Christmas Through The Years

Christmas With My Grandparents

Christmas '85: My cat George loves being at Grandma & Grandpa's for Christmas

During my childhood and teenage years, Christmas was always one of the highlights of the year for me, that, and going to Cystic Fibrosis summer camp from 1988-1996. It wasn't just the gifts I was excited to receive, but visiting both sets of my grandparents who lived in Missouri as well. My grandparents (Mom's parents) were born and raised and lived in Missouri until the 1960's and moved to Michigan. They returned to Missouri in 1983. My Dad's parents were also born and raised in Missouri.

@ Grandparents, Christmas Time '83

@ Aunt's House, Christmas '83: My Cousin's w/ our Great Grandmother (Dad's Grandmother)

Check out my cousin's long sleeve shirt. The A-Team!!! I'm on the far right.

@Home, Christmas Eve '84: Masters of The Universe- Point Dread & Talon Fighter

Gift I opened on Christmas Eve

@ Home, Christmas '84: Candy Land was my favorite board game as a child

@ Home, Christmas Time '84: I wonder what this present could be? (next image below)

@ Home, Christmas '84: A reason why the 80's were so great! 

Masters of The Universe- Skeletor's Snake Mountain

I spent my Christmas vacation (with my family) visiting both sets of grandparents from 1984-1993. Christmas vacation usually started on or around December 18th. I opened my gifts from my parents early, around December 20th or 21st. We usually left December 22nd to beat the holiday traffic. Thankfully, Santa knew my location on December 25th. My parents let me bring along three of my gifts so I could open them at my grandparents' house. Santa brought me a gift or two as well.

Christmas was different in Dexter, MO, because I can count on one hand how many times it snowed. Where they lived (boot hill) it never snowed, maybe flurries and that was it. One year there were Charlie Brown flakes flowing from the sky and the snow was actually sticking to the ground. Dexter received about an inch or two. It seemed as though we always brought the snow from Michigan. That time of year the residents had to worry about ice.

@ Home, Christmas '84: 1985 E.T. Calendar

@ Home, Christmas '84: Lego Set

The 12-hour drive to Dexter, MO was a long one, especially bringing along two mid-sized dogs. My grandparents were always happy to see our dogs, as they didn't have one until 1994/1995.

My Dad's parents lived in Malden, MO, which was about 45 minutes south from my Mom's parents in Dexter. Sometimes we spent Christmas morning at my grandparents in Dexter and some years we spent Christmas morning at my other grandparents in Malden. I think we did that every other year.

1993 my older cousin and I would travel to visit our grandparents during Christmas vacation and continued to do so until 2000. We spent Christmas up here and left to travel down there on December 26th. We stayed with our grandparents from December 26th - January 2nd or around that time period.

Christmas 1985

My favorite Christmas was in 1985, and between the years 1984-1987, I received Masters of The Universe toys and those were my favorite gifts. Anything to do with He-Man I loved! The toys weren't expensive back then. Mom purchased them from Big Wheel, which was a store like K-Mart. I had all the original characters, including both Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain.

One of the most unique characters was Stinkor, which was an evil action figure that stunk like a skunk. Peeww! He did stink. I'm surprised Skeletor could be around him. That was his defense, his bad odor spray. During the later years in the world of He-Man, newer characters were introduced left and right, which I didn't have all those characters, but I had a ton.

Another wonderful gift I received that year was the newly released (10/18/85) Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). When the NES came out, Super Mario Bros. was the only item included. Duck Hunt or the NES Zapper gun wasn't included. I had my NES system for 7 years.

Favorite Christmas Movie

My favorite Christmas film is It's A Wonderful Life (1946), followed by National Lampoon's Christmas (1989) and then my favorite Christmas movie as a child, Santa Clause: The Movie (1985), which to me is an underrated Christmas film, which stars both the late Dudley Moore (Patch the Elf) and David Huddleston as Santa Claus. David played a wonderful Santa in the film. John Lithgow plays B.Z. an evil executive of a toy company. The late Burgess Meredith makes a cameo as the Ancient One, the oldest and wisest of the elves.

The two children who star in the film are Carrie Kei Heim as Cornelia (Corny), whom is B.Z.'s 9 year old step-niece and orphan. Cornelia befriends a homeless boy named Joe living on the streets of New York. Both befriend Santa Claus.

The film tells the story of how Santa Claus came about, along with the plot venturing into the (then) current 20th century and how Christmas and the meaning had changed through the centuries. It's a good children's film.

The film came out on November 27th 1985 and flopped and received a lot of negative reviews. Its become more popular in recent years with a cult following. It's one of those movies that's hard to find on the tube around Christmas, but in recent years its been on digital over the air (free TV) channel This! and AMC has been airing the film quite a bit lately. This marks the first year the film has been aired on TV in HD.

I'll always remember those long trips to Missouri, the dinner's with my grandparents, and the times I spent with my relatives/grandparents on my Dad's side. I saw both sets of my grandparents twice a year and that was it. If you're reading this and see your grandparents around the holidays or in between time, please be thankful for the time you have with them, because one day they won't be around. I was lucky to make great memories with both sets.

