35 Nostalgic Pictures That Perfectly Capture What Christmas Was Like In The '90s For Millennials

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

2.Getting just one chance to get a good photo with the Santa at the mall because there were no digital cameras — hence a lot of pics of kids crying or looking in the other direction:

3.And also really getting into the holiday spirit anytime you went to the mall and just walked around looking at the decorations:

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

5.Your grandma wearing her Christmas vest (usually over a red turtleneck) basically the entire month:

6.And your grandma also decorating her house for the holidays with either Thomas Kinkade or Franklin Mint Christmas scene plates:

7.Having to pick up these outdoor light-up candle decorations all the time because they were hollow and constantly got knocked down by the wind:

8.And breaking several light bulbs whenever you helped put up the outdoor Christmas lights:

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

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

11.Eating off placemats that had fugly drawings of poinsettias and always just used red, white, and green:

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

13.Looking forward to the night when ABC's TGIF aired its Christmas episodes:

14.Eating one of these Santa-head lollipops that tasted like stale cough drops:

15.And feeling like the red and green Christmas M&M's tasted the best:

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

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

18.Basically, having a lot of Christmas kitchen decor that featured the country geese on it:

19.Looking over and over at all the pretty photos in the I Spy Christmas book:

20.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:

21.Looking forward to the Toys R Us holiday catalog...

22....and the Sears Wish Book so that you could see all the new toys that were being released and ~circle them~ so that your parents would know what to get you:

23.Thinking it was so cool that Penny Marshall and Rosie O'Donnell got to hang out in a giant room surrounded by toys in the Kmart commercials (and being a little jealous of that):

24.Begging your parents to buy you Christmas stickers...

25....and rubber stamps so that you could decorate your "Christmas cards" with them:

26.Really wanting Campbell's soup whenever you watched the melting-snowman commercial:

27.Being excited whenever Gap's kick-ass holiday commercials came on:

28.Watching these two classics over and over and over:

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

30.Or staring at the animated Victorian carolers who were just creepy AF:

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

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

33.Waiting in just wild lines at Toys R Us:

34.Knowing a good gift was coming on Christmas morning because your parents pulled out the camcorder:

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