On the Third Day of a Feminine Christmas
I wouldn’t be surprised if this image was from a Christmas card in the 1960’s or 70’s. The sweet long-haired girl in her red and hot-pink ensemble reminds me so much of “my era”. And of course, the sweetly wrapped packages mirroring her charming outfit…And can you just die to see the portable TV set beside her (most likely a Christmas gift from Mom and Dad), featuring a Beatles look-alike? Surely, the stuff of a 1960’s teenage dream Christmas!
Christmas presents from my adolescent are some of my very favorites to remember: Jean Nate gift sets, Yardley lipsticks in an illustrated cardboard “bus”, stereos and records (The Turtles, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Dusty Springfield…to name a few). I also recall a fancy round green transistor radio, a floral jewelry box with narrow pull-out drawers, a long watch necklace and a silver chain belt. Those things made Christmas so much fun.
It’s always nice to tailor gifts to a person’s age or new life station and the teenage years – the almost-grown up in-between ones – have some especially whimsical gifts to charm young carefree types and most importantly, to let them know that you recognize their exciting new stage of life.
Do you remember any of your teenage Christmas gifts? I would LOVE to know.
2 Comments
Ann Y.
Ohh….Eau de London by Yardley ! And one of those furry hats that tied under your chin…loved it!
Karen
I love that picture too! The present that stands out most in my mind from my teenage years is the Love’s Lemon gift set my father bought me. I know it was Dad because he always shopped at People’s drugstore in Beltsville Maryland. Like all well-stocked drugstores, People’s had a huge Cosmetic and perfume section, perfect for those last-minute Santas who rush in on Christmas Eve and swoop up anything that looks festively package. The Love’s Lemon fragrance is iconic–a beautiful, sparkling, soft lemon fragrance and the bath oil, body lotion, powder, cologne, and body splash all had a pearlescence to them that made them extra-special. I must have torn out the evocative ad from Seventeen magazine and left it laying around somewhere, because the snazzily packaged gift set of shiny dome-topped bottles was exactly what I wanted, and, thus hinted at, Dad always came through! To this day, I always keep lemon-scented bath products in my inventory to remind me of that treasured 1972 Christmas gift from my darling Dad.