s. You hit the nail on the head. We didn't have decorate until about 2 weeks before Christmas. Decorating the tree was a big deal.
That is awesome that you have a vintage ceramic tree! That's definitely a keepsake. Thank you for watching RudeJudy and I hope you have a Merry Christmas as well!
I miss having a real tree. Themed trees can be beautiful but I have a tree with ornaments collected starting in my 20s before I was even married. My daughter in-law calls it my story tree. I have stories for all the ornaments and I guess it sort of is the story of my life. I also still put candy canes on my tree just as my Mother did. This was a fun video & a good trip down memory. Merry Christmas to you & your family.
I have a bunch of stories behind my ornaments as well. Funny thing is some of the handcrafted ornaments caught the attention of my wife when we first got together. They inspired her to learn how to make them. Strange to think about that because the people that made them were long gone by the time she and I had met. Thank you for watching and sharing some of what you have as well as your memories. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas as well.
Born in 63' Good times indeed! The weekend after Thanksgiving, Dad and I went off to deer camp for a week. When we got home, mom would have the whole house covered with tinsel, along with the tree! I called it "Christmas fungus" everything on the walls would be covered! Miss you Mom and Dad!
Sometimes that tinsel would get statically charge and it would cling to all sorts of things. It's not something I want to use but yet I do miss it. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories of you and your parents.
I grew up in the 70's and it was the best time to be a kid . me and my mom would always put our tree up (fake Noble fir) every 2nd week of December. And I always waited for the Sears toy catalog to arrive, especially when I came home from school and would see it wrapped in a brown paper cover sitting on top of her regular Sear's catalog's, I knew right away what it was, lol. she would always let me unwrap it first. Christmas's were always be the best then and I will always have those memories. not a lot of kids today have that!
Those catalogs were special to get and they were super fun to look thru. It is sad that kids will never experience the joy in looking thru those. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
I knew quite a few people that didn't decorate until about a week or a week and a half before Christmas. I can remember we had one station that would play Christmas music around the same time and if did not stop until New Years Day. Thank you for watching and letting us know how it was where you are.
I agree with much of this. I was envious of friends with real trees but my parents stood by the fake ones because real trees were messy. One thing I’ll probably never have again but will never forget were Mrs Tesky’s sesame seed chicken wings. She was my dad’s secretary but had long since passed. Every year she would give our family this big tray of wings that we’d have on Christmas Eve and they were sooooo good! Haven’t had anything like it since and nobody in our family can find a recipe online that’s remotely similar as we always talk about those still. That dish likely went to the grave.
I always love your videos! You transport me back to my younger days. I was a child of the 50's so I got married and started a family in the 70's. So much of your video was like my family. I miss those more carefree days when we all gathered at my grandparents house. Thanks Rhett and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.
Thank you for watching and and letting us know how things were for you in the 70s and before. I hope you and your family have a Happy and Wonderful Christmas as well!
I used to love decorating the tree. Along with store bought ornaments, my mom would make her own to put on there. I'm so lucky to still have them. My favorite part was the tinsel. My other favorite memory is driving around town with my grandpa looking at Christmas lights. He would bring a thermos full of hot chocolate to watm us up as we drove around. I actually thought about that just last night as I was driving home from work. I took the long way home and pasted by several decorated houses, and it was so lovely.😊🎄
That is great to hear that you made some special memories and you thought of your grandfather when you drove home. Those are things that we carry on forever and I feel they are better than any gift someone can physically give. Really it is a gift though. I have some handmade ornaments as well. When I got married to Sarah it inspired her to start making them. So it's interesting that someone who is gone and she never met actually had an influence on her. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your Christmas time memories with us.
I grew up in the 1970's. I loved Christmas then, and still do now. All of it. Christmas as a kid in the 1970's was magical, with family, friend and food. Really cool toys and games for presents. But most of all, back then we understood, to a much greater degree than now, what Christmas was truly about. There was much more about Christ, his birth and what that meant (and still means) than there is now.
I do think we have somewhat lost a lot of the meaning and magic with all of the commercialism and retail things surrounding it now. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories and thoughts.
Fond memories of my mom and I assembling and decorating the tree🎄🎁🎀 Listening to Christmas carols🎶 Going for walks around the neighborhood to see the neighbors displays. Baking cookies etc
I'm a kid of the 70s too. Everything in this video, right down to the living room decor, lol, brought back so many wonderful memories. I think my favorite things were, the Christmas tv shows, going downtown to see the Christmas windows, and the aluminum tree with the color wheel. I thought the way it changed colors was the coolest thing ever! LOL
I do love those old color changing trees. We never had one in our house but one set of my grandparents had one and I remember being mesmerized by it. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
This was nearly exactly the 70s I experienced at Christmas! It WAS magical! But moreso in hindsight because at the time, it was “normal” (for us) and we didn’t know any different. My mom handled everything and I mean everyyyything and when I think back on it now, I have no idea how she did it all. She made it look so easy! Dad just ate, drank his Old Milwaukee, watched football and took the dog for a walk. 🤣 So many of the photos you showed were just like ours from back then! I can still recall how itchy scratchy those polyester clothes were 😝 Thanks again for making me laugh today. I needed it! Happy Holidays🎄☮️
You're welcome and I'm glad you got a kick out of this one. I think Moms have always put a lot more effort into making Holidays special than what Dads do. My mom and grandmother did an awful lot to make it all happen. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
Going to get the tree was one of my favorite parts of Christmas as a kid. It was fun to help pick out the "best" one, and of course, it was always much bigger in the house than it had seemed on the lot.
Retail is awful when it comes to holiday celebrations nowadays! Speaking from someone who's worked retail for a few years now. We've gotten Halloween candies as early as mid-July, and pumpkins as early as late August. Same with Easter stuff before New Year's.
I worked in retail many years ago. The landscape has changed but I used to order what I thought the store would sell for Christmas in February. I was basically trying to forecast based on the recent sales of the previous Christmas. The Hallmark ornaments would come in and go out to sell in July. Halloween was usually ordered in January. Christmas was always fun to clear out old inventory. Sometimes people will buy anything as a gift. You could put the upcoming valentines stuffed animals out and they would sell. But I haven't been in retail in well over 20 years now. Thank you for watching Frank.
80s Christmases and even early 90s looked the exact same for us. My Grandpa always made it super special. There would be baskets of fruit and nuts in front of the tree, chocolate and lollipop ornaments we weren’t allowed to eat until Christmas Day!
