49 Nostalgic Pictures That Truly, Truly Capture What Christmas Was Like In The '90s For Millennials

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1. Looking forward to the Sears' Wishbook....

2. ...and the Toys "R" Us Big Toy Book coming in the mail so that you could go through them and circle all the toys you wanted (in hopes that your parents would see them circled and know what to get you):

3. Looking through The Sharper Image Catalog and wanting everything in it because it seemed so cool and oh-so-futuristic (though knowing deep-down you couldn't ask for any of it because it was very $$$):

4. Watching the amazing The Muppet Christmas Carol, and always forgetting about the scary scenes, like when Statler and Waldorf show up as the ghosts of Jacob and Robert Marley:

5. Always having the dilemma of which Home Alone movie you wanted to watch first when kicking off the holidays:

6. Eating half of your M&M's candy cane as soon as you got it:

7. Making candy cane reindeers at school that you would hang on the tree:

8. Being mesmerized by the futuristic computer animation in the Coca-Cola polar bears commercials:

9. And getting into a holiday mood whenever you saw the Coca-Cola commercials with the tractor trailer:

10. Your mom and your aunt having that one go-to denim Christmas button-up they would wear whenever they wanted to feel festive:

11. And your grandma or great-aunt wearing their Christmas vest (usually over a red turtleneck) basically the entire month:

12. Your grandma's ceramic Christmas village that she loved to set up and took up half of her living room:

13. And your grandma's guest Christmas bathroom hand towels that were actually more decorative and you weren't allowed to dry your hands on:

14. Either typing up and printing your letter to Santa on the family computer, or emailing it to him if your family or school had internet connection:

15. Begging your parents to buy you a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, but really, it was so you could play with it:

16. And for some reason, having a penguin ornament on your family's tree (why were penguin ornaments such a thing?):

17. Your parents spraying Glade holiday-scented room sprays around the house to have it smell more seasonal, but instead making it smell like chemicals with a faint whiff of artificial pine:

18. At some point, burning your finger if you helped put up these outdoor C9 blub Christmas lights while they were on:

19. Decorating your family's Christmas tree with either red, gold, or pearl colored beads:

20. And decorating the bottom of the tree with empty Christmas hat boxes:

21. Having a Santa or snowman soap dispenser in your bathroom that would, eventually, be covered in dripped soap by the end of the season:

22. Wanting cartoon character stickers or window static clings to decorate with:

23. Those squishy, nylon stuffed animals that felt like hugging a cold sleeping bag:

24. Eating off vinyl placemats that had fugly drawings of poinsettias or Santas, and always just used red, white, and green:

25. Drinking out of Christmas glasses that had this design on them (which was basically the Jazz cup design of the holiday season):

26. And drinking hot cocoa out of the mugs with country Christmas geese on them:

27. Having your mom or dad write the family Christmas letter that they would then photocopy and send to all their friends and relatives:

28. And your family getting a few professionally shot Christmas card photos from friends and family that always looked like the camera lens was smeared with Vaseline before it was taken:

29. Making your parents take you to these stores so that you could see if there were some things you forgot to ask for:

30. And going into mom and pop stationary shops and seeing ornament displays like these (which was catnip for moms!):

31. Getting excited for the night when all the episodes were the Christmas ones on TGIF:

32. Reciting the commercial where the M&Ms run into Santa word-for-word:

33. And getting a good mood whenever Gap's kick-ass holiday commercials came on:

34. Feeling like you were a chef whenever you made oh-so-yummy slice-and-bake cookies:

35. Your family getting one of these multi-flavor giant popcorn tins from someone they sorta knew that ultimately became a decorative item the next year or a regift:

36. Lowkey enjoying the holiday Kmart Christmas commercials that starred Penny Marshall and Rosie O'Donnell:

37. And also being a little jealous of all the things Rosie would give away to the studio audience on her show (and yes, even though she gave out things year-round, it was always amped during the holidays):

38. Watching Regis Philbin host the Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade special on ABC:

39. Weirdly getting into the holiday spirit by watching the Kids WB! and Fox Kids Christmas bumpers:

40. And rewatching Christmas episodes of your favorite afternoon and Saturday morning cartoons (because they usually just showed the same ones):

41. Staring at the animated Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, or angel decoration your parents would put out, and thinking it was some sort of amazing animatronic (it wasn't and was always loud AF):

42. Or, if not one of those, then staring at the animated Victorian carolers who were just creepy AF:

43. Having that one fancy neighbor who decorated their house with sad and creepy Victorian cutouts:

44. And having that one neighbor who would decorate with so many lights and blow molds that it looked like a Christmas-themed casino threw up:

45. Wanting some Campbell's soup every time you saw the commercial of the snowman melting back into a kid:

46. Being able to hear the Hershey's Kisses commercial in your head before it even started playing the bell sounds:

47. Always having a CD or two on your Christmas list:

48. Having a ton of photos taken of you on Christmas morning that you never saw again, but that you knew your parents had developed:

49. And lastly, finding a Life Savers "book" from Santa in your stocking:

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