Kids got less throughout the year, so those holiday and birthday gifts were highly valued. Parents had to save up for most of the year just to provide a nice holiday for their family. People then were more likely to make gifts as compared to buying.

Kids didn’t always dig their homemade mittens and hats, but those charming gifts are now nostalgic since they were homemade.

There was no one-click button on Amazon, so kids and adults waited for that huge Sears or Montgomery Ward or JCPenney catalog to come in the mail.

Men and women would peruse those for hours, circling and folding the corners of the pages, only to change their minds again.

And hearing the sound of mom’s soft voice ordering after kids were in bed just added to the excitement.

We all love the season so the tendency is to decorate early, but the holidays weren’t shoved in consumers’ faces so early like they are today.

Blaring Christmas music and stores taken over with glittery merchandise before Halloween just ruins it for many of us. And it usually turns any excitement into dread.

In the ’80s, Jingle Bells would play after Thanksgiving. Trees would light up putting everyone in the mood to spread the holiday spirit even more.

So much has evolved since the ’80s. Today’s technology, sports programs and the way parents move about have gotten much more time-consuming.

Everyone is just so busy attending sporting events on weekends, joining to meetings, volunteering, and almost all homes have adults working which just takes up so much time.

There’s just not that much time to bake and visit, and even lounge in front of the television just to watch a Christmas special with family on a Friday evening with a TV dinner.

Elementary school holidays parties were always exciting for the students since it happened before winter break. Kids drew names, everyone brought in goodies to eat, and the whole school just could not wait for what was to come.

Not everyone had a VHS and even then, trying to talk to your parents into renting a Christmas movie was pretty unlikely. When Charlie Brown’s Christmas or It’s A Wonderful Life came on the television, it became a family night.

Those of you with siblings will recall hovering around the radio hoping Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer would come on. Today, all you have to do is type and click for results.

Nothing was ever wasted. Moms and grandmothers used the same wrapping paper and ribbons for years and years.

Sure there were times when they would let kids rip through gifts but not for the bigger items. Kids were instructed to be extra careful so the paper could be saved and packed away for next Christmas.

Ask the question ‘what is the all time greatest Christmas film?’ and you will spark a great debate. There were so many of these to choose from, and you could go from animated to live action ones.

And as cheesy as some of them were, you have to admit they are so nostalgic.

Kids spent ages making Christmas paper chains with their parents just to display them in their bedrooms. Sure, there was a lot of licking, but the results were always worth all the effort. Can you still make them?

All of us love Christmas songs, but the 80s produced really memorable ones. Of course, Wham gave us their heart at Christmas, but Elton John did invite us to step into Christmas.

Slade also reminded us to hang our stockings on the wall, giving us a good festive sing along. And today you can still hear these songs played during the holidays.

Christmas shoppers in the 1980s know and love Woolworths and they really miss it. It just screamed of their childhood and while there have been many suitable shopping replacements, they just don’t give that same warm feeling Woolworths did.

Families spent an hour putting up lights and decorating a lovely tree, only for ‘the big plug switch on’ moment to be spoilt when the lights won’t turn on.

One of the bulbs were either blown or needed to be screwed back in, so dad had to spend another two hours checking every single one of them. Time for mom to bring out the snacks!

While it is more convenient to shop and buy online, nothing compares to the nostalgic feel and distinctive joy of going to the mall during the season.

The crowds, the sales, and the mall Santas meant a mixture of joy and stress, but the ’80s mall excursion was a defining cultural experience. It’s good to see others still doing the same in an age of digital shopping.

Ralphie with his mouth washed out with soap, or that Old Man winning a lamp modeled after a woman’s leg in fishnets, or Flick having his tongue stuck on a frozen flagpole are just some of the more memorable scenes of this movie.

A Christmas Story hit theaters on Nov. 18, 1983. It’s become forever linked to the holiday since the movie gets played and played every single year.

So many of these holiday songs made their way onto your own Christmas mixtape. Kids today have Spotify, but they won’t ever understand the excitement of the song you were waiting for to come on the radio.

There’s nothing like recording it on your own tape. Santa left that Walkman under the tree for your own personal playlist too.

Growing up in the ’80s meant you had Hallmark ornaments on your Christmas tree. Maybe you still keep them around too.

The annual tradition of new Hallmark ornaments began in 1973, but in 1984, these got a major upgrade with a light up feature.

Christmas goes with Hallmark, and though we purchase new ornaments from greeting card experts, there’s nothing like those electric ’80s additions.

Forget about the staggering amount of red and green food dye and instead, focus on how much holiday cheer eating festive confections for the first time felt like with M&M Holidays and Christmas Crunch.

This was the decade red and green treats went mainstream and people loved it. They loved it so much they didn’t mind turning their tongues red or green.

The microwave was a major leap forward in the 80s with lower-cost versions making these appliances affordable. Sure we do them today but back then, it was a relief not having to eat cold leftovers.

Christmas is also about the food, and there was always enough leftovers stuffed in Tupperware to keep families full until New Year’s. The microwave were every parents’ helper for the next few days.

Family Christmases in the 80’s were usually recorded on a camcorder. Sony released the first personal camcorder in 1983, meaning dads then just had to have one.

People posed for photos but dads and uncles would be walking around filming every happy moment they could.

Todays phones can do everything and even have better quality but there’s nothing like those old family moments caught on camcorders.