My mom is an avid scrapbooker, I have my entire childhood in two huge binders full of photos, and I spent some time over the long holiday weekend looking at them and reflecting on memories of Christmas and some of the memorable gifts I've gotten over the years.

Being an only child I was SPOILED at Christmas, I always scored big from my Mom, who worked hard to make sure I got what I wanted and scored from the big guy himself, Santa!

Here are some of my favorites:

  • Atari 2600 - I remember getting this electronic marvel one Christmas morning, it was wrapped in a black garbage bag in an effort to keep me from guessing what was inside, but I do remember opening the bag and getting very excited, I celebrated by sitting in front of the TV for the next 3 weeks!
  • Cabbage Patch Kids doll - The only doll in history that was OK for a boy to have was the Cabbage Patch Kids, and I had one! This was a VERY hard to find gift and I remember my mom trying to find one for me and she pretended that she couldn't find one, when she actually did! You can see the photo of me and my Cabbage Patch in the gallery above.
  •  Set of Cymbals and Drums - One Christmas I got a set of drums, I'm not sure the neighbors were happy, but I was! The drum set I got didn't have very good cymbals, so the next year, Santa (and mom) delivered some nice new Paiste cymbals!
  • My daughter Rose - I got my favorite Christmas gift of all time two Christmases ago when my daughter Rose was born just 10 days before Christmas.

I've gotten so many great gifts over the years, and I appreciated every one of them, not because it was what I wanted or because it was the hottest gift that year, but because hard work and love went into getting those gifts.

Tony Hart's Childhood Christmas Photos

What is your favorite gift of all time?

Share in the comments below.

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