Although Star Wars was released in May of 1977, no one knew what a box office smash the film was going to be. As a result there were no Star Wars toys for sale that Christmas, only the infamous “Early Bird Package” that included a certificate that could be mailed in to Kenner and redeemed for action figures. It wasn’t until the following year, 1978, that Star Wars toys began appearing in department stores. Along with the Cantina set, several ships including the TIE Fighter, Land Speeder, and X-Wing Fighter also found their way into stores.

This is me, Christmas morning of 1978, with my TIE Fighter, Land Speeder, and X-Wing. If you look carefully you can see Darth Vader in the TIE Fighter, Leia in the Land Speeder, and Luke, C-3P0, R2D2, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all hanging out in front of the X-Wing.

When people ask me if I ever wonder whatever happened to those old toys, I say no, because I know. They’re sitting on a shelf in the hall right outside my office.

Here’s a picture of me Christmas Eve, 1979. I would have been six years old in this picture.

Those two little houses near the front of the train tracks are models that my dad and I bought and put together. The brown, shorter one came with a bunch of plastic barrels that I used to haul around in circles around the tree on the train.

But it wasn’t always that way. In my earlier years, I was not only more interested in Christmas than I am now (it was, after all, the one time of year I could ask for big ticket items like new video game systems) but I had more time to enjoy Christmas than I do now. Not only did I not work in those years, but I was also given two blessed weeks off of school to celebrate the December holidays. Since Christmas usually fell sometime during the first of those two weeks, often during the tail end, this gave me several days to anticipate the holiday. The TV, my window to the world in those pre-internet years, was a big help in this endeavor. It kept Christmas constantly before me both in the days before and the days often. It did this not only through the many specials, TV movies, and Christmas-themed series episodes we’ve already mentioned (here, here, and here), but it did it in a few other ways as well.

One of these ways was game show decorations. I rarely got to watch game shows during the school year; I was in class when they were on. But during Christmas break, I watched nothing but game shows from 10 AM to noon. At that time, these game shows would decorate their sets with the usual Christmas. They would also bring out some special Christmas graphics such as you see in this clip:

(Yes, I know this clip isn’t retro, but it is representative of what I saw in the retro era.)

Another way was soap operas. I wasn’t able to watch soap operas during the school year, either, and I wasn’t as interested in them as I was in game shows. But I couldn’t help catching some of them, and when I did, I always saw Christmas decorations and plots.

Sports broadcasts helped out here as well. I wasn’t a big sports watcher back then, but if I did catch a game during this time, I would see that the normal score and time graphics had been modified with Christmas themes. There would also be special holiday greetings from the players as well as military personnel, and shots of the production crew to boot. The pre and post shows also had decorated sets, as you see here.

(Again, this isn’t retro, but it was the best representative I could find of what I saw in the retro era.)

Beyond that, many TV commercials had Christmas themes, and some commercials only came out at Christmastime.

Add all these things to the Christmas specials, TV movies, series episodes, and Dick Clark’s Rocking New Years Eve, and what you had was a blitz which kept Christmas constantly before the average latchkey kid like myself. That blitz not only built up the holiday, making it truly seem like the greatest day of the year, but it also added to the holiday and brought me down from the holiday. There really was nothing like watching TV during those two weeks off school. It was special, and I miss it terribly today.

That’s me on the left there, sitting on Santa’s knee. And that’s my kindergarten teacher on the right, which would have made this 1978. The only thing on my list that year would have been Star Wars toys, and boy did Santa deliver them that Christmas.

Funny how times change. I’m pretty sure they don’t allow Christmas trees or even Santa in classrooms anymore.