Redartz: Ah, here we are; Christmas week. Another year coming rapidly to a close, and what a year it has been. We're all bound to be a bit preoccupied this week, so in the spirit of Marvel's classic Bronze age "Holiday Grab Bag" Treasuries, BitBA simply offers up a selection of holiday sounds and images; hopefully to bring a little smile or two. Feel free to share any thoughts, memories, wishes, or whatever comes to mind. To all of you, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Peaceful Kwanzaa, Festive Festivus, and heartfelt best wishes. And thanks for being part of the BibBA community, whether you're a commenter or reader. You all make it fun. Now please excuse me; I've gotta go set out some cookies...
25 comments:
Red -
What an excellent promenade down our childhoods!
Especially thoughtful of you to include COR! from the UK.
I've tried to ebay those famous Sears Catalogues from the late 60s / early 70s and they are pricey! Hoo boy..! I keep hoping to stumble over one in a recycling bin or garage sale LOL.
Happy Holidays All!
(I am not going to play the videos above!)
Man, I used to love those Sears Xmas Wish Books.
Happy Holidays everybody!
Correction! I meant I AM going to play the videos above. That was a mis-type!!!!
Because of the pandemic, this will definitely be the least-frenetic Christmas our household has ever seen-- BUT things have been evolving in that direction for a few years now, regardless. Less gifts are necessary. A number of "But we ALWAYS. . . " etc's have been quietly cut free. Holiday family traditions that will always be the source of joyful memories. . . but that had also lived out their age-appropriate life-span, so now they remain in our hearts, where they don't add to the frantic to-do list. The carved-in-stone menus for each meal were largely jettisoned when HBGirl became a staunch Vegan, and it was (oy!) much easier to adapt than to resist---
HBSon & fiancee have their own house now, and are very mindful of safe precautions-- so this will be the first Christmas ever w/out them on hand. Our decades of jam-packed, tornadic activity for these few days have slowed down to an easier-paced, minimal-pressure enjoyment of just being with who we have on-hand (my wife, myself, and our daughter this time). It's a touch melancholy, sure-- but it's also a HUGE relief from raised expectations and myriad projects that don't seem to ever get finished before 2:00 AM on Christmas Eve/morning. . .
If anything, it's more like knowing that we USED to climb Mt Everest regularly. . . and that knowledge is MORE than enough. It is just fine NOT climbing Mt Everest anymore. . . !
We evolve. . . we do.
And I still love Christmas!
HB
Merry Christmas to all!
Oh! Shameless self-plug, here--
(Though it creates NO obligation to anyone, believe me---!)
-- if you have any desire at all to hear ol' HB in a performing capacity, I was part of a small cast of folks with The Arlington Players (a local community theater company) that did a radio adaptation of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (a 60-minute version-- it's brisk!), broadcast last week on local station WERA-FM 96.7...
https://www.wera.fm/
. . . The station liked it enough to give it a second airing on Christmas Day at 6:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. It's an existing radio script that the producers had to press hard to get permission to use, it seems. I'm covering the Mr. Potter track, which also includes Ernie the cab driver, Mr Gower, and several other there-for-a-moment folks ("Why don'tcha KISS her instead of talkin' her to death??"). Sooo if you find yourself wanting something on in the background while prepping Christmas dinner. . .(or if you're in Britain, and are somehow still awake at 11 or 12 o'clock!). . . this might be a nice, well-edited & produced, little home-made entertainment confection to lend an ear to.
[End of shameless plug-- thank you for your indulgence--]
HB
Always remember going through those Sears Wish Books, good memories of Christmas
Charlie-There's a web site that has quite a few old Wish Books online, to look through, for free. Also has Montgomery Ward & JC Penny ones too.
I'll be doing my annual read-thru of the three Marvel Christmas Treasuries plus Two-In-One 8, Team-up 127 and Spidey 166.
The viewing will be the usual Christmas specials, Charlie Brown, Grinch, Rankin-Bass collection. I also watch Christmas episodes of various tv shows, Honeymooners, Twilight Zone, Happy Days, 6 Mil Dollar Man, Brady Bunch, Flintstones, Gilligan, Lost in Space. I also like to watch the Time Machine around this time.
We'll be doing our usual Christmas feast, it's evolved over the years from my Sisters to my In-laws and my Wife's cousins after my sisters kids had families. We do a "White Elephant" grab bag, later, when everybody's had a few drinks, always a riot.
HB - I will certainly give the show a listen, I shouldn't be too lit by 6, lol
Merry Christmas Everyone!!
Happy Holidays All!!
Ha, we had one those aluminum trees from the late sixties to mid seventies. Had that rotating color light wheel too!
We had the silvery aluminum tree with rotating color wheel too. Mom decorated it with shiny pink ornaments only — I don’t know if that was a common thing or if it was Mom’s own unique design theory in action.
After my Dad died about ten years ago, my brothers and I were cleaning out the house before putting it up on the market — we found a small box of ornaments in the garage, including some of those pink ones, amazingly intact after all those years. I still have one of them, and put it on our tree every year (not without some trepidation that it will fall and shatter).
Happy holidays, gang!
b.t.
Charlie- yes, those vintage catalogs are not only pricey, but hard to find as well. But Flamekeeper is right, there is a great site where you can actually leaf through the whole catalog!
HB- nice description of the passage of time, Christmas-wise. I like your Mt. Everest metaphor. Quite right, it is comforting to know that you don't have to 'light every bulb's, so to speak.
Oh, and I'll also try to give a listen to that performance...