I always moved the school project ornaments to the far side of the tree, explaining to my siblings that you needed to be able to see them frim the street 😂
We had one of those silver trees with the shiny "leaves". Wooden "trunk" and you had to install each branch. lol Merry Christmas tou you and yours too,Rhetty!
Rhett, I enjoyed seeing your childhood Christmas, and I laughed when you mentioned your Grandma's teeth falling out. 😄 70s Christmases were my favorite!! My mom would start Christmas by putting up the real tree on my birthday, Dec.16th. Great memories!! Thank you, Rhett. 😊🌲☃❄✨🔔✨
You're welcome Vicki and I'm glad you got a kick out of my grandmother's teeth falling out. I know numerous people never put out a tree until about a week before Christmas but that would definitely be something I would want to do with a birthday so close. I hope you have a Happy Birthday coming up just in case I don't see you in the comments before your big day.
We had an old but large safe in the garage and that’s where mom & dad stored our presents. The “gifts” under the tree were just cardboard boxes wrapped up and made to look like presents. When I turned 14, to make extra money during the season, my dad began renting a dirt lot and selling Christmas trees. They were mainly Noble and Douglas Firs, both flocked and un flocked! I still remember the smell of freshly cut trees and welcoming customers to our lot!
That would have been neat to have had a tree lot. We never had live trees but I sure wanted one ass a kid. When I got on my own I started having them but I converted back to artificial a couple years ago since my kids are grown. Hopefully they carry on that tradition thought because they smell and feel wonderful. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories!
Best vid ever! Lol! Your family's Christmas was much like mine. Ours started out by getting a real tree sometime after Thanksgiving. We would go to the local fire station to have the tree "dipped" in a frame retardant. We had to let it sit for a dau or two before we put it out. My sisters and I couldm't wait to decorate it. He had plenty of glass bulbs but also some that we made in school, included the chain made fron red and green construction paper. We also made "snowflakes" out of white construction paper. Dad also made us put tinsel on, but we all hated it because of the clean up afterwards. It is a still a sore spot with my younger sister today. We always loved going to the malls and department stores to see the decorations and to look at the vast amounts of toys. Our mall had on the first Hickory Farms stores and it was packed during the holiday season. We also had a "kids" table, but that wasn't a big deal to us. We had various cameras, including a Polaroid, and my folks still have it today, including a flash bar with o e good bulb! Getting a board game was always a thrill. One of the best was a game called "Pay Day". We played that constantly. I had my Star Wars action figures (I still have them somewhere) and Matchbox cars, among other toys and games (I wore out my Coleco football game). Christmas was also a time when we made Shrinky Dinks ornaments. "Melted popcorn" decorations were also quite popular back in the 70s. Ot's funny that you released this today as my sisters and I went over to my folks house ans put up their tree. Mom enjoyed decorating things with us. She turns 80 in two weeks. My niece was there as well, expecting her first baby. It was nice to be together and reminisce about Christmas in the 70s.
Very interesting on the flame retardant dip that the fire station had. I never knew anything about that since we always had an artificial one. I wonder why they don't do that anymore? Did it not work? Was it toxic? Seems like that would be a good thing. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories with us. Sounds like you had some great times!
Most of this was exactly the same for us. We used to do the same thing with the catalog, except we would put our initial next to what we wanted. We also had the tinsel. We would put so much on our tree and have to scrape it off the shag carpet too. I loved those old Rankin-Bass Christmas movies. Such fun memories!
It made me laugh... Dad was trying to figure out what light was burned out on the string, with his Crown Royal and a cigarette while we played the Chipmunks over and over again on our record player. Ok, maybe not a saccharine sweet memory but true to life and the times all the same.
I wasn't born until 1981 but I'm glad I can say I was still able to share into similar experiences in the 80s, give or take a few minor differences. After the mid 90s though a lot of these traditions definitely started to fade out, and in the 2000s, especially after smart phones came into the picture, most traditions just went out the door.
Smartphones changed a lot of things but definitely during the holidays and family get togethers. There is both good and bad with that in my opinion. Thank you for watching Epic_C!
Just watched the Waltons Christmas special last night, not on TV on my phone 😂. What a difference . My son was only 3 months old in the 70's. I remember all of these wonderful times. Sure, not the same anymore. Miss those days.❤
That really is strange to think about watching that on your phone. I can forever picture it on a big console television. Remember the bathroom breaks you had to do so you wouldn't miss any of your show? My have things changed. Thank you for watching Marlene!
Another Bavarian tradition imported by my mother was that Santa always visited our house on Christmas Eve, not the morning. Us kids would pile into the Dodge to look at Christmas lights and look for Santa with dad while Santa’s helper would arrange the gifts. We liked this arrangement because, while everyone else was busy cleaning up in the morning, we were busy leaving lego bricks in the walking areas for my dad to step on.
Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us. That is an interesting tradition with Santa coming earlier on Christmas Eve. The only thing that woke my parents up more than coffee in the morning was stepping on Lego bricks or the little green army men. The only thing worse would be the jacks which were definitely at our cousins house.
I'm bringing back making things for Christmas presents. Everything everyone is getting this year is something I made by hand. I already gave my building manager his and he loved it so much he posted it on his facebook to show it off.
Other than you using popcorn and us using store bought garland, we could have been growing up in the same house. Christmas WAS different back then. As a 60 yo man I still watch those old kids Christmas shows, even to the point of subscribing to Apple TV to see the Peanuts one. I sure miss the old department store and later the mall displays. I always feel a little melancholy for the old days after one of your videos, but also love watching them. Keep up the great work, Rhetty!
Thank you and I appreciate you sharing some of your memories with us. It really was different back then and it sure felt magical. We had to work more to make it that way and now everything just seems a bit too easy. Just my thoughts on it anyway.
Thanks! ILove it Merry Christmas
You're welcome and Merry Christmas to you! Thank you for watching and I appreciate the Super Thanks!
It used to be so magical. I miss those days.
I miss them too. The excitement of waking up Christmas morning and seeing what Santa brought. Truly magical.
@@nickimontie I am with you on that, it's definitely changed alot!
Agreed. The real magic of Christmas has died 😢 - and it is not just about us getting old. Everything is so fake now.
I do too Nicki! Thank you for watching!
The Christmas claymation shows and cartoons of the 70s bring back the most memories for me as a kid. To me, they signified Christmas was just about here.
