It was Christmas 1976. I was 6 and my brother was 8. You have to remember that this was before Star Wars, so we were raised on Dr. Who, and of course Space: 1999. My brother and I were amazed when we first saw the Mattel Eagle on the store shelves that December. It was then we decided that Santa would definitely have to deliver it to our home on Christmas Day.

We started counting down the days to Christmas morning when we would receive that awesome massive toy! The day finally arrived – it was Christmas morning, and we raced down the stairs to see the goodies Santa left behind. There was Adventure People, Micronauts and Tonka toys, but no Eagle! How could Santa mess this up? My brother and I were happy with all the gifts we received that morning, but why no Eagle? It was at that point my Dad and Mom (both big Sci-fi fans) looked at my brother and I and said, “You might want to go check the basement.” We both took off and ran down the stairs, and we stopped at the bottom of the steps. We were shocked to see what laid in front of us.

There it was – my parents had made us a Moon Base Alpha playset; they had made a large moon surface with buildings that could hold figures, and then to the one side was a landing pad just like the show – complete with lights and on top, sitting there in all its glory, the Mattel Eagle! Mom and Dad went on to tell us that Santa had asked them to look after the Eagle because they wanted to make it extra special. We played with that for months!

Here is the sad part – back in ’76, there was no digital camera to catch memories – just the good old Kodak Instamatic . We took all kinds of pictures that Christmas morning. Unfortunately, when taking the pictures, the film never advanced in the camera when being wound for the next photo. So when we got the film developed, we had one picture with 24 images on it (LOL).

So while we don’t have any Christmas morning pictures from 1976, what we do have is a fantastic Christmas story and memories from that day. I think that’s why the Mattel Eagle toy means so much to me to this day – because as a family, it’s a story that has been told many times on many Christmas’ with many laughs!

I’m 53 now and still have our Eagle.