{"id":2045,"date":"2017-12-11T11:01:44","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T16:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2018-04-05T12:46:59","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T17:46:59","slug":"retro-scan-benjs-1992-christmas-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/2045\/retro-scan-benjs-1992-christmas-list","title":{"rendered":"[ Retro Scan ]<\/span> Benj’s 1992 Christmas List"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scan<\/a>Seems like I wanted a computer<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

My father passed away in 2013<\/a>, and since then, I have been slowly going through his possessions, including his papers, to take stock of what’s there and put things in order.<\/p>\n

Last year, in the back of a tall metal file cabinet, I found a manila folder labelled “Christmas Lists.” Amazingly, it contained many of my handwritten childhood Christmas lists, addressed to both Santa and my parents. It was very touching to find. I had no idea my father had saved them.<\/p>\n

Among these papers, I found this gem from 1992 (I pinpointed the date easily because I remember which year I wanted to get a Prodigy client set<\/a>). I was 11 years old. That was also the first year I started my BBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unlike my richly illustrated Christmas list from 1989<\/a>, this one is all text. Among items like ‘G.I. Joe guy,’ a giant Hulk figure, and a snare drum, we find gems such as ‘Nintendo Game Genie<\/a>,’ the aforementioned ‘Prodogy’ (sic), and “#1 gift! A COMPUTER!!!”<\/p>\n

(I’m pretty sure the $15 was a joke.)<\/p>\n

At the time, I was using a dreadfully slow monochrome IBM PS\/2 Model 25 (with an 8086 CPU) to run my new BBS (that my dad had bought new around 1987), so I’m pretty sure that was the main reason I wanted a computer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I didn’t get a new computer that Christmas. I think my dad bought me my first non-hand-me-down PC around 1994. But I did get a Prodigy connection kit, and you can read more about that in this classic post<\/a>. And of course, best of all, I was surrounded by my loving, supportive family in a stable home. It was a great Christmas.<\/p>\n

I was a lucky kid, and I am very grateful that my family encouraged me to explore what I loved. I plan to do that for my kids as well.<\/p>\n

I hope all of you out there have a very Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n

[ From Benj\u2019s Christmas List (Vol. 2, Chapter I), 1992 ]<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Discussion Topic:<\/strong> Have you ever received a computer for Christmas? Tell us about the first one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seems like I wanted a computer My father passed away in 2013, and since then, I have been slowly going through his possessions, including his papers, to take stock of what’s there and put things in order. Last year, in the back of a tall metal file cabinet, I found a manila folder labelled “Christmas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13,35,27,26,9,10],"tags":[313,303,595,1335,1592,385,1591],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-info-and-history","category-video-game-info-and-history","category-internet-history","category-regular_features","category-retro-scan-of-the-week","category-retrogaming","category-computers","tag-313","tag-christmas","tag-dad","tag-handwritten","tag-list","tag-prodigy","tag-retroscan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2098,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions\/2098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}