What was going on when I was born?

December, with its long spells of springlike weather, was a cruel month for the ski areas of the Northeast. Yet those winter resorts that could offer their patrons season-defying alternatives, such as volleyball or sunbathing, report that they fared reasonably well. After having suffered through three poor seasons in the last four, ski operators had been hoping for a cold winter to bring a turn in their fortunes. But December's warmth has meant a bad start to this season, too.

The price of gold fell briefly below $300 an ounce in London trading yesterday, its first drop below that critical psychological level in a major market since June 1982, during the worldwide recession. Although the price later moved back above $300 in London and never fell below that in New York, analysts said they thought gold might drop as low as $260 an ounce in the near future. ''We're knocking on the door to a real breakthrough below 300,'' said Michael D. Kelley, vice president of the Prudential-Bache Metal Company, a dealer in precious metals. ''It seems to me that we'll have to see some selling,'' said Peter Feuerstein, an economist at the Chase Manhattan Bank who specializes in gold and foreign exchange. But, he said, ''I don't see a dramatic decline in the next six months, maybe to the low 290's.''

THOMAS EDISON brings electric lights to New York, looming like King Kong over miniature Manhattan buildings and streets. Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm. A self-taught surgeon wields tiny scalpels and sponges in an operating room of grisly reality. This is the world of Theodora Skipitares: sculptor, set and costume designer, and now puppeteer. Sometimes her world brings to mind the cartoonlike art environments of Red Grooms or the eerily surreal waxworks of Madame Tussaud; at other times it resembles Japan's venerable Bunraku puppet performances or tabletop museum tableaux. Last night was the premiere of her complete ''Age of Invention,'' a 90-minute trilogy of plays about the American spirit of ingenuity. ''Age'' will run through Jan. 20 at the Theater for the New City on Second Avenue near 10th Street.

Investors who played it safe in 1984 by buying mutual funds that emphasized dividend and interest income and conservative stocks had good reason to celebrate on New Year's Eve. It was a year when the economy slowed down faster than the experts expected, and company earnings in general failed to meet analyst predictions. The funds that climbed the most were those that invested in bonds and the common stock of electric utilities, regional Bell Telephone operating companies and other businesses that benefited from a decline in interest rates. Topping the list of best-performing funds for the fourth quarter, or for the year as a whole, were the likes of The General Electric Long Term Interest Fund, Prudential-Bache Utilities Fund and Vanguard Qualified Dividend Portfolio 1.

''I condemn, in the strongest terms, those individuals who perpetrate these and all such violent, anarchist activities'' - President Reagan on bombings of abortion clinics. (A1:3.)

ASK any musician who plies the international circuit the location of the music capital of the world. The immediate answer, almost a conditioned reflex, will be ''New York.'' Then there is a pause. ''Well, maybe London, also.'' After that, there is no discussion. No other city approaches them. ''Yes,'' says Isaac Stern. ''There is a great deal of music in London, much of it on the highest international standard. But there is no comparison. London has nowhere near the numbers and quality to be found in New York.''

President Reagan proposed today that the United States spend an extra $411 million on food aid for Africa, an amount that would bring total American Government assistance for famine victims to more than $1 billion. The President, in a statement issued by the White House, warned that ''hunger and extreme malnutrition'' threaten more than 14 million people in Africa. ''Even with all our country has already done to feed the starving,'' he said, ''more - much more - must be accomplished by our nation in the months ahead to meet this challenge.'' Emphasis on Capitalism Mr. Reagan also proposed a ''Food for Progress'' program for Africa that he said would funnel United States aid specifically to countries willing to adopt modern, capitalistic agricultural techniques. He and other Reagan Administration officials have long maintained that Africa's food problems are the result not only of one of the worst droughts in modern memory but also of socialist economies that emphasize industrial, urban development instead of strengthening food production and assuring that farmers are well-paid.

Friday HISTORY BETWEEN COVERS People with a taste for literary history, or anyone interested in the ways man has put words to paper over the centuries, may want to drop in on the new museum at Columbia University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the Morningside Heights campus. Visitors will be able to peruse exhibits that range from 15th- century Latin verse to the sheets on which a young Allen Ginsberg first typed his confessional outpouring about ''Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo'' in the 1956 poem ''Howl.'' In all, there are 150 rare items from the library's holdings on the sixth floor of Butler Library, which is open from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. weekdays. There is no admission charge. AN 18TH-CENTURY EVENING The scene will be something like a cozy winter evening in the late 18th century tonight at the Van Cortlandt Manor, a stately manor house in Tarrytown, N.Y.

Under tight security, Bernhard Hugo Goetz was returned to Manhattan yesterday and charged with attempted murder in the shooting of four teen-agers on an IRT subway train. He was held in $50,000 cash bail and placed in protective custody at Rikers Island. In granting the prosecution's request for the bail, Judge Leslie C. Snyder of Criminal Court called it low. The District Attorney's office said it was appropriate.

President Reagan today condemned the recent rash of bombings at abortion clinics around the country as ''violent, anarchist activities'' and pledged to see that the perpetrators were brought to justice. He did not order any change in the way the inquiry was being pursued. Mr. Reagan's remarks, in a statement released by the White House, were his first on the series of attacks on legal abortion clinics in two years. The Administration has been faced with growing criticism from abortion rights and civil liberties groups who have accused Federal officials of not vigorously investigating the attacks. In its statement today, the White House added its voice to other Administration assurances that all the necessary steps were being taken to stop such incidents.

THE holiday season may seem to have come to a close New Year's Day. But there's more celebrating to be done this weekend, which marks the Epiphany or ''Little Christmas'' on Sunday, 12 days after Christmas, and Twelfth Night or the eve of the Epiphany tomorrow. The commemoration of the visit of the Three Wise Men or Magi to adore the newborn Jesus, the Epiphany is actually a far older feast than Christmas, and in some cultures a more important holy day. Here in New York, eight organizations will be celebrating the feast. The activities get off to an early start today with El Museo del Barrio's eighth annual Three Kings Day Parade, which begins at 10:30 at the museum, Fifth Avenue and 104th Street. There, children dressed in costumes of their own design will begin the march, in the company of three camels, six sheep and donkeys, as well as larger-than-life figures of Mary, Joseph, a shepherd and the Three Kings, one of them a new sculpture by Rosalie Quintana commissioned by the museum.

Baker Instruments Corp., Allentown, Pa., a subsidiary of Richardson-Vicks Inc., has appointed Gene E. Lewis president. * Bradford Exchange, Chicago, trading center and marketer of limited- edition collectors' plates, has named Richard W. Tinberg president and chief executive officer.