When I was six years old I received the best gift ever for Christmas. It was the year I got an Easy Bake Oven.

I remember it like it was yesterday. My parents were always big on the magic of Christmas, especially my mom, so we always had a big Christmas tree that "Santa Claus" delivered and decorated. It would be standing near our big brick fireplace where four Christmas stockings, filled to the brim, would be hanging.

I was always the first up on Christmas morning, never actually falling asleep on Christmas Eve. I had run down the stairs into the family room, well ahead of my brothers or sister, where I knew the holiday trimmings and gifts would be on display. And there it was, shiny and new, a yellow Easy Bake Oven. I knew instantly it was for me. It had four little, round, silver pans, a plastic measuring spoon, mixes I could use with it, tiny tools for mixing, and a little cookbook with various recipes.

Of course, being six years old I couldnt play with the toy without the assistance of my mother or older brothers and sister. Eventually, however, by the time I was eight or nine I had mastered the fine art of "easy baking", and was allowed to create my own little delicacies any time I wanted. The nice thing about the Easy Bake oven, back in the day, was that handy little cookbook. You didn't have to rely only on boxes of mix provided by the toy company to make cakes or cookies. There were a number of easy to make recipes that only required the typical ingredients you would find in any kitchen. Made baking deliciously easy.

Easy Bake Oven was invented by Ronald Howes (who's other inventions include Play Dough and the Spin-o-Graph) and first introduced to the public in 1963 by the Kenner Company, Later editions of Easy Bake Oven and Snack Center have been produced the the Hasbro Company.

The Easy Bake Oven is a working toy oven which used an incandescent light bulb as a heat source, although later models would eventually incorporate a true heating element. It basically works with a batter (generally created with a mix and water) poured into one of the small pans included with the oven, which is pushed into the unit through one slot and then pushed out through another slot on the opposite side of the oven when baking was completed.

Easy Bake Oven was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2006

Naturally when my own daughters were around the ages of six and eight I insisted they must have an easy bake oven for Christmas. So my husband and I bought the "new and improved" version, that looked like a microwave oven. It had basically the same amount of clever little tools and mixes as the one I'd recieved in the early seventies with one slight exception.

No cookbook.

I guess the company had figured out over the years if you provide a way to make lovely little cakes and cookies without needing to buy a mix, why would anyone want to buy those they were providing. Gone was the cookbook and the only way to use the Easy Bake Oven was to buy sets of mixes. It was alright though, because the sets were under five dollars and my daughters had a wonderful time making their own special little treats.

Sadly, the version of the Easy Bake Oven I bought for my girls is now considered "vintage", which means the one I had is now an antique! Funny, I don't feel that old. No matter how you look at it, some toys are timeless. And despite the modifications or changes which are made over the years the childhood memories these beloved toys evoke are worth every penny.