They really are great and they took a lot of work. I'm not sure we will ever see any like that again. Thank you for watching TM_Stone!
I love those, too. Fun to watch even now.😊
I grew up with the Claymation Celebration Christmas as well and have been trying to find a hard copy of it so I could watch it again. Sadly it's like looking for hens teeth.
Those were the absolute best. When the channel would say “Our regularly scheduled programs will not be on tonight for such and such special “. Those were the most exciting times to look forward to for me. My kids baffle me when I try to show them my favorite Rudolf special and they can barely get through a quarter of it and I finally tell them they don’t need to watch it anymore if they really don’t want to lol.
@@Teddythedogsocute All of these shows are back when tv was worth watching and not total trash like it is today. We haven't had cable tv for 16 years so far. Now you're just paying monthly to watch commercials.
I was lucky to grow up in the 70s. Christmas was fantastic!
It sure was a great time to be a kid!
I grew up in the 90s
I miss the good ole 70's...... ❣️
You and me both! Thank you for watching EmpressEmpress!
Spot on. This was my childhood exactly.
Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear that you experienced things the same way!
Ditto. Born 1967
I was born in 1966. I remember vividly the Christmas of 1976. I was 10 years old, The Bicentennial year was just about over and everyone just seemed ready for it to be over. That December I enjoyed all the claymation specials, charlie Brown Christmas, and all the other 70s Christmas specials.
I got a couple Christmas gifts that were wrapped in special Bicentennial wrapping paper. I ended the 70s turning 13. But I have to say, the 70s were a great time to be a kid. All the PBS education shows, the prime time TV shows and the movies.
I'm so glad to say I still have such vivid memories from 1973 all the way to now. I hope I never lose those memories because it was a great time in my life
I'm 1966 too! I remember PBS Miss Jean Hodge Podge Lodge. There was also a Christmas special about a single mother with a son who left, I believe it was NY or another major city, to live rurally. It was filmed like a documentary. Wish I could remember more about it. Recall watching it while playing with my new Charlie, s Angels dolls🤣
It does sound like you have some great memories of the 70s and I hope you never lose those either. Thank you for watching and telling us about some of your experiences in the decade.
My childhood era!! Best memories of my lifetime!!!
Thank you for watching Brian!
You told not one lie. This Christmas era definitely hit different for sure! 😢
I'm happy to hear you feel like Christmas in the 70s was just different! Thank you for watching!
@RhettyforHistory Side note about the Christmas tinsel. Don't forget about static cling and getting a shock walking too close to the tree 🌲. LOL 😂😆😂😆
Truth
@@Judah98 yep,eventually you looked like the tree,lol.
it was magical in the 70’s
I agree Jeff. Thank you for watching!
I was born in 1965, Christmas in the 70’s was great! This video brings up so many fond nostalgic memories 🥰🎄☃️❄️🎁
Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear this video brought up some fond memories!
My mother was the only one to put tinsel on the tree each year. She also removed EACH STRAND for reuse. She was born into WWII W Germany-Bavaria-and Christmas was especially important to her.
It seemed like we lost tinsel each year but we reused ours as well. Eventually it didn't look as good as it once did because it wrinkled and bent out of shape.
Our tinsel eventually disappeared, probably vacuumed up or thrown away. These days they're all plastic instead of metal.
As a child of the 70’s (born 1969), you really nailed it with this video!
The bowl of nuts, accompanied by a nut cracker, and picks, really takes me back!
Dreaming about the toys, inside the Sears or JCPenney catslog, was more entertaining than the toys themselves! Well, not really, but close!
Christmas peaked during the 1970’s/early 80’s, for all of the reasons you mentioned. In addition, families seemed closer and more grounded spiritually.
Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories and thoughts. I really enjoyed the Christmases of long ago.
I miss Christmas tree lots - Even when we couldn't get one, just walking around smelling the scent of pine and fir filled the air and I just loved that.
When I married our first Christmas together my husband and I went Christmas tree shopping and he found us the most beautiful tree. He set it in a bucket on the back porch and left it there over night. He said it would help the tree not lose its needles as fast.
Once in the house he'd slowly weave the lights in among all the branches until it was perfect, then I'd add ornaments.
Even if there weren't many gifts under the tree it didn't matter. We were together. We'd turn off all the lights except the lights on the tree, put on some Christmas music and just snuggle up together.
We had so many, many years together but he passed away a few years ago. The memories are as dear as ever. If I close my eyes I swear I can still smell the scent of a fresh Christmas tree as he'd bring it into the living room.
Now I have a small, artificial tree I set on the table with a few special ornaments on it - The most special in the one we got for our first Christmas together - A jolly Mr and Mrs Claus hugging each other.
I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your loving husband. It truly does sound like you all made some special memories together and not everyone does that. I believe spending time with those we love is what is most important. It's also a time for us to cherish memories of Christmas past and help carry those on for others. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories with us. I hope you have a Merry Christmas full of peace and good memories.
We had a blizzard in 1978. There are photos at my grandparents' house with my uncle and I playing in the deep snow with our sled. I remember that my aunt snd grandmother had some kind of white snow spray stuff that they used to spray with stencils onto the windows. I haven't seen that stuff in decades. Cellophane tensil and garland was fun. I liked to play with the garland like it was a boa. 😊
I remember that blizzard. I lived in Indiana. I was 12 years old.
I remember that blizzard as well. We normally don't get things like that in Oklahoma. We never used stencils but I saw a lot of people who did including retailers.
I grew up in a small town in the 70s. You nailed the times and thank you for bringing back those memories! Two other little things I did/remember: Santa always came to town so on that night, all kids went downtown to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. The other fond memory I have is the children's' Christmas program at our church on Christmas eve. All the adults, parents and seniors, would come to see our performance. When it was over, the ushers would pass out a paper bag (lunch bag sized) that was filled with peanuts in the shells, fruit, and candy (including ribbon candy 😁 ) . GREAT TIMES
Sounds like you have some wonderful memories of celebrating Christmas in the 1970s. Thank you for watching and sharing how you celebrated!
63 now and I try my best to celebrate like we did back then. Believe it or not we still have a mall near me and that's where I shop. No internet orders because I miss the shopping experience. I still watch all the claymation shows. In general I still live ole school as much as possible. No decorating till Dec 1st for me. Thanx again
You're welcome JPee! Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear you are trying to keep everything as it was! We need more of that!
I loved it, family and giving presents. It was a very great time
I agree Sandra! Thank you for watching!
