Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Best Gift...



I just told this story to the kids in the youth group Sunday & then saw on Mama Kat's prompts this week to tell of a favorite gift... so I shall now share with you... gather around, its story time!

I was probably around 13 - the fun age of where all you wanted to do was listen to music & in the great time of the early 80's, a great time to sit with a cassette tape ready to go so you could hit RECORD & get those jammin' tunes off of the radio...

Well, Christmas was coming & I wanted a stereo... after all, the little Strawberry Shortcake record player that held the little 45's couldnt handle my much more mature ALBUMS...

My brother & I ran downstairs & under the Christmas tree were all our gifts.  Packages ripped open, paper thrown every where & then... we were through all the gifts & no stereo... I have been raised to never be ungrateful so I may have been a little disappointed but I didnt stomp my foot or anything & throw a fit.  I just concentrated on all the wonderful things I did receive...

So my mom tells me to grab all my stuff & take it to my room...

I go into my room & what do I see next to my bed.... my ROCKIN' STEREO set up!!!

But mine was even better then THIS one... it had not ONE but TWO Cassette holders...

Hold up... you mean I can RECORD a cassette from another cassette?  Oh, how techonology had gone CRAZY!!!!

And you mean I could record something onto a cassette from my albums????? My mind was blown!

I think I screamed for an hour & then like any normal teenager, had to grab some headphones - you know how dainty they were back in the day...



& plug them in & listen to my albums... oh yes, the 80's...




I loved that stereo... it sat next to my bed & played me some tunes all the way through high school...

And after all these years, I can still remember the excitement of getting it that Christmas morning...

Did you have a stereo like that?  A RECORD PLAYER?  What is your favorite gift you've ever gotten? 

22 comments:

  1. Even better than that, when I got my first RADIO, it took me hours to figure out that when you turned it off, the music didn't start back up where you left it. But I think I was 4. And it was my Mickey Mouse radio...that I still have on my shelf!

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  2. I did indeed! In fact, when I moved to college freshman year I said, "I'll bring the stereo" and not only brought the HUGE CD player, but double tape deck, and speakers at least 4 feet tall!

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  3. I got a little kiddie record player one year, I was maybe 8. It intoduced me to Mother Goose, Froggy went a courtin, Sleeping Beauty, Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Sonny & Cher, Steve Miller band and much more. It played my parents old albulms just as well as the kiddie ones!

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  4. what a fun story. I had a one just like that I loved recording and making a radio stations.

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  5. What a great Christmas memory!

    I can still remember the year I got my "ghetto blaster" with Phil Collins' new tape, Susudio. I thought I was the coolest girl on the block, let me tell you.

    When our babies were small, and I was working a gazillion hours a week to afford them, Joe surprised me with a bottle of my favorite perfume and an emerald ring that I had been admiring from afar.

    It was the sweetest thing ever.

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  6. Ha, that is awesome! Yes I did have a record player and I had Hall and Oates records too!

    I think my favorite gift was a stereo that played tapes, records and CD's as well! It was black and even had a remote!

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  7. OH my goodness! I loved this!! :) Favorite gift....hmm....I think the ring my hubs gave me one year. So special. ;)

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  8. that is awesome! they totally surprised you. my parents have done that few times. i wanted a blue v-tech phone you know the fun looking ones that came in so many different colors. well my parents told me there was no way i was getting a phone for my room.. and then one chritmas i think it was 2000 or 2001 i got it! total surprise.

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  9. I got a microphone that would plug into the radio & you could sing along to the radio. I would plug it in every week when Solid Gold came on and dance away. My Mom would even sew me outfits like they wore on Solid Gold to "perform" in! I aspired to either be a Solid Gold dancer or a missionary growing up...I couldn't decide which! (haha)

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  10. Can I just tell you what a walk down memory lane you just gave me? I loved my stereo and tape recorder too. I made countless tapes for my friends and a boyfriend or two. Sigh...this is the second post today that has taken me back to my teens. I'm all warm and fuzzy inside.

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  11. Wait a minute - did you live in my house? I think I had the same stereo in your picture :) I used to wait for hours for my favorite song to play on the radio just so I could press 'record'. So funny!

    Merry Christmas!

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  12. My parents gave us a trip to Disney one year (my dad won it through work for being top salesman), but prior to xmas they told us they were using the trip money to go Vegas and that we would have to stay with our grandparents for a week....but then xmas morning came and they told us by wrapping up the plane tickets in our stockings!

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  13. Stopping by from Mama Kat's and so glad I did. I am having such a flashback! I remember that being BIG news when you could tape form tape to tape. I also totally remember recording the songs off the radio. Fun post.

    Holly @ 504 Main

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  14. Love, love this post, Rebecca. Brought back such great memories. I absolutely remember how great it was to record from one cassette to another. I mean, how else was I going to make mix tapes? :)

    As for me, it is hard to figure out what my favorite gift of all time has been. There have been many. If I had to guess, I would say either my roller skates at age 8 or my engagement ring.

    It's a toss up. :)

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  15. My favorite is my secretary that my dad made for me.

    Visiting from Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

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  16. So funny!!! I remember the EXACT same thing :) Except....my stereo was PINK...yes, I said PINK and I loved it so much!

    I think my favorite gift was my own personal phone line. My number was 426-BABE and I thought I was the hottest thing that walked the earth that Christmas morning :)

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  17. Man did you take me back. I loved my stereo and boy could I rock it out in my room. Albums? Weren't they great? I still have mine. Good Times!!

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  18. That's awesome! Too bad you don't still have it...you could make some big bucks on EBAY. :)

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  19. Oh, this is such a great post! I remember when I thought they were SO cool. I never had one though. My brother had a fisher price tape player and I used to put a tape in it and walk around the yard singing. That must have been hilarious since I was a TERRIBLE singer. Holy Cow : )

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