author, fiction, musings, life
Christ’s incarnation and birth changed the world forever. He became one of us (with the exception of sinning), talked with us, preached to us, walked this earth with us. His presence showed us what eternal joy and unending love and mercy we would experience and encounter in the near future.
On this Christmas Eve, I say Merry Christmas to everyone! Christ is born! Glorify Him!
May your holiday be filled with peace, joy, and love.
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Okay, the title is a bit subjective, because this will be my opinion on the best Christmas movie ever, but you probably figured that out, and I’ve wasted your time typing this first line of explanation. 🙂
I’ve actually written on this movie a couple of years ago around this time. But it bears repeating.
If you haven’t seen It Happened on 5th Avenue, your Christmas movie collection is not complete. Yes, it’s an old black and white movie (I personally love b&w old classic films), but so is It’s a Wonderful Life, and it’s one of the most cherished Christmas movies. Although It’s a Wonderful Life is a wonderful movie, It Happened on 5th Avenue tops it, in my humble opinion (as well as my family’s).
So, if you haven’t seen this wonderful movie, you’re probably wondering why haven’t you. Don’t worry. We hadn’t heard about it at all until about five or so years ago when I got a DVD with a collection of four, old classic black and white movies. One of them was It Happened on 5th Avenue, and my family sat down and watched it before Christmas some years back and fell in love with it. We wondered why this wasn’t more popular. Its message is stellar; its storyline, cute and beautiful; its characters, fun, likeable, and realistic.
Picture a middle aged to elderly man with his dog, squatting in one of the top wealthiest men’s homes each winter, encountering people in need, welcoming them to dwell with him in this mansion through the cold and snowy New York City winter.
Here’s a blurb of the storyline via Amazon:
Every winter, Michael J. O’Connor, the second richest man in the world, leaves his 5th Avenue mansion for warmer climes. Every winter, Aloysius T. McKeever, homeless man, moves into the 5th Avenue mansion. This particular winter, McKeever meets Jim Bullock, an army veteran who has recently been evicted from his apartment and offers to share the mansion with him. It’s not long before the mansion has a few more guests, including: Jim’s army buddies and their wives and children; runaway heiress Trudy; and even Michael J. O’Connor, himself.
Watch a short clip from the movie via You Tube. Then find it online to watch or order it on Amazon. You won’t be sorry!
Add this to your Christmas collection, and increase the joy of Christmastime!
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Do you remember what you desperately wanted for Christmas when you were a child? Were they toys that were the “In” thing?
For fun, I put together some data on popular toys kids wanted for Christmas through the decades.
Let’s start with the 1950s.
Children then seemed eager for such toys as that ol’ rubber guy, Gumby, the bouncy Pogo Stick, and the timeless Play-Doh. And what kid could go without the corn popper? I think many didn’t!
I actually had all of those, except Gumby, but I had them later on in my childhood era. 🙂
Little girls were gaga over the Chatty Cathy doll and the amazing Easy-Bake Oven.
While boys found an interest in GI Joe action figures and Hot Wheels. Well…I would say both sexes were interested in these and other toys throughout these eras.
In this decade, kids were fascinated with the first foam Nerf ball, and the flexibility and durability of Stretch Armstrong. I remember the latter very well. A few of my friends had this elasticized dude, and it was wildly fun pulling him yards apart and watching him slide back into a normal-sized guy once we tired of torturing him. Haha.
And the cool Evil Knievel Stunt Cycle was all the roar in the early 1970s.
Also, a huge invention: the Atari video game system came out in this decade. The first game, I remember, was Pong. Haha. But later on, we enjoyed Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Astroids, Centipede, Pit Fall, and others!
The View Master was big then too. I had several slides from the Scooby-Doo show when I was a kid. Christmas was complete when kids got these fun toys in the 1970s.
How could anyone around that time forget about the fights on Black Fridays over the Cabbage Patch Kids? Goodness. The scrambling across the slippery toy stores, and the unbelievable tug-o-war over the last couple of dolls was both astonishing and insane. Those certainly were a HUGE want for lots of children in the 1980s.
Then, for the more nerdy kids, the Rubik’s Cube came out and teased and worked kids’ brains in a good way. I mean, who didn’t have a Rubik’s Cube then? We were all cool nerds! What fun that was!
This was also the decade when the Nintendo video game system came out! My sons are loyal Nintendo fans.
Goodness. Do you remember all the hubbub over the Tickle Me Elmo doll? I do. Although I was in my twenties then, I still remember the craze over his giggling. And then there was the bizarre-looking Furby dolls. Many parents scrambled for these dolls during Christmastime.
And don’t forget the Beanie Babies! Believe it or not, they started off in McDonalds’ Happy Meals but caught on like wildfire, becoming one of the most wanted and collected items in the decade.
Looks like Zhu Zhu Pets came out in this time period, as well as those ugly…er, I mean, nice dolls, the Bratz. My sons actually each had a Zhu Zhu Pet. They were hamsters. The Razor Scooter was a biggie in the early 2000s.
My Christmas toy memories
Some of the most awesome toys I got for Christmas in the late 1970s and 1980s were the Barbie Dream House and several of the Muppets characters. They were puppets where you stuck your hand in and could move their mouths, but in the case of the character, Animal, I could move his eyebrows too. What fun those were!
What were special gifts you loved when you were growing up?
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