I was born in 1968 so the 70's was an absolutely amazing time for Christmas. I mean really didn't it feel magical.
Thank you for watching and sharing how the 70s were for you!
The Six Million Dollar Man! One of the coolest toys and TV shows!
It really was! Thank you for watching hipidipi20157max!
We can rebuild him. We have the technology
I miss the days of waiting until after Thanksgiving before decorating. People start so early now that I'm sick of it by the time Christmas finally gets here.
Lots of great memories in this video. I spent my first 7 years in the 70s and they were filled with wonderful moments.
I personally think that we have extended the season way to early. I sure don't remember that ever being a thing even up until the 1990s. I thought maybe that was just where I was but I wasn't sure. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories.
I agree, it, s to the point I almost can't stand Christmas, sadly.
I miss the Sears or Montgomery Ward wish books from the 70's...and that yearly "Merry Christmas from PayLess" commercial from the 80's 😂 🎄
Those were great catalogs to thumb thru and there were other ones I enjoyed too. Thank you for watching pinksparkle!
I was born in 1970. The 70s were magic for a kid.
I too was born in 1970 and this is how I remember Christmas in the 70s !!
@robdj88 Cheers!
Yes they were. Thank you for watching!
That really took me back! We had a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas eve, (Mom picked the gift, it was always pajamas). We also covered the tree with foil "icicles" It made a huge mess, but looked great.
My mom had the same tradition that you did in your family Dave. We loved it! Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us!
Sounds like a Kodak moment.....and a memory you will never forget
They were good times! Wish I had some photos of some of what I explained. Thank you for watching topofthepalm!
One of the things you mentioned is the most significant for nowadays lack of magic during Xmas... People start decorating so early that it becomes a routine for them watching all that every day for over a month (or sometimes 2 months!)... It wasn't like this back in the day.
Music had always been part of it. There were 2 Xmas compilation records we put on to listen to over and over... I still listen to them during this period. I even replaced one of the vinyls with one in mint condition because our record had lots of scratching noises in the recent years!
There was a departments' store downtown, and they used to hire a Santa for children to take a picture with, and give him letters. I loved sitting on his knees, touching the thick red velvet which always felt warm no matter if it was freezing cold!!
Our tree ornaments were all glass handmade in Poland and Germany in late 50s/early 60s and were passed to us by my grandparents. Since all children left the house and made their own families, they decided there's no need to carry on decorating a big tree, so they bought a smaller and gave us part of their old ornaments. I cherished them as a kid and I still do to this day. They're so beautiful! Every 2-3 years I come across a broken one (because of mistakes during packing them away) and I feel so frustrated!
The Xmas dinner meant 2 days in the kitchen for mum and grandma, but they never seemed tired of it. They just wanted to please us all! The only part I had in the kitchen was helping grandma make some traditional sweets we make for Christmas. She prepared the dough in a big plastic bowl and I had to divide it in pieces onto the baking trays.
Xmas cards were also part of the house decoration and year by year there were even more of them 😂
Finally, cartoons on TV was my favourite thing! I was so sad when it was time to go back to school and all the festivities were over! I never liked putting the tree away and going back in routine...
I feel that decorating early numbs people out to the magic and charm of the Christmas season. It really was special in the past and it still could be but it may be a tad big over done. I do miss a lot of things about Christmas in the past and I am happy to see that you made a lot of old memories that all sound wonderful as well. Thank you for watching and sharing your experience of the past Michael!
Oh yes, you're so right. Christmas felt so different in the 1970's. We loved Christmas so much! We made everything into a party with Christmas music and Christmas Treats. We would have a party wrapping gifts after shopping for Christmas gifts. We would have a party for decorating the Christmas Tree. We would even have a party while preparing Christmas Dinner. My aunt Sandy brought all the Christmas Albums; my favorites were the Andy Williams Christmas Album, The Elvis Presley Christmas Album and I loved the Partridge Family Christmas Album. Christmas was month long celebration.
It really was a wonderful time to experience Christmas. The parties and family get togethers were really meant for people to enjoy each others company. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
I loved being a child in the 1970's😃Christmas was way BETTER back then than now😁We had an aluminum Christmas Tree with a flood light shing on it with rotating colorsI remember graduating to the adult table and looking at my family at the kids table sticking my tongue out at themThank you Rhetty for History for this🙏🏻I miss those daysMerry Christmas🎄🎅🏻🤶🏻ROCK ON!!!!!!!🤘🏻🤙🏻✌🏻
We never had an aluminum tree like that in our house but one set of my grandparents had one. I always thought they were pretty fascinating and I wanted one in our home. Moving up from the kids table really is a big deal! That is funny what you did thought. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us MrMegaFredZeppelin!
Wow, you described everything to a T !! This is all exactly what I remember about Christmas in the 70s ... such a great time !
Thank you for watching and sharing what it was like for you robdj88!
So many of the same memories: tinsel, the nut bowl, ceramic tree, Grandma’s ribbon candy (so stale). The aluminium tree with the rotating color wheel was my favorite.
I laughed when he showed the nut bowl. I remember my grandpa cracking open nut all night and handing me some while we opened presents.😊
We had friends who used the truly old, reusable TIN-sel. They had to take every strand back out to reuse next year. Hundreds. It was nuts
One set of my grandparents had that silver tree! I was always mesmerized by it. Now those popping up in antique shops and they are asking good money for them. I'm sort of shocked that there hasn't been a company selling them new in stores again. Thank you for watching!
My dad eats a lot of nuts, so he has his own nut bowl
I remember the different branches would have colored tips on the wires to help figure out what level to put the branches on.
You're right about that. You could but them in any hole but it would look funny if you did. Thank you for watching and sharing that little tidbit with us Teddy!
We got our first color TV in 1971! I was 7 years old. That was a memorable Christmas for me. Thanks Rhetty for jogging the memories!🎄
You're welcome and thank you for watching Pamelas! We had a color TV in the 70s as well but it was our main console TV in the living room. We had a couple other little TVs but they were black and white.
@@RhettyforHistory Same! We had our b&w TV in the kitchen!☺
Rhetty, your Christmas memories are almost exactly the same as mine! I related to everything in this video.
Thanks for watching and sharing what you remember as well Brian!
The Christmases of the 70's and 80's absolutely HIT DIFFERENT! People and pop culture have fundamentally changed, and certainly NOT for the better. The world just isn't as fun when we spend 90% of our time buried in our iPhones. The 70's and 80's holidays were about experiences, incredible visuals, special memories, and FAMILY. We have all this technology now, but we certainly aren't happier as we were in these simpler, more intimate times.
