Toy nostalgia during the holiday season

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By Nancy Magallon

My favorite toy from when I was a kid was actually a stress ball. I was at the grocery store and they had a container full of stress balls so I grabbed one. I ended up really liking the stress ball because I liked how the orbs inside would squish everywhere. That is also where I got the name for my toy. The name I gave it was Orbeez. After my mom bought it for me, I was attached. but it started to turn black because I would take it everywhere. I would sleep next to it, take it to the doctors, grocery store, etc. 

I was so obsessed with it that when I popped a hole in it, I threw myself on the floor and started to panic to try and fix it. I was crying so loud that my neighbors came over and asked my parents if I was OK. Luckily, they believed my parents, because they also had kids of their own.

Once my mom repaired the stress ball by putting duct tape on the hole. I started to hug her out of happiness because I thought that I had ruined it forever. I don’t really remember a lot of these things from my past, but my mom remembers this situation very clearly. 

Anyway,  I would wash it in the sink wherever my mom would tell me that it looked disgusting and dirty. I was about 6 at the time so I couldn’t reach the sink, so whenever I had to wash it my sister would do it for me. But since I would take it everywhere, it would get dirty very often, so my sister wouldn’t want to wash it for me anymore. Then she had enough.

She had to wash it, but she scrubbed it so hard that it ripped the hole it already had even bigger. I was so mad when I saw Orbeez start to leak out that I yelled for my mom so loud my sister started crying because it hurt her ears. 

In the end I got a new one that was exactly the same. Later on I just grew out of it and forgot all about it. But for a while, that stress ball was my favorite thing in the whole world. 

 

By Jalen-Geof Caluya

 I remember clearly from my childhood always asking my mom, whenever we were at Target or Walmart, to buy me a Nerf gun. I was obsessed with this toy and always thought of being in some sort of zombie apocalypse that I would imagine in my head. I would try and pretend I was in a game that I used to play, Call of Duty. In the corner of my patio, there was a box full of my Nerf guns where I would play all day and make the patio my own little playroom. This special toy brought out my creativity and imagination that my mind made up and made the person I am today.

I remember playing with my little cousins and being known as their “fun cousin.” As I grew older, I lost interest in the toys and I gave them to my little cousins and I let them enjoy them like I did when I was younger. 

This toy is nostalgic to me because as soon as I have it in my hands now, it just gives me a childish feeling and a bit of joy. It brings back the feeling of how I acted as a child and the fact that this toy was basically almost my whole childhood, playing Nerf battles with friends and family and trading smiles with each other and laughing. This is something I will never forget as I grow older.

 

By Jocelyn Garcia

One of my favorite toys I got when I was in middle school was an Xbox One. I was very addicted to it. I would go home after school and go straight into the game and play it nonstop. Some games in particular that I would play are Fortnite and GTA. 

My parents would get so mad because of my addiction to gaming. When I would stay up late at around 2 in the morning, my dad would come into my room and take my controller away. I would say I was really addicted, because my friends would play with me, and we would play with other people around the world. You can play solo, duo, trio, and squads in GTA as well. 

When I was not able to get on the game in the morning, I would go on when everyone else was sleeping, and my friends would be on! I wouldn’t be surprised because I knew they would always be on late at night or be playing all day already. So I would just go on and start playing with them. I couldn’t really talk on the mic because my parents would hear me, so I’d tell them I couldn’t and they’d understand why. I honestly never got over it.

 I still play here and there, but not as often as I used to now that it’s not summer anymore and I have less time. Those were the best times for me!

 

By Diana Villicana 

Change and the future are some of the things that worry me most, which is why I personally like to think of fake scenarios and the past. I tend to be unable to let go as shown with my dead stuffed animal, Panchito. I have had him at my side since I was a baby. I got him by taking him from a car my dad had at his shop. I don’t know why I’m so attached to him, but I am. I think it’s because of the secrets I’ve told him. At night, when no one else can hear us, I hug him and talk about my day. Some things  I couldn’t say to my family or my friends, but Panchito was always there to listen to it. 

One time I lost Panchito and I cried. I cried for nights and months. Years went by and he was still gone. I wasn’t completely alone though. I had friends I could talk to but it didn’t feel the same. Then one day, I was cleaning my room and I found him under my bed, covered in webs and dust, yet I still loved him with all my heart. It felt so good to have something to hug at night and, surprisingly, it was more comforting to talk to a stuffed animal than real human beings. Maybe it’s because of the history we had or the fact he never judged me.