Christmas hasn’t felt the same for the last couple of years. We look less at the lights and more at the traffic. Family time can feel like a chore. We stress out about gift-giving, and we're less surprised when unwrapping our own hand-picked Secret Santa.
But there was a time when the lights shone brighter, the evening felt mystical, and the adrenaline of unwrapping gifts was unmatched. One of the most unique memories is somehow a communal experience. It’s Christmas through nostalgia lenses.
For gamers, this holiday season meant a younger version of ourselves finally opening that one present. The only one you knew how much you wanted, thinking about it months before Christmas morning. The one you obsessed over looking at pictures in stores, flyers, videos, or websites. The one you memorized every box design, and you would recognize from the corner of your eye.
That fleeting magic has us kicking our feet just thinking about it, so without further ado, here are some of the most nostalgic, sentimental Christmas gifts a young gamer could ever receive.
1. Your First Handheld: PSP, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, etc.
It’s challenging to narrow down an entire hobby to a single generation, especially when the platforms and franchises have grown and evolved so much over the last four decades of the industry. But rest assured, no matter your birth year, it’s pretty difficult not to bond over your first handheld console.
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Whether it was during the 2D, pixelated golden age or well into the portable 3D era, handheld gaming as a kid was a vibe. Making sure you had it locked and loaded fully charged for even the shortest trip made it the cutest, sometimes silliest responsibility.
It’s often discussed how our attention spans are shortened nowadays because of our 24/7 availability to screens. While I'd like to clap back, our first handheld was definitely partially responsible.
How many times was it hidden under a pillow past bedtime? How many times did it accidentally go to school? How many times did it block our view while walking to the dining table? Your first handheld is a make-or-break moment in becoming adult gamers, and for most of us, it started as a Christmas gift.
2. The Latest Home Console: PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360
You see a box under the tree, suspiciously bigger than usual. Your sense of spatial awareness isn’t quite developed, so you undershoot your eye measurement. "It must be a crockpot for mom or a new tool for dad." Then, as the wrapping paper barely falls off, you can immediately tell it’s your new home console.
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I don’t know about you, but there is nothing I cherish more about new consoles than the unboxing process. Hooking it up and booting it for the first time is filled with excitement in its own right, but there’s something magical about discovering every nook and cranny of the console, dry ice mold, print instructions, bagged cables, and your first controller.
We often forget that, as adults, gift-opening came after an extended school break where anticipation was through the roof. Once Christmas morning came, every single tick of the clock mattered. Forget breakfast, forget cleaning up the paper mess. It’s “Dad, hook this up ASAP, I don’t know how to yet.”
3. The Start of the Collection: GTA V, Pokemon, Yearly Sports Games
If the consoles are the key, the games are the doors. Whether you already had a console at home or Christmas was stacked for that specific year, a physical copy of a game you’ve been waiting months for is an adrenaline rush I wish on all my best friends.
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Not only is it quite endearing to ask Santa for a very niche instalment of a lord-knows-how-to-pronounce franchise and actually get it, but it is so cute explaining, almost out of breath, how much you really wanted this one.
These gifts, however, were usually the last ones to open. “Oh, you’ll have time, let’s get breakfast.” "Mom, you do not understand. School is right around the corner, and we’re going to see grandma in an hour. Let me have this.", was most of every child's inner monologue way back when. Cut to a silent breakfast, half-reading, half-looking at the box's pictures an inch away from your face.
Sometimes, I wish I could watch my household's reactions to Christmas and gaming, but I think there’s a beauty in remembering. I think about it and smile. If you share any of these memories, I encourage you to say thanks, in whatever way you can, to whomever you want for making them possible. I know I will, too. Merry Christmas!
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