Fifty years of holiday memories

Sixties

• Remember?  Bob Hope performing for the troops
• Kitchen Smelled like: Julia Child’s beef bourguignon
• On the hi-fi: Nat King Cole, “The Christmas Song”
• On the tube: Charlie Brown, Rudolph, Frosty, and the Grinch specials
• In theaters: Babes in Toyland, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
• Under the (flocked) tree: Hot Wheels, Easy-Bake Oven, Etch A Sketch

Seventies

• Remember?  Waiting for our Polaroid photos to develop
• Kitchen Smelled like: Butterball turkey
• On the 8-track player: Jackson 5 Christmas Album
• On the tube: The Waltons: The Homecoming
• In theaters: Scrooge with Albert Finney and Alec Guinness
• Under the tree: Pet Rocks, Legos, Wonder Woman dolls, Atari 2600

Eighties

• Remember?  Cutting down your own tree
• Kitchen Smelled like: Honeybaked ham
• On the cassette player: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid
• On the tube: Roots: The Gift, Johnny Carson’s fruitcake jokes
• In theaters: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Scrooged
• Under the tree: Transformers, Cabbage Patch Kids, Rubik’s Cube

Nineties

• Remember?  “Merry Christmas” gives way to the secular “Happy Holidays”
• Kitchen Smelled like: Organic, free-range turkey
• On the CD player: “These Are Special Times” by Celine Dion
• On the tube: Seinfeld’s “Festivus for the rest of us” episode, “Elmo Saves Christmas”
• In theaters: Home Alone, The Santa Clause
• Under the tree: Beanie Babies. Poké mon, Furbles

Aughts:

• Remember?  Mulling whether to get a greener— or is it? — artificial tree
• Kitchen Smelled like: Turducken
• On the iPod dock: “Harry for the Holidays” by Harry Connick, Jr.
• On the flat screen: Marathons of A Christmas Story and 007 movies
• In theaters: Elf, The Polar Express, Bad Santa, Harry Potter movies
• Under the tree: Wii, gift cards, Razor Scooters