I do think that smartphones have changed a lot of things but the Christmas experience has definitely been affected by them. Everyone wants to be first in this or that or possibly the flashiest and that sort of fits in with the commercialism which has also changed. Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts.
I grew up in the 70's always looked forward to Christmas tv specials and I still do from back in the day
always had to watch Rudolph Frosty Santa Claus is Coming to Town the Year Without Santa Claus and the Charlie Brown Christmas
like you we didn't start decorating till after the beginning of December usually a couple weeks before Christmas if that soon my dad would get a real Christmas tree it was always so much fun to decorate pile on as much icicles that we could
also remember the different Christmas carols that my mother would play on the piano or we would listen to on the record player / stereo my dad was just as big of a kid he was always excited about Christmas morning
such great memories thank you for sharing
As a kid I always wished we would have gotten a real live tree but we never did. When I got on my own I did up until a couple years ago and then I went back to artificial since all my kids are grown. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories. I really enjoyed hearing how you experienced 1970s Christmas seasons.
As a child of the 70's I say this is a Great 👍🏻 video, thanks.
You're welcome KD-lb9bg and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this video. Thank you for watching!
Nothing will ever be the same again. The 70’s were the best. 😁
Now with parents gone, it’s definitely not the same. Christmas was always at their place.
I love all the pictures Rhett and Merry Christmas 🎄 ❤Jodie 🇦🇺… Hi Paul 👋🎅 😁🇺🇸
@@swansfan6944 Hi Jodie 👋🤶🇦🇺
I definitely understand where you are coming from Jodie. I've went thru these things as well as you know. I like to believe that these memories live on thru me and that I am carrying on some of their Christmas'. I try to share what they taught me with others and especially my kids. I have some old ornaments that were made by an old family members that are long gone. They had passed long before Sarah and I ever got together. But she wanted to learn how to make them and did so because she was inspired by what she saw. In a weird way she is carrying on their traditions which is strange since she never physically met them. Thank you for watching and I hope you have a Merry Christmas Jodie!
@ that’s really nice Rhett, thank you for sharing that with me.
The grown up table versus the kiddie table …. Someone had to die at the adult table before someone moved up from the kids table 🤣😅😂
And cut each paper loop every day until Christmas! Man your channel makes me smile!
I'm glad you are enjoying the memories and thank you for watching Brian!
What beautiful memories this video brought me. This video is a Christmas present in itself for those of us who experienced Christmas in the seventies. I was a February 1968 baby, which put me at almost 3 years old at Christmas, 1970, just in time to live out a very memorable decade. I had that exact AFX Slot Racer Track (4:38 in the video) with car 17. One of my all time favorite toys was the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle (14:02 in the video) I would love to have one of those today! I would play with it! Oh, and the big show window at Woolworths was decorated with all the coolest toys for both boys and girls, along with all the colorful, flashy Disco lights from the mid seventies and up. All those cool things made growing up in the seventies special, but there is one thing that peaks all of it. That's that warmness you feel inside when you wake up that morning; when your closest family knock on your door, bringing in food and gifts to get the party started. it was that warm feelig of togetherness, being with family, those you love the most. It was a true feeling of home. Merry Christmas to all of you.
Merry Christmas to you Stephen. Sounds like you had some great gifts that you had received. It really is all about togetherness and family as you mentioned. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
I remember we didn't put up the tree til a week before Christmas. My dad had a simple lionel train getup he put going around the base of the tree. However except for testing the lights, the tree lights were not plugged in til Christmas morn. Also no tinsel on the tree til after us kids went to bed Christmas Eve. The tinsel was to symbolize a guaranteed White Christmas. Plus no train til Christmas morning either. And every year my dad would add something to the train display. What a magical time the 70's were.
Thank you for watching and sharing some memories of how you and your family celebrated Christmas. I bet waiting definitely made it more special and it definitely sounds magical!
Thank for all of the old Christmas family pics! Also thank you for the downtown pics. I remember as a kid our downtown had big elaborate Christmas decorations at every stoplight. The decorations stretched from corner to corner to corner to corner! Beautiful memories ❤❤❤
I loved seeing those old downtown decorated. If I pass thru a smaller town and they are still doing it I get super excited. Thank you for watching! I'm happy to hear other people enjoy that as well. Thank you for watching Lois!
The fixing the strand of light with a cigarette and crown royal...Great. I love it lol. That's awesome. I'm dying laughing. Love your videos buddy. Merry Christmas.
Thank you for watching my friend and I'm glad you got a kick out of this one!
I remember taking a tray of cookies to school and it was always on a metal tray with a holiday scene printed on it.
Sounds like a really nice tray! Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us Chris!
Oh my lord! I laughed through this whole video. Thank you and Merry Christmas!
You're welcome and Merry Christmas to you taralie4057! Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear you got some laughs out of this one!
I can't believe I just spotted the big wheel my sister used to have at 4:40. That yellow and blue big wheel. I had the green machine big wheel which was green and black. Many fond memories of those Christmases
Thank you for watching and letting is know what you had! I'm surprised those green machines aren't still a thing. They were different.
HEY,... RHETTY Hope You and Your family have
A wonderful Holiday Season.
Yeah, we always Had a real tree 🌲
And had the old big Christmas Lights from the 1960s and old glass Ornaments
and some newer Ones yes lot's of silver tinsel as well. yes I got The Evel Knievel Stunt set which I Think was one of My favorite 1970s Christmas gifts Of all time Ok RHETTY Thank You for doing this One brought back A lot of wonderful Christmas Memories Take care and Stay safe on your journey's 👍✌️🙏🇺🇸
Mark.D
Barre,vt
Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories of how Christmas was in your family. Some of those older Christmas lights could get really hot but I love the nostalgic look of them. I miss seeing them. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
My mom still hangs the Xmas cards she gets on her living room mirror 🙂
Oh, very nice! Sadly, cards just don't seem to be as big as they once were. Thank you for watching!
Rhetty, You are so spot on! That was exactly what the 70's was like! Thanks for the memories Rhetty!
You're welcome my friend and thank you for watching!
Ahhh, Christmas during the 70's!!! I was SOooooo happy when I finally made it to the BIG table when I was 10! Thanks Rhett.
You're welcome Roger and thank you for watching! It really is a big deal to be able to move up!
