What present did you really, really want as a kid, that you never did get?

An electric guitar, had to wait until I was 15 to get one

An electric train set. And a little red wagon. Also a scooter and a “kiddie car”—a miniature pedal car that you could actually sit in and drive. They were all boys’ toys, and I couldn’t have them.

I remember standing with my father in Jordan Marsh in Boston around Christmastime, watching the darling little Lionel electric train chug around its track, and I knew that he yearned for it as much as I did. At my young age I had no concept of what was an “expensive” toy, so all I understood was that it wasn’t for girls. My younger brothers never got one either, but I bet they never wanted it as much as I did. Or my father.

I too remember yearning for a kiddies pedal car. I wanted one more than I want a Mercedes or a BMW today. I eventually I got a bicycle which I now realise is much more fun.

I don’t think I ever wanted something so bad I obsessed about it, but I thought the little pedal cars were so amazingly cool also. I remember the first time I saw a shopping cart that was like a car (I was in my 20’s) I would have been thrilled to ride on that at the supermarket when I was a kid. I would have really liked to have lived in a nicer house. That reminds me of Miracle on 34th St. She asks Santa for a house. I would have liked for my parents to not fight and scream so much, and for my sister to be happier.

Family stories before the divorce.

I never got an Etch-a-Sketch.

I always fancied a Scalextric either. I always wanted one of those.

A working Superman costume.

A pedal-car fire engine. My grandmother thought that a fire engine was too masculine for a little girl. She bought and gave the fire engine to my (male) cousin, who really didn’t care, and I got a very sedate-looking station wagon. Because my parents raised me well and with manners, I feigned gratitude and thanked Nana for the station wagon. But, my Mom told me, years later, that I never really took to it or enjoyed playing with it.

For reference, I was maybe age 3 or 4 at the time.

To go back home to NYC and see my dad, the Rockefeller Center tree, and the Rockettes.

Hell, I’d still love to do that.

@Seek Is your dad still in NY?

To go home with my mom. I got everything else.

A drum set with a snare drum. I got a set of bongos instead.

A Mr Pierre wig. My friend Jennifer had one and I really, really,really wanted one too. It just wasn’t fair!

An SSP crash up derby set.
Also rockumsockum Robots.

The Sno-Cone machine that looked like a snowman. I thought it would make Sno-Cones the size and flavor of ones that you could get at the zoo or at Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Santa’s magic bag, so that I could get infinite presents.

At that time I couldn’t understand why everyone gave me that strange look when I said that.

A dog. Both my parents had them when they grew up so I felt that was really unfair. But looking back with 5 kids in our family our car was really packed on vacations as it was so we would have had to pull a Mitt Romney if we had a dog and I can see now why we never had a dog. I have had 5 so far in my adult life.

@JLeslie – don’t know. He fell off the face of the earth when I was 16. No one has seen or heard from him since.

@Seek For some reason I thought you had not seen your father since childhood, but I just wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure what the story was. I didn’t know if you couldn’t get to see him because of financial reasons, or if maybe he had passed away? I didn’t remember he just sort of disappeared.

Does he have a common name? Do you know his birthday? Have you tried to find him? I’m not pushing you to, but it sounds like you would like to find him.

I last saw him when I was 12. That was also the last phone call, as my mother made me tell him to stop calling.

We got a letter from him shortly after 9/11, which was destroyed by my mother so we couldn’t write back. He missed his mother’s funeral the following year. No one has heard from him.

I actively searched for a long time. Now I just check obituaries every six months or so, hoping for closure. His name isn’t common; only one other guy in the state has it. But he is a retired police officer and I’m told that complicates things.

@Seek It does complicate things. My neighbor is a cop and used to live in Poughkeepsie, NY. I will ask him if there is some way he might be able to get a message to him? On a fluke it might work. I have no idea if he will go out of his way to do it.

A friend of mine is really good at hunting for relatives, knows how to use the census and other sites, maybe she can help? She can’t overcome things that are hidden to protect cops though.

Did he have siblings? That could be the way to go.

You can message me his name or text. My messenger isn’t working on fb. I’ll give you my phone number if you want to pursue it.

When I was a pre-teen, the Atari video game system had just come out. Oh, how I wanted one of those.

Alas, my parents never bought one. I attribute the cause of all of my current problems to the fact that I didn’t play enough video games as a child. ;-)

I played Atari at other people’s house’s and thought it was mind-numbingly boring, @MikeA. Crap like “Frogger”. Other than a brief stint in college when I pumped $100’s into Donkey Kong consoles getting to a really high level, I’ve never been much of gamer.

No doubt the cause of all my woes as well.

I wanted a Kermit the frog stuffed toy but ended up getting a generic looking frog puppet instead.

@ibstubro fogger was one of the better atari games, I still play it at times

I got a lot of the generic look-a-likes, too, @cazzie. Waste the purchase amount by saving a couple of bucks. Arg.

My point exactly, @ARE_you_kidding_me. “One of the better” and still less satisfying than a comic, much less a good book.

I asked for an Easy Bake Oven several years
in a row when I was young and never got one!
I still to this day when I see the boxes of the
“new” easy Bake Ovens I stop and stare.
I think I didn’t get one because I was a chubby
child but knowing that made it worse.
If I get a granddaughter..she WILL have one!

If it makes you feel any better, @MooCows, I thought Easy Bake ovens sucked. My cousin was the same age as me and we played together at her house. Easy Bake tries to bake cake with a freaking light bulb. Tiny little cakes that take forever and taste like crap. What a racket.

Better that you buy some Jiffy cake and frosting mixes and bake in the real or toaster oven with her. My grandmother bought us all the Jiffy mixes we could stand and we baked and burned to out heart’s content.

@MooCows and @ibstubro, I have to confess that Easy Bake Oven was my favorite toy! The cakes may have been awful, but they tasted like heaven to me; I’d made them all by myself.

@MooCows, I don’t know if it’ll be possible for you to give an Easy Bake Oven to your (someday) granddaughter. The ovens use the heat from incandescent light bulbs, which are being phased-out internationally. Pretty soon, the remaining incandescent bulbs won’t have enough wattage to heat anything.

My grandma wouldn’t buy me one either; she just taught me to use the real oven.

Yeah, we’d turn the tiny thing out, cut it into 6 pieces, and ultimately count our stars that there wasn’t more to eat, @Love_my_doggie. lol BUt I get it.
I wondered about the incandescent bulbs, too. They’ll think of something.

I think that’s the best plan, @Seek. Teach real oven. I guess you could start with a toaster oven, though I’ve never owned one.