1983

Events of 1983 include movies, music, home video, sports (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB), Television, TV Show debuts, and big events of 1983.

Note: Not all events of the categories above are noted.
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*** 1983 *** 

Movies:

Top grossing film- ($252,583,617- domestic)
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of The Jedi

Picture Of The Year-
Ghandi (the movie)



Notes: 

1983 was a landmark year in film. More films have gotten an R-rating than any other year thus far.
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Home Video News: 
1983 was a time when home video players were becoming affordable for use in homes having dropped by half in a few years to around US$500. Pre-recorded tapes remained expensive creating the video rental industry with rentals sometimes including the player.

It was also a time known as the "format wars" with two major standards Sony's Betamax and JVC's VHS competing for dominance. Consumer camcorders were also gaining popularity with prices dropping below $1000.
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Music: 
(Recognized artists from 1983 at the 26th annual Grammy awards, Feb 28th 1984)

Song Of The Year: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police

Record Of The Year- “Beat It” by Michael Jackson

Album Of The Year- “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

Best New Artist: Culture Club


Note: The 26th Grammy awards had the highest ratings in its history with 43.8 mil. viewers - a record unmatched as of 2013.

February 26- Michael Jackson's Thriller album hits #1 on the US charts, the first of thirty-seven (non-consecutive) weeks it would spend there on its way to becoming the biggest-selling album of all time.

February 28 – U2 releases their 3rd album War which debuts at #1 in the UK and produces the band's first international hit single.

March 2 – Compact discs go on sale in the United States. They had first been released in Japan the previous October.

May 16- The Motown 25 Special airs on NBC, celebrating a quarter century of Motown Records. The most talked-about performance is by Michael Jackson, who unveils his famous moonwalk dance move during an electrifying performance of "Billie Jean".

August 20 – The Rolling Stones sign a new $28 million contract with CBS Records, the largest recording contract in history up to this time.

September 18 – The members of Kiss show their faces without their makeup for the first time on MTV, simultaneous with the release of their album Lick It Up.

September 24 – U.S. rock group the Red Hot Chili Peppers launch their first self-titled album.

December 2- Michael Jackson's extravagant 14-minute music video for Thriller is premièred on MTV.

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Sports: 

College Basketball-
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship:
North Carolina State wins 54-52 over Houston

NBA-

NBA Finals:
Philadelphia 76ers won 4 games to 0 over the Los Angeles Lakers (115-108)

NFL-

Superbowl XVII: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
The Washington Redskins win over the Miami Dolphins 27-17.

NHL-
Stanley Cup Finals:
Stanley Cup – New York Islanders win 4-0 over the Edmonton Oilers
(Score: 4-2)

MLB-
World Series:
Baltimore Orioles win World Series 4 games to 1 over the Philadelphia Phillies
(Score: 5-0)
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Big Events Of 1983: (not all are posted)


January 10 – Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States launch Fraggle Rock, a worldwide program advocating peace.

January 31 – Seatbelt use for drivers and front seat passengers becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.

February 28 – The final episode of M*A*S*H is aired and the record of most watched episode is broken.

March 23 – Strategic Defense Initiative: U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles. The media dub this plan "Star Wars".

March 25 – Motown celebrates its 25th anniversary with the television special Motown 25, during which Michael Jackson performs "Billie Jean" and introduces the moonwalk.

April 4 – First flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

April 13 – California's largest retailer Target Corporation expands into California, opening 11 stores.

April 18 – The 1983 United States embassy bombing in Beirut kills 63 people.

April 18 – Channel broadcasting is founded by Disney (the Disney Channel).

May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.

May 25 – Return of the Jedi opens in theatres.

May 31 – The Philadelphia 76ers defeat the LA Lakers for the NBA championship.

June 13 – Pioneer 10 passes the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the vicinity of the major planets of the Solar System.

June 18- Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-7 mission.

August 24 – The Old Philadelphia Arena is destroyed by arson.

August 30 – Guion Bluford becomes the first African-American in space aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-8 mission.

September 17 – Vanessa L. Williams becomes the first African American to be crowned Miss America, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

September 18 – U.S. heavy metal band Kiss officially appears in public without makeup for the first time on MTV.

September 19- Wheel of Fortune begins its syndicated version, which still churns out new episodes to this very day.

September 26- 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident: Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov averts a worldwide nuclear war by correctly identifying a warning of attack by U.S. missiles as a false alarm.

October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.

November 2- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: At the White House Rose Garden, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating a federal holiday on the third Monday of every January to honor American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

November 2- Able Archer 83: Many Soviet officials misinterpret this NATO exercise as a nuclear first strike, causing the last nuclear scare of the Cold War.

November 2- Chrysler introduces the Dodge Caravan, the first "minivan".

November 3 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson announces his candidacy for the 1984 Democratic Party presidential nomination.

November 14- The immunosuppressant Cyclosporine is approved by the FDA, leading to a revolution in the field of transplantation.

November 20 – The Day After debuts on ABC.

December 29 – The Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Syria to secure the release of U.S. Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman, who has been in Syrian captivity since being shot down over Lebanon during a bombing mission.