That reminds me of how my family used to be divided into kids and adults at family get-togethers. It was better when I was old enough to sit with the adults.
As an Army brat, I was lucky to spend the late 70s in Germany. Christmas is BIG in Germany- the Christmas markets were magical, the tree ornaments were cool, and the lebkuchen was so yummy!
I have never been to Germany but that is on my bucket list and especially so at Christmas time. Thank you for watching Katzenjammerz67!
The best Christmas I ever had was in the 70s I really miss it and I missed the 80s I wish I could go back in time.
Both were great decades! Thank you for watching and sharing what you miss.
I was born in 1968. I told my husband the other day that I wish I felt the same way I did about Christmas as a kid. I thought it was just me.
I think it was more magical when we didn't celebrate it for two months. In my opinion, November should just be November. Thank you for watching and sharing how you feel.
Regarding decorating too early - don't forget that some houses in the 70s subrbs left theirs up on the outside all year, but only turned them on during Christmas, Rhetty! Haha! We were not allowed to get a tree until the two week Christmas vacation started! I used to love the way the lead weighed tinsel looked and it hung better on the tree! Plus when it came down you could step on a clump of it and it would retain your footprint! We would pick the peanut shaped hard candy that was PB filled out of the candy dish first! When Christmas was near I always let my thumbnail grow out because my mom taped all of her wrapped boxes on every bottom edge!
I never remember anyone leaving their lights on the house all year. In the late 80s or early 90s I could remember when people didn't take down their lights until late February but that was about the extent of what I saw where I was. Great idea on letting your thumbnail growing out to help on gift opening. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories!
Thanks for sharing this video.. it brought back floods of happy memories of those years..Christmas doesn’t hit the same way from those years..looking at the catalogs,the smell of a fresh tree,hot cocoa,listening to Christmas songs and so much else to list I could be here all day,lol..once again thanks for a sweet video..Merry Christmas to you and your family.🎄🎄
Thank you and I appreciate you watching Robert. It's great to hear your thoughts of how Christmas was for you. We used to wear those catalogs out. I miss having those. Sure sounds like you made some great memories. I hope you have a Merry Christmas Robert!
My hubby and i decided to string up popcorn and cranberries. I didnt realize how time consuming it is! Wow, about half way through, i was so ready to be done with it. We eventually finished it.
It kept kids busy for a whole day (heheheh)
It really is a lot of work. But it does make for a memorable experience. Just pop in a movie or some holiday music and it's ok. We have cheated this year and went with some artificial cranberries and popcorn. Our kids are older and it's not something they are into anymore. Thank you for watching and letting us know what you and your husband did.
Rhett, I loved your Christmas show about how Christmas felt different in the 70's, it brought back a lot of special memories. I remember one year l wanted a real Christmas 🎄 tree my late parents and l looked all over and we thought we had one but it turned out to be a branch. The owner of the tree lot said l could have it l brought it home and decorated it like a full tree, and loved it! Have a fantastic week. Take care 🐎
Was it a big branch? I'm figuring it had to be since it was something you all thought was a tree. I remember seeing some big trees sometimes and I used to wonder who would ever buy them? What did they fit them in? Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us Brenda!
I'm a child of the 70s and 80s. You hit the nail on the head. We didn't have decorate until about 2 weeks before Christmas. Decorating the tree was a big deal.
Thank you for watching and sharing how Christmas was for you Thomas!
Thanks for this! Yes, it was better!! Merry Christmas!
Edit* i have a vintage ceramic tree and i love it!
That is awesome that you have a vintage ceramic tree! That's definitely a keepsake. Thank you for watching RudeJudy and I hope you have a Merry Christmas as well!
@RhettyforHistory ❤️💚
Merry Christmas to you and your's my Friend
Thank you buddy! I hope you have a Merry Christmas as well!
@RhettyforHistory You're most welcome, I hope you have a great time on Christmas
I miss having a real tree. Themed trees can be beautiful but I have a tree with ornaments collected starting in my 20s before I was even married. My daughter in-law calls it my story tree. I have stories for all the ornaments and I guess it sort of is the story of my life. I also still put candy canes on my tree just as my Mother did. This was a fun video & a good trip down memory. Merry Christmas to you & your family.
I have a bunch of stories behind my ornaments as well. Funny thing is some of the handcrafted ornaments caught the attention of my wife when we first got together. They inspired her to learn how to make them. Strange to think about that because the people that made them were long gone by the time she and I had met. Thank you for watching and sharing some of what you have as well as your memories. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas as well.
Born in 63' Good times indeed! The weekend after Thanksgiving, Dad and I went off to deer camp for a week. When we got home, mom would have the whole house covered with tinsel, along with the tree! I called it "Christmas fungus" everything on the walls would be covered! Miss you Mom and Dad!
Sometimes that tinsel would get statically charge and it would cling to all sorts of things. It's not something I want to use but yet I do miss it. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories of you and your parents.
Great memories.🎄⭐🎄🎅🤶🦌🎀🎄⭐🎄
Thank you for watching tbc27Z!
I grew up in the 70's and it was the best time to be a kid . me and my mom would always put our tree up (fake Noble fir) every 2nd week of December. And I always waited for the Sears toy catalog to arrive, especially when I came home from school and would see it wrapped in a brown paper cover sitting on top of her regular Sear's catalog's, I knew right away what it was, lol. she would always let me unwrap it first. Christmas's were always be the best then and I will always have those memories. not a lot of kids today have that!
Those catalogs were special to get and they were super fun to look thru. It is sad that kids will never experience the joy in looking thru those. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
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People didn’t start decorating until mid-December and the radio stations didn’t start playing Christmas music until Christmas Eve!
I knew quite a few people that didn't decorate until about a week or a week and a half before Christmas. I can remember we had one station that would play Christmas music around the same time and if did not stop until New Years Day. Thank you for watching and letting us know how it was where you are.
I agree with much of this. I was envious of friends with real trees but my parents stood by the fake ones because real trees were messy. One thing I’ll probably never have again but will never forget were Mrs Tesky’s sesame seed chicken wings. She was my dad’s secretary but had long since passed. Every year she would give our family this big tray of wings that we’d have on Christmas Eve and they were sooooo good! Haven’t had anything like it since and nobody in our family can find a recipe online that’s remotely similar as we always talk about those still. That dish likely went to the grave.
That's really kind of sad that the recipe is lost. That sounds incredible. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us mcorleonp!
