No other time of the year inspires nostalgia quite like the holiday season. You go home to your parents' house, sleep in your old bedroom, and forget about real-life responsibilities for a while. And as a child of the '90s — which is, in my opinion, the best decade (sorry, '80s babies) — I can safely say that this time was like no other for the holidays. The last decade before technology really exploded was epic in every way. Not only did it produce some of the most iconic Christmas songs and movies (Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," anyone?), but ugly holiday sweaters were actually stylish and you had no choice but to do all your shopping at the mall. To see how else the holidays are drastically different today than they were in the '90s, keep reading.
Yes, some pop stars continue to release holiday albums, but can anything compare to the gems that came out in the '90s? *NSYNC's Home For Christmas and Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas will always be iconic. And it's no surprise that "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is continually ranked as the best Christmas song of all time.
After spending hours thumbing through catalogs to make your wish lists, orders would have to be placed over the phone to an actual person. No same-day delivery here.
Push-pops and other favorite candies made the perfect stocking stuffers. At least they gave you something to do while you waited for your sibling to finish opening their gifts.
Sure, now we have holiday movies on demand starting in October, but remember the magic of navigating a bustling Blockbuster to find that one holiday movie you'd been dying to watch, only to grab its last available one? That is a true '90s Christmas miracle.
The Snapchat of the '90s, AOL Instant Messenger was the best way to connect with friends over Winter break. Get your dream PlayStation? Better update your away status to let everyone know.
Back before everyone could take amazing pictures of the dinner spread or snap holiday selfies with their phones, disposable cameras or Polaroids were the only way to document the holiday season. Waiting for them to get developed was half the fun.
If you wanted to meet Santa, there wasn't an easy way out. You had to wait in line like everyone else, hoping the kids in front of you didn't take too long.
There was no better way to show your parents what toys you wanted than dragging them around the aisles at Toys "R" Us.
Braving the holiday traffic at the mall is still a thing, but the '90s were definitely peak "mall." Long before online shopping was the norm, you had to spend hours wandering through the shops, hoping to find the perfect presents.
Who didn't love flipping through the CD book to look at lyrics and special notes from the artist? It was the freakin' best.
Retail shops that specialized in music used to be the ultimate hangout. Your whole Christmas shopping list could be tackled in one store.
Now, with the wonders of technology, pretending Santa is nearing your house is easy with Amazon Echo and websites like NORAD Santa Tracker. Back in the '90s, you just had to take your parents' word for it that Santa was getting close.
Those ugly sweaters you wear for irony now? Yeah, those were actually cool back in the day.