Flamekeeper- great reading/viewing lists! And impressive that you still have all three of those holiday treasuries!
Killraven and b.t.- those silver trees seem to have gained in appreciation over the years! That color wheel made all the difference. Used to just sit and watch, color shifting to color, over and over again...
Say teammates-- dbl-checking the ole memory-bank regarding the Wish-book: Right after the big toys/games section, didn't it usually transition to, like, fancy holiday food baskets and cheese towers and candy gift boxes and so on? All of it seeming INCREDIBLY desirable and exotic and scrumptious? The fanciest taste treats ever? I do recall being swept away by those pages even after poring intently over the toys. [I would STILL be overjoyed to find an Electroshot Shooting Gallery under the tree, tbh!)
HB
HB- yes indeed, those pages of delicacies were almost as much temptation as the toy pages. Actually, my parents would get a catalog totally devoted to such snacks and gifts. Like Hickory Farms; maybe Swiss Colony? Memory fails me, but those assortments of cheeses, meats and petits fours still fire the taste buds. Even now we will sometimes hit the Hickory Farms at a mall to score treats for New Year's.
And you, perhaps inadvertently, added a side topic. A gift you didn't get but would still like? That Electro Shot Gallery looked like a blast. But my long belated gift toy would be Mattell's "Strange Change Time Machine". Still look on ebay, but too pricey. Alas...
A Merry Christmas to everyone at BiTBA :) The weather has been foul for weeks and yesterday was horribly wet and windy but this morning the sky was clear and full of stars and it's looking like it might stay dry for Christmas Eve, fingers crossed!
At 3pm I'll be listening to the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Cambridge University which has been broadcast on BBC radio since 1928. The event is always broadcast live but this year, due to various Covid-induced changes, it'll be pre-recorded for the first time since 1930.
And later I'll be eating my Lindt chocolate Santa/Saint Nicholas that I mentioned last week, along with a sausage roll, two Belgian iced buns, some dried prunes and a glass of Babycham (drinking Babycham at Christmas is a tradition of mine because my sister and I were allowed to drink it at Christmas when we were kids even though Babycham contains the same alcoholic content as beer - I don't think my father realised that fact!)
HB, Red - your memories are simply profound. But first... we are talking about the Sears Catalogue, yes? We also had the Jaques Penneys and Monkey Wards catalogues in our house. They seemed a pale imitation of Sears?
And, HB -to your question specifically - I have near zero recall of what what in the catalogue besides toys. I mean, I know there were sporting goods... and then stupid stuff like clothes, lol, but o/wise...?
Red - The electro marx shooting gallery was always on our xmas list (my brothers and mine) but I think the net-net was it would make too much noise. B.t.w. this is often on ebay and not too pricey in nice shape. BUT - you have to wonder about the 50 year old wiring holding up.
Another fav we did have, which involved shooting, was "Crossfire" which was basically air hockey but shooting ball bearings from a gun at the puck. Loads of fun but no ringing bells, LOL! This probably came out in mid-70s.
Our house was a Harry and David house with a large box of fresh fruit arriving monthly. Xmas was the bomb because we would get a huge box of FLA / TX grapefruits and oranges. I suspect January was the same!
Something about the smell of those grapefruits in the dead of winter... Wow.
That was followed up by Kiwis from New Zealand which were rather exotic in the 1960s. I don't know what came the other 10 months? Apples, Pears, help me out!
P.S. if anyone wants to read a very thoughtful write up on Charlie Brown's Christmas show from 1965 (which recently ran on PBS though Apple TV now owns the rights to it):
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/12/charlie-browns-interior-christmas-adventure/617484/
Unless you have a sweet tooth it's not a good idea to eat a chocolate Santa AND two Belgian iced buns in one go.
Urrgghhh...definitely a sweetness overload!
Charlie- Thank you for that link. I'll definitely read it.
Colin- ah well, hope you enjoyed them at the time! I sympathize, just topped off Christmas cookies with a slab of chocolate sheet cake. Oog. But, at least I washed them down with nice cold milk...
Merry Christmas To All!
Charlie, that's a coincidence. I was watching a YouTube video about Crossfire just a few days ago. It reminded me of the blisters playing it used to inflict upon your finger.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone who reads and contributes to BitBA, and especially to you, Redartz, for keeping it all going.
Colin J-- I will confess that I was a bit concerned at the sweets-load you were describing-!
We've had a fine, easy Christmas morn, here. Best wishes and felicitations to all!
HB
HB, I've just finished listening to your radio play of "It's A Wonderful Life" (we're just past midnight here) so thank you for recommending it! This has been the first ever time that I've listened to a foreign radio station on the internet and so I did a trial run earlier in the day to make sure I was doing everything correctly. They were playing the Phil Collins song "Sussudio" at the time which didn't seem very festive for Christmas Day but at least I knew I could hear everything okay. I also double-checked the time difference between GMT and Eastern Standard Time to make sure I didn't tune in an hour late or early - and I discovered that the United States actually has four time zones rather than the three I'd previously thought!
Hey, that's great Colin J-! I am so pleased (and impressed!) that you made the extra international effort. . .!
While not high radio-theater art, perhaps, it was certainly a fun and unusual project to do. And very much a local/community level effort, which hopefully gave it more of a "personal" feel.
Thanks so much for tuning in!
(Full confession: I dozed off about 10 minutes beforehand yesterday. . .and thus missed that airing--- hooo-boy!)
HB
The United States actually has SIX time zones. I forgot about Alaska and Hawaii. D'OH!!
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