I always love your videos! You transport me back to my younger days. I was a child of the 50's so I got married and started a family in the 70's. So much of your video was like my family. I miss those more carefree days when we all gathered at my grandparents house. Thanks Rhett and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.
Thank you for watching and and letting us know how things were for you in the 70s and before. I hope you and your family have a Happy and Wonderful Christmas as well!
I used to love decorating the tree. Along with store bought ornaments, my mom would make her own to put on there. I'm so lucky to still have them. My favorite part was the tinsel.
My other favorite memory is driving around town with my grandpa looking at Christmas lights. He would bring a thermos full of hot chocolate to watm us up as we drove around. I actually thought about that just last night as I was driving home from work. I took the long way home and pasted by several decorated houses, and it was so lovely.😊🎄
That is great to hear that you made some special memories and you thought of your grandfather when you drove home. Those are things that we carry on forever and I feel they are better than any gift someone can physically give. Really it is a gift though. I have some handmade ornaments as well. When I got married to Sarah it inspired her to start making them. So it's interesting that someone who is gone and she never met actually had an influence on her. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your Christmas time memories with us.
I grew up in the 1970's. I loved Christmas then, and still do now. All of it. Christmas as a kid in the 1970's was magical, with family, friend and food. Really cool toys and games for presents. But most of all, back then we understood, to a much greater degree than now, what Christmas was truly about. There was much more about Christ, his birth and what that meant (and still means) than there is now.
I do think we have somewhat lost a lot of the meaning and magic with all of the commercialism and retail things surrounding it now. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories and thoughts.
Fond memories of my mom and I assembling and decorating the tree🎄🎁🎀 Listening to Christmas carols🎶 Going for walks around the neighborhood to see the neighbors displays. Baking cookies etc
Those sound like great memories and experiences Brenda. Thank you for watching!
@RhettyforHistory oh yeah
I'm a kid of the 70s too. Everything in this video, right down to the living room decor, lol, brought back so many wonderful memories. I think my favorite things were, the Christmas tv shows, going downtown to see the Christmas windows, and the aluminum tree with the color wheel. I thought the way it changed colors was the coolest thing ever! LOL
I do love those old color changing trees. We never had one in our house but one set of my grandparents had one and I remember being mesmerized by it. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
This was nearly exactly the 70s I experienced at Christmas! It WAS magical! But moreso in hindsight because at the time, it was “normal” (for us) and we didn’t know any different. My mom handled everything and I mean everyyyything and when I think back on it now, I have no idea how she did it all. She made it look so easy! Dad just ate, drank his Old Milwaukee, watched football and took the dog for a walk. 🤣 So many of the photos you showed were just like ours from back then! I can still recall how itchy scratchy those polyester clothes were 😝 Thanks again for making me laugh today. I needed it! Happy Holidays🎄☮️
You're welcome and I'm glad you got a kick out of this one. I think Moms have always put a lot more effort into making Holidays special than what Dads do. My mom and grandmother did an awful lot to make it all happen. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us.
Going to get the tree was one of my favorite parts of Christmas as a kid. It was fun to help pick out the "best" one, and of course, it was always much bigger in the house than it had seemed on the lot.
Did you go to a pre cut tree lot or did you go and cut a tree down? Thank you for watching and sharing your memories Tim!
The 70s Chistmases were a blast from searching for presents to covering the tree in tensil.Thanks Rhetty for another great video
You're welcome Anita and thank you for watching! It really was a great time.
Christmas kept a kid under control for an entire month. "Remember, Santa Claus is watching you!"
Yes it sure did. Thank you for watching Jessica!
If it worked
Retail is awful when it comes to holiday celebrations nowadays! Speaking from someone who's worked retail for a few years now.
We've gotten Halloween candies as early as mid-July, and pumpkins as early as late August. Same with Easter stuff before New Year's.
I worked in retail many years ago. The landscape has changed but I used to order what I thought the store would sell for Christmas in February. I was basically trying to forecast based on the recent sales of the previous Christmas. The Hallmark ornaments would come in and go out to sell in July. Halloween was usually ordered in January. Christmas was always fun to clear out old inventory. Sometimes people will buy anything as a gift. You could put the upcoming valentines stuffed animals out and they would sell. But I haven't been in retail in well over 20 years now. Thank you for watching Frank.
@@frankisfunny2007 I couldn't agree more!!!!!
I’m convinced they’ve gotten so ahead and early with everything that we’re actually celebrating Xmas 2027 by now.
80s Christmases and even early 90s looked the exact same for us. My Grandpa always made it super special. There would be baskets of fruit and nuts in front of the tree, chocolate and lollipop ornaments we weren’t allowed to eat until Christmas Day!
Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us. Sounds like your Grandpa worked hard to make Christmas incredible!
I always moved the school project ornaments to the far side of the tree, explaining to my siblings that you needed to be able to see them frim the street 😂
Haha! Thank you for watching and sharing a memory with us jjesf!
We had one of those silver trees with the shiny "leaves". Wooden "trunk" and you had to install each branch. lol
Merry Christmas tou you and yours too,Rhetty!
That tree sounds really fancy! Was that the one with the color wheel or no? Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us!
@@RhettyforHistory Lol, nothing fancy. Just plain old 70's gaudiness. 😂
Thanks for your memories. Many are mine too. I went from 10 to 20 in the seventies. Hard to believe.
Thank you for watching Mama4d8!
I'm with you on this Rhetty, thanks. Great times. Merry Christmas to you and your family. 🎄🎄
Thank you Ron! Merry Christmas to you and I appreciate you watching!
This made me smile so much. Thanks!
You're welcome and thank you for watching lyoness6!
Rhett, I enjoyed seeing your childhood Christmas, and I laughed when you mentioned your Grandma's teeth falling out. 😄 70s Christmases were my favorite!! My mom would start Christmas by putting up the real tree on my birthday, Dec.16th. Great memories!! Thank you, Rhett. 😊🌲☃❄✨🔔✨
You're welcome Vicki and I'm glad you got a kick out of my grandmother's teeth falling out. I know numerous people never put out a tree until about a week before Christmas but that would definitely be something I would want to do with a birthday so close. I hope you have a Happy Birthday coming up just in case I don't see you in the comments before your big day.
@@RhettyforHistory Thank you, Rhett!! 😁I appreciate that. 😊I will be turning 60.
