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1979
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Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor
I SO remember going to Farrell's as a little girl. It used to scare the BEJEEZUS out of me when the drums and sirens started blaring. Many a time I remember crying and clinging to my mom's side because I was so scared or rushing off to the bathroom because it startled me so much that I had started to have an accident. I'm sure that in theory it was a lot of fun for older kids and nostalgic adults, but for a five year old... it was a terrifying experience. I always used to get a clown sundae. Which was essentially just an ice cream cone turned into a dish and then decorated with whipped cream and chocolate chips to look like a clown. Thank God they didn't have real clowns there. I could have been scarred for life.
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1980
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Underoos
Christmas 1980. Santa had been very good to me that year. In addition to receiving Josie and the Pussycats Underoos, I got my first Strawberry Shortcake (the empty box is in the foreground), a Strawberry Shortcake game, a Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox (you can see the thermos in the background), a Mr. Pop game, a Crayola Caddy, Baby Cries for You, the lovely brown velour number I was wearing, and several other things. But yet, despite having received such a volume of gifts, for whatever reason you'll notice that I'm crying. Why... I have no idea. But I was kind of a fragile child and remember doing a lot of crying. And check out that shag carpet!
My most prevalent memory of my Underoos: (shared in a previous thread)
When I was a kid, (first grade) I had Josie and the Pussycats Underoos. I really wanted the Wonder Woman ones, and one of my little friends had a set. So one day while we were at the park across the street from our houses, we went into the public restroom and switched. We were so proud of ourselves that we decided that we were't going to put our clothes back on, that way everyone could see us in all our Underoo glory.
Now, my grandmother was watching me, and she could see my little friend and I playing in the park in our underwear from the kitchen window. So she called us back to the house and demanded that we switch back. Right in the middle of the front yard. She started to strip us down, and to this day, I still vividly remember that little girl putting her hands on her flat little chest and running back home screaming, wearing nothing but the bottoms of my Josie and the Pussycats Underoos.
Looking at it now with adult eyes... there are so many disturbing levels of this story I don't even know where to begin.
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1981
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Raggedy Ann
I had a HUGE Raggedy Ann that I got for my very first Christmas. In this picture I'm about seven, and she looks like she's wearing one of my undershirts. I know I played with her a lot and dragged her around until she fell apart, but man... look at the size of that thing! I'm surprised I have no memories of waking up in the night and being scared of her.
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1982
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Annie
One of my all time favorites! I have a lovely memory of seeing this in the theater with my dad. It was summer, and I had gone to his office with him for the day. We had McDonald's for lunch (which was a real treat because we NEVER ate McDonald's when I was a kid,) and then we went to the movies in the middle of the afternoon.
I wanted to be Annie for Halloween that year SO bad, but since my hair was neither red nor curly, that idea went out the window fairly quickly.
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1982
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Care Bears
The Christmas of 1982 I wanted a Care Bear more than anything else. What I got instead was a homemade version. It was a lavender "Tenderheart" bear with a pink hearts on the belly. My mother had paid someone she worked with to make it for me, and in hindsight, I'm sure the constuction of it was impressive and it was of much better quality than one that was store bought. And bonus points for Mom having it made in my favorite colors at the time. But being a kid... I was devastated. Tenderheart wasn't lavender. And it just looked all wrong. That bear became the redheaded step child of my toy collection. I never did get a real one.
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1983
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Return of the Jedi
My dad and I waited in line for 6 HOURS to see this movie when it first came out. *Six Hours.* I'm glad that we now live in a world where Fandango exists, and you can buy your tickets way ahead of time.
Also I had a black t-shirt with an iron-on transfer of Princess Leia decked out in her Ewok village outfit. But for whatever reason, the image was always really sticky so I didn't wear it very often.
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1983
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Cabbage Patch Kids
The best Christmas I ever had was the Christmas when I got my Cabbage Patch Kid. I wanted one more than anything in the whole wide world... and people were getting beaten down and mamied trying to get their hands on them. The issue had been addressed, and I was told there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to get one. *sigh*
At this point in the story I should also point out that this was the year I became a Santa naysayer. Santa. Shyeah. Right. So Christmas day comes and I open my gifts and I got some good stuff, and I thought that was it. But after all the presents had been opened, a large unmarked box remained at the back of the tree. Who was it for? Where did it come from? My parents suggested I should open it up. "Maybe it came from Santa," they said. I tore off the paper and discovered a plain, cardboard box. I opened that box and the Hallelujah Chorus broke into song. Oh boy!! A Cabbage Patch Doll!! For me!! Santa was real after all!! What did those kids at school know? She had red hair, blue eyes and her name was Sallie Alexina. She was the best baby doll I'd ever have.
Some months later I over heard the parents telling the story and learned that my dad had won her on the radio just a couple of days before Christmas. And that was when I figured out that you don't have to wear a red suit and drive a sleigh to be Santa.
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1985
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Lee Press-On nails
I remember these crazy things. They came in two lengths: natural and glamour. And you could get them painted or unpainted. When I was in sixth grade I had money from something, probably babysitting, and of course it was burning a hole in my pocket. So my mother drove me to a Hi-School Pharmacy, which was something all its own because I'd never been to one in my entire life. Come to think of it, I've never been to one since. Anyway so I went in all by my little self and after perusing the somewhat limited selection decided on a set of natural length Lee Press On Nails with a pearly pink polish. I paid my seven bucks and went back to the car. My mother asked me what I bought, I showed her, and she promptly made me go back inside and return them.
I vividly remember the embarrassment I felt trudging back into the store with my dreams of long, pretty nails slashed to bits. And I also vividly recall that the store was empty, yet I had to go to like three different check stands before I was finally sent to the camera department where I had to fill out several forms before I finally got my refund. Later on the way back to the car, I silently vowed to myself that someday when I had a daughter of my own, it would be different and if she wanted Lee Press On Nails, I would gladly buy them for her with my own money.
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Lee Press-On nails
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1988
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The Cure
I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Cure! Still one of my all time favorite bands.
Like so many other suburban teenagers, I went through a "dead" phase my freshman year of high school and would wear all black, heavy eyeliner, and bright red lipstick for weeks on end. My friends and I would decide that we were going to be depressed, so we would put on a Cure album and sit around in the dark. It's funny to think back on it now... what were we so depressed about? And why did we think we needed to be so dramatic about it?
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1990
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Remote Control
This show was so cool! When I was in high school there was a little snack bar type place next to our school that we called the Burrito Barn. You could sit in there, eat your lunch and watch Remote Control on a big screen TV. It was so cool and for awhile was THE place to hang.
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