Like a good Gen-Xer, I did an Irish goodbye and dipped out on last week's Gen-X Files. Mea culpa. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
This week, I have two things on my mind: 1. How happy the Sears Christmas Wish Book would make me and my siblings back in the day. 2. How in the world has it been 40 years since "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was released?
Let's dive in.
The Sears Christmas Wish Book
The arrival of the massive Sears Christmas catalog was a much-anticipated event at our house; we had a mail slot in our front door and it was good fun watching the mailman try and stuff the Wish Book through it.
I love telling my Gen Z kids about the Christmas catalog; they technically know what a catalog is, but they don't really know. Also, this:
— Teri (@TeriChristoph) December 3, 2024
As I've mentioned before, I was the youngest of eight children, so the Christmas catalog had been put through its paces by the time it worked its way down to me. Undaunted, I would study the heck out of it and use a red pen to circle the very many things I wanted to see under the tree on Christmas morning. Every year, I circled the Snoopy Sno Cone maker, and every year, Santa failed me.
So, here's a fun fact. There's actually an extensive online archive of all the Sears Christmas Wish Books, from all the way back in 1941 right through to 2017. What?
It would take a long time to scroll through all of them, so I decided to comb through the one from 1977 and pick out some things I think you might remember.
Now, I'm not sure if this is the actual Atari system, but it sure looks like it. '77 seemed a bit early for it to be landing in stores, but we definitely had one by around 1980. Hours of Friday night fun!
I would have killed for this. My sister got the Barbie townhouse — with elevator! — so I figured I deserved the pool house, at the very least. Santa thought different, and I'm still a little bit bitter.
Why have a regular, old View-Master when you can have a projector? Pretty state-of-the-art stuff.
NFL Super Bowl Electric Football Game
Now, my brother got this one year for Christmas, and I never understood it. I remember lining the players up, turning it on, and then what? It just kind of buzzed, and pieces sort of moved around. What am I missing?
Carry-about Entertainment Center
I'm sorry, what? A record player AND an AM/FM radio? With a microphone? Yes, please. I never would have dreamed of asking for it because my mother wasn't going to bring another noise-maker into our house. Also, check out those drums and the groovy outfit that kid is wearing.
I wasn't much on Matchbox, but I coveted anything with an elevator. We had endless pieces of track for our Matchbox collection and nowhere to park the cars or gas 'em up. Sigh.
Warning: perusing the Wish Book archive is a massive time suck, but also a ton of fun.
Forty Years of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
It was our generation's very own "Give Peace a Chance" — a quasi-political ditty meant to raise our social awareness. I'm pretty sure it's also when we all started getting so cynical about the world.
I definitely bought the EP as soon as it was released, mostly because Duran Duran was involved.
The single was recorded in London on November 25, 1984, and released on December 3, 1984. It was the brainchild of Bob Geldof and was intended to raise money for famine relief in Africa. It was called "Band Aid" and led to the twin "Live Aid" concerts of 1985. Band Aid was made up of the top, mostly-British bands and performers of the time, including Big Country, Bananarama, Culture Club, Wham!, Spandau Ballet, Sting, and Bono.
Here's who had actual singing parts:
- Paul Young
- Boy George
- George Michael
- Simon LeBon (hands off, girls, he's mine)
- Sting
- Tony Hadley
- Bono
- Paul Weller (The Jam)
And, of course, Phil Collins on drum.
It's not that it's a bad song — it's kind of catchy — or that the intention was bad; it's just that it's the first time I realized that raising gobs of money for charity didn't mean anyone would actually get help. Cue the Gen-X cynicism. And I'll just come out and admit it — I never did trust Bob Geldof. Seemed a bit too condescending and self-serving for my tastes, but I'm sure he meant well.
Anyway, here's to forty years of this!
Meme of the Week
23 for me -- never ordered from Columbia House! #GenX pic.twitter.com/fTvM7gWRfX
— Teri (@TeriChristoph) December 4, 2024
