Christmas memories..

I remember our turkey arriving complete with feathers. My mum was plucking it and I was watching.
I then had a severe asthma attack and ended up in hospital. Didn't know at the time how allergic I was to feathers.
Happy start to Christmas that year ?

Then there was the Christmas lights every year.
Finding that one mysterious bulb that held the key to the whole set working.

We used to have a capon.

Perhaps turkeys hadn't been discovered when I was a child.

This was my wedding day many years ago. Lots of lovely memories of the most wonderful family gathering. We started comparatively formally then when we stopped for a refreshment break it was turned into a Christmas party by our bestman and the resident band. Great time was had by all.

I can remember dad bringing home the turkey on Christmas Eve still feathered and head dangling down. He used to stand with the crowds at St John's market in Liverpool and wait until they practically gave them away Twenty five bob is what he'd paid for one.

Mum used to be ready in the back kitchen, newspapers spread on the floor her pinny on, sleeves rolled up and ready for plucking after dad had chopped the head off. After " drawing " and cleaning it went into the oven to do slowly all night before mum was up at the crack of dawn. It was always cooked to perfection and cooled down in the pantry until dinner was served. Giblets were kept for gravy, then the cat had a treat.

We had wonderful Christmas's. The " rare " front room was used with a big fire up the chimney, it was magic.

Did you wear festive colours, Kim?
My friend who got married around now wore deep green, with a headband thing of ivy and berries.
It was lovely!

My grandmother told me that the local baker used to fire up his ovens on Christmas Day and many people used to take their turkeys there to be cooked. I often wondered how they worked out which belonged to which family, not too mention the different times different sizes would take to cook!

I remember my Mum’s anxiety during Christmas week waiting for our turkey to arrive in the post from my grandparents in Ireland. Amazingly it always arrived with a couple of days to spare, much to the relief of my Mum.

My grandparents plucked it, wrapped it brown paper and tied it with string for the journey. Grandpa cycled 8 miles from their small farm to the post office with the turkey on the bike carrier. It travelled from there by train and then an overnight boat journey. One year it arrived with the brown paper soggy and torn and a leg poking out!

We didn’t have a fridge in the 60’s and my Mum paid the local butcher a nominal amount to store it for us till Christmas Eve. Looking back it’s surprising we escaped a dose of food poisoning.

My mum always had the turkey liver from the giblets on toast on Christmas morning!

Oooh, ergh!

We got our turkey from a farm down the road - we lived in the countryside - when I was a child. On Christmas Eve I think, or may have been a day or two before, my Dad took us with him to collect it. It was only a small farm so probably no more than 50 turkeys all together. We only had a small oven and on more than one occasion my dad was found outside sawing the legs off to get it to fit in. Happy days.

Our Xmas dinner was a chicken sent to our local station ( Woolwich) by my mum’s brother a farmer in Leyton Buzzard.

Trisha57

My mum always had the turkey liver from the giblets on toast on Christmas morning!

I used to boil them for gravy stock and my MIL used to hover around me waiting for me to drain the pan to take them away and eat them!

I think my dad may have eaten the liver.
Not the parson's nose.

Like many families we never had any money. One year my mother ordered a turkey from a mail order catalogue so she could pay weekly. It arrived in Boxing Day and someone had written 'Ha ha' on the wrapper

Did it have a turkey in the wrapper?
I'm hoping there was something?

I used to love the giblets and I preferred the leg rather than the breast of the turkey. I think ours came from the local butchers but being in Scotland it would have come from a local farm.

Yes MissA a turkey but a day late.

We used to give my dad the legs and dark meat.
I assume it was his choice.... never thought to ask.

My DF used to get our turkeys direct from the farm, feathered, heads still on, the whole shebang.
DF chased me around the house every year with the turkey feet, opening and closing them by the attached tendons!
The giblets were used for the gravy, but never the liver as DM said it made the gravy taste 'odd'. DF would briefly flash the liver under the grill and spread it on toast!
As soon as the turkey emerged from the oven, there was a race between my parents to get to the Parson's nose first!
One year, the Turkey was 'resting' on top of the fridge (does anyone here remember gas fridges? Ours was cream coloured, tall, with a lever door handle and the gas vent was at the back right corner of the top) when we heard a crash, and the dog and cat dashed into the breakfast room as though their tails were on fire. Us three humans ran into the kitchen to find the turkey on the floor, Mum's best meat platter smashed to pieces beside it, and cat and dog paw prints all over the floor!
We never found out who knocked the turkey off the fridge, the cat wasn't big or strong enough, and the dog (or so we thought) couldn't climb or jump that high.
Turkey was picked up, rinsed under a very hot tap, and served up as usual and was delicious!

Did you also find one person had the wishbone in with their meat?
Was it saved to dry out out before snapping it?
What a strange old tradition, really.

We used to fight over the wishbone. There were 6 of us kids.

We had a pulley on the kitchen ceiling for drying the washing and the wishbone was left up there for a few hours till it dried out. Then it was pinkies at the ready to snap it.

The Christmas pudding steaming and steaming and steaming and …………