Do you remember what you were given for Christmas last year? I hear the question asked every December, and it’s funny how it often leads to a puzzled look and a shrug of the shoulders. We often simply don’t remember. Sometimes, though, a gift really resonates more than others and is recalled for years to come. I have had many and thought that I’d reminisce about a couple that I remember from the 1970s. There are more, but you’ll have to come back for those next year!
The 1970s Era Big Wheel
My grandparents gave me one of these when I was between the tricycle and bicycle stage. The Big Wheel, made by Louis Marx and Company, was itself an oversized trike that rode low to the ground and had fat tires in the back. I’d tear around our dead end street on that thing. What a sweet ride:
I had one accident attempting to ride off the curb on one back wheel like the boy across the street could do. I fell off and smacked the back of my head in the same spot that my hair started graying not so many years later. Is there a connection? Maybe. But it was the ’70s. No one wore helmets!
The 1979 Hot Wheels Service Center
I collected Hot Wheels cars, made by Mattel, as a kid. This was back when they were actually made of metal and not plastic. My daughter likes to play with the ones that survived my childhood. One Christmas a different set of grandparents gave me a Hot Wheels Service Center, which had a racing ramp, car wash, transmission repair shop, gas station and more. It was also portable, folding into itself with a carrying handle. This was a favorite toy of mine for years:
In the future I had a Hot Wheels City, which was built the same way but with different activities and collapsible buildings. The service center was the classic, though, and something that was never on a wish list. My grandparents just knew what to give a little boy who liked Hot Wheels cars!
How about you? What is a favorite gift you received as a child or even as an adult?
(You can read the 2018 entry here.)