I started writing this series last year, telling tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago. We often don’t remember the presents we received last year, let alone from decades ago. That said, there are gifts that resonate with us and are unforgettable. This is another of mine.

Mattel Electronics Football II

An absolute favorite from my childhood. After Pong, Mattel’s electronic games were my first real introduction to video games. I was given Mattel Baseball in the late 1970s, but it was Football II that I loved the most:

I would have said that Roger Staubach was in there, but the point in the commercial stands. Football II introduced passing into the game. In the original Football players could only run. Hey, the game was modernizing, so technology had to keep up!

My parents gave me this game for Christmas in the early 1980s. In what could have been a scene out of my own personal A Christmas Story, I had been strategically leaving the J.C. Penney catalog on Mom’s side of the bed that December. It was always open to the electronic games page so she would remember my desire to simulate gridiron greatness with my thumbs.

I blew through a lot of 9-volt batteries pretending to be the Dallas Cowboys. I used to pull out notebook paper and write down a schedule of games to be played. We beat the Pittsburgh Steelers most of the time, usually by multiple touchdowns. I think we rolled them in the Super Bowl, too. The game wasn’t licensed by the National Football League so any team representations were in my imagination. The players were all blips of light moving on a tiny screen, but the experience was glorious. You know what? I still have the game, and it works! Kudos to “ancient” technology that lacks planned obsolescence.

Do you have a favorite toy or game from your childhood? Do you still have it?

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.)