These Louisville Christmas commercials let you relive the days of old, aka the '80s & '90s

Emma Austin | Courier Journal

Nothing screams "the holidays are here" like the endless stream of commercials advertising companies' products, each of which is "certain" to make the perfect gift for someone in your life.

Sometimes, it may feel like advertisements these days go for shock value, no matter how unrelated (see: the horrifying "Puppy Monkey Baby" circa Super Bowl 50). So, if you're feeling a little nostalgic this year and miss the family-focused times of yore, YouTube has a solution with three compilations of Louisville-area Christmas commercials from the golden years, aka the '80s and '90s.

This is what Christmas is made of: grandparents laughing with each other as they lovingly pack away tiny shoes for their fair isle sweater-wearing grandchildren to open with big smiles on Christmas morning.

Santa doing his last-minute shopping at Smith's Furniture, where he can "bring the excitement home" with a nice 19-inch television for $299.

Families finding "gifts that can last a lifetime" at Jefferson Mall, dressed all in white as Flav-O-Rich Dairy sponsors their Christmas dinner.

Lots of the commercials feature the Amazon Prime of the pre-internet era — department stores.

You probably couldn't get free two-day shipping, but local stores such as Bacon's, Snyder's and Lazarus were sure to have something for everyone on your list. Whether you're looking for a snow globe, a dollhouse, luggage, jewelry, bedazzled sweaters or sparkly dishware, a department store in the 1990s probably had it.

The commercials show that some things never change, like the irrational television advertising of perfume and cologne — when will we accept that the only sensible perfume ad is a scented magazine insert?

Read: Kentucky's new favorite Christmas candy is also one of the nation's worst ranked

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Louisville's now-closed alternative record store, Ear X-tacy, apparently was ahead of its time with an ASMR-esque commercial flickering quickly between images of raunchy album covers and the words "naughty, naughty" and "GIFT CERTIFICATES."

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention the five-second "Happy Hanukkah" blurb from WHAS-11, though almost every other commercial targets celebrators of Christmas, as it seems to be the only winter holiday to have morphed into focusing on gift giving and receiving.

Contact Emma Austin at eaustin@gannett.com and 502-582-4180 or follow on Twitter @emmacaustin. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.