Back in my day.....

Growing up in the late 80's and early 90's had to be one of the best times for a kid to enjoy the splendors of life. Whether I was blowing on my NES games to make them work, watching a plethra of Saturday morning cartoons, or getting the latest Happy Meal toy, it seemed like I always had something to do!

However, every kid goes through the stages where the parents have complete control, and the kid has next to no say so on anything. For example; my mother would send me to school in a wind suit (go ahead...laugh it up), and expect me to make friends. Who wants to be friends with the kid in the wind suit, and how are you supposed to play hide and seek in those things?? As if that wasn't bad enough, there were the public spit cleanings, and my hair still wants to part to the right, from all of the years where the side part WAS the only option (for me at least).

Anyway, as I was saying, the memories I have from when I was a kid could fill 100 books but I will only mention a few. I know that everyone that writes an article on here says this, but it's true. The cartoons and shows were SO much better in the late 80's/early 90's. Just think about all of the good cartoons like Doug, TMNT, DuckTales, the list goes on and on.

The shows were much better too. Salute your shorts, Pete and Pete, TGIF...you get the point.
Now that I have talked enough about TV, let's move on to the Holidays. I will start with Valentines Day. I would go to Wal-Mart and pick out the "coolest" cards, which featured my favorite cartoon or movie at the time. I would sign them all, lick the envelopes, and take them to school. If you were anything like me, you had to take one for everyone, and you refrained from giving the mushy ones to the kids you didn't care for.

On to July 4th. My family would spend the evening with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins and do the grill out/fireworks deal. I always loved the fireworks, and usualy got to pick them out. One year a load of bottle rockets tipped over and shot at the house and family. Needless to say, chaos was in the air.
Next to come is Halloween. What other night could you dress up as something and get free candy! The only problem was, my mom would make me use the same costume for at least two years, because they were "too expensive".

You knew it was Thanksgiving, when the men were watching football, the women were cooking the food, and the kids were destroying the house. I can still smell the wonderful aroma that filled the air. Although I loved all of the previous holidays, Christmas was always and still is my favorite time of the year. The songs, the movies, the over all feeling was just great to to me. I can recall one year very well. It was a week or so before Christmas, and they would make a small Christmas village in our local mall. They would turn this empty store into a kids dream land. A huge fort, candy, and Santa Claus...it was awesome. However, when 7:30pm rolled around I demanded to go home, because my favorite holiday special Rudolph was coming on.

On Christmas I would wake up at 5:00am and just sit on my bed waiting for the rest of the family to wake up. Finally, I would hear some movement, and it would all begin. "Santa" had come, and I was never disapointed!
Ah, growing up in the late 80's/early 90's was great. A time when a trip to Toys R Us was a treat, and the Ice Cream man still came by the house in a musical truck. I hope everyone enjoyed this, and if it does decent I may write another one!