We had an old but large safe in the garage and that’s where mom & dad stored our presents. The “gifts” under the tree were just cardboard boxes wrapped up and made to look like presents. When I turned 14, to make extra money during the season, my dad began renting a dirt lot and selling Christmas trees. They were mainly Noble and Douglas Firs, both flocked and un flocked! I still remember the smell of freshly cut trees and welcoming customers to our lot!
That would have been neat to have had a tree lot. We never had live trees but I sure wanted one ass a kid. When I got on my own I started having them but I converted back to artificial a couple years ago since my kids are grown. Hopefully they carry on that tradition thought because they smell and feel wonderful. Thank you for watching and sharing your memories!
Best vid ever! Lol! Your family's Christmas was much like mine. Ours started out by getting a real tree sometime after Thanksgiving. We would go to the local fire station to have the tree "dipped" in a frame retardant. We had to let it sit for a dau or two before we put it out. My sisters and I couldm't wait to decorate it. He had plenty of glass bulbs but also some that we made in school, included the chain made fron red and green construction paper. We also made "snowflakes" out of white construction paper. Dad also made us put tinsel on, but we all hated it because of the clean up afterwards. It is a still a sore spot with my younger sister today. We always loved going to the malls and department stores to see the decorations and to look at the vast amounts of toys. Our mall had on the first Hickory Farms stores and it was packed during the holiday season. We also had a "kids" table, but that wasn't a big deal to us. We had various cameras, including a Polaroid, and my folks still have it today, including a flash bar with o e good bulb! Getting a board game was always a thrill. One of the best was a game called "Pay Day". We played that constantly. I had my Star Wars action figures (I still have them somewhere) and Matchbox cars, among other toys and games (I wore out my Coleco football game). Christmas was also a time when we made Shrinky Dinks ornaments. "Melted popcorn" decorations were also quite popular back in the 70s. Ot's funny that you released this today as my sisters and I went over to my folks house ans put up their tree. Mom enjoyed decorating things with us. She turns 80 in two weeks. My niece was there as well, expecting her first baby. It was nice to be together and reminisce about Christmas in the 70s.
Very interesting on the flame retardant dip that the fire station had. I never knew anything about that since we always had an artificial one. I wonder why they don't do that anymore? Did it not work? Was it toxic? Seems like that would be a good thing. Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories with us. Sounds like you had some great times!
Thank you! I love all your content but this one made my heart smile!
Thank you for watching Connie and I'm happy you enjoyed it!
Most of this was exactly the same for us. We used to do the same thing with the catalog, except we would put our initial next to what we wanted. We also had the tinsel. We would put so much on our tree and have to scrape it off the shag carpet too. I loved those old Rankin-Bass Christmas movies. Such fun memories!
It really was a great time to be alive! Thank you for watching and sharing your memories!
Thanks for the memories Rhetty! May Christmas this year be special at your home! 🎄
You're welcome Bonnie! Thank you for watching and I appreciate the well wishes for Christmas. I hope you have a Merry Christmas as well!
Being born in 1970, this brought back so many happy memories for me. Makes me very emotional.
Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear you enjoyed this one GranmamaS.C!
We used to have the big glass christmas lights that would burn you when you were crawling under the tree looking at your presents!
Oh, like the C7s or C9s? Thank you for watching kedro!
It made me laugh... Dad was trying to figure out what light was burned out on the string, with his Crown Royal and a cigarette while we played the Chipmunks over and over again on our record player. Ok, maybe not a saccharine sweet memory but true to life and the times all the same.
They were fun times Frederick. Thank you for watching and I'm happy to hear you got a kick out of that.
I wasn't born until 1981 but I'm glad I can say I was still able to share into similar experiences in the 80s, give or take a few minor differences. After the mid 90s though a lot of these traditions definitely started to fade out, and in the 2000s, especially after smart phones came into the picture, most traditions just went out the door.
Smartphones changed a lot of things but definitely during the holidays and family get togethers. There is both good and bad with that in my opinion. Thank you for watching Epic_C!
Just watched the Waltons Christmas special last night, not on TV on my phone 😂. What a difference . My son was only 3 months old in the 70's. I remember all of these wonderful times. Sure, not the same anymore. Miss those days.❤
That really is strange to think about watching that on your phone. I can forever picture it on a big console television. Remember the bathroom breaks you had to do so you wouldn't miss any of your show? My have things changed. Thank you for watching Marlene!
Another Bavarian tradition imported by my mother was that Santa always visited our house on Christmas Eve, not the morning.
Us kids would pile into the Dodge to look at Christmas lights and look for Santa with dad while Santa’s helper would arrange the gifts.
We liked this arrangement because, while everyone else was busy cleaning up in the morning, we were busy leaving lego bricks in the walking areas for my dad to step on.
Thank you for watching and sharing your memories with us. That is an interesting tradition with Santa coming earlier on Christmas Eve. The only thing that woke my parents up more than coffee in the morning was stepping on Lego bricks or the little green army men. The only thing worse would be the jacks which were definitely at our cousins house.
I'm bringing back making things for Christmas presents. Everything everyone is getting this year is something I made by hand. I already gave my building manager his and he loved it so much he posted it on his facebook to show it off.
Oh that is awesome! I think it means more when someone goes the extra mile to make something. Thank you for watching motherstation!
That took me back...I remember everything that was on this video....a lot of good memories❤
Thank you for watching Lisa!
Other than you using popcorn and us using store bought garland, we could have been growing up in the same house. Christmas WAS different back then. As a 60 yo man I still watch those old kids Christmas shows, even to the point of subscribing to Apple TV to see the Peanuts one. I sure miss the old department store and later the mall displays. I always feel a little melancholy for the old days after one of your videos, but also love watching them. Keep up the great work, Rhetty!
Thank you and I appreciate you sharing some of your memories with us. It really was different back then and it sure felt magical. We had to work more to make it that way and now everything just seems a bit too easy. Just my thoughts on it anyway.
Christmas will never be the same as it was in my youth
Thank you for watching Kim!
@@RhettyforHistory I never miss any of your videos my friend! ❤
The ceramic Christmas tree!!!!!! I want one!!!😢
Thanks for this👍💙🏴
You're welcome Tammie! I am seeing those ceramic trees all over the place in stores. They are making a little come back. Thank you for watching!
I wish I could've saved my granddad's. I've always liked those!
The early movie cameras with the flood light bulb that blinded us. Mom saying "look at the camera kids" as we opened presents. Good times lol
Thank you for watching and sharing some of your memories of your family Kathy!