Can’t you just picture it?

It’s December 1975. You’re steering your boat-sized Buick down 13th Avenue toward West Acres (WAAAAAAY out west). You’re singing along to the No. 1 song, “Fly, Robin, Fly,” when a familiar Christmas worry creeps in.

What am I going to buy for everybody?

I don’t know for a fact that my mother actually lived out this exact scene 50 years ago. But it sounds like her. (Except she’d be listening to the Carpenters or Neil Diamond — not Silver Convention.)

But I hope Joan Briggs didn’t think too long and hard about what we kids wanted that Christmas of ’75. We, like millions of Americans, had caught the fever of that year’s hottest gifts: the Pet Rock and mood rings. Both are celebrating their 50th birthdays this year.

As we mark the golden anniversary, let’s look

See Full Page