Christmas memories..

My mum had a bit too much sherry one year. She went off to whip the cream and came back laughing hysterically. The bowl had whizzed out of her hand and there was cream on all four walls of the kitchen, plus ceiling and floor. The dog had a great time

Years ago we used to help my mother in law pluck and draw 20 odd capons she would rear every year and which were given as Xmas gifts to various villagers and some kept in the freezer for special occasions. What freaks me is to canonised them we had to but little pellets of some thing in their necks at some point when they were being reared with a gadget and warned we shouldn't use the necks... for stock...!

We only used to have turkey if it was given to us in a hamper! My dad used to have one from his workplace and then later when he left that job, my brother used to give us the one from his hamper as his wife is vegetarian !
I remember one year that my parents went out visiting relatives and left me in charge of the Christmas dinner that was already in the oven. I got involved in watching a film on tv and when they got back, the turkey and veg were fine, but the pigs in blankets were cinders!
It took until Boxing Day for my mother to speak to me again!

I seem to remember my dad meeting someone late at night to buy a turkey he had put away.
Was there a black market in turkeys??
It may only have been about 4pm on a winter's evening, but it seemed late.

MissAdventure

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

With Daddy damning and blasting all the time he was putting those lights on the tree! My poor sister was roped in to help every year, while I was in the kitchen helping Mummy.

But the decorated tree was wonderful every year.

We had roast goose in the days when my grandparents, aunt, great-aunt were with us, and afterwards the smaller party had roast duck.

No disasters cooking - my mother was far too good a cook for anything remotely like a disaster to creep into her kitchen at Christmas.

Having parents of originally two different nationalities meant two Christmas dinners - the Danish one on Christmas Eve, followed by the tree and presents, and the British one on Christmas Day, which started with opening our Christmas stockings and dinner eaten at midday was followed by listening to the Queen's speech.

I still love Christmas, but have told DH long since that he puts the lights on the tree and the star and I cannot be bothered listening to him cursing. I then take over decorating the tree, and even although he is a marvellous cook, Christmas Dinner is the highlight of my culinary year, and there is no way anyone else is cooking it in this house. It is my Christmas fun.

My Dad had s butchers’ shop. His orders for turkeys never varied much but one year a supermarket , which were quite new in those days, opened not far away, We were left with lots of turkeys because theirs were cheaper than ours. Dad gave a few away to local needy families but had to freeze the rest. We were eating turkey until March and we took to making turkey gobbling noises whenever we were called in for dinner. ( The following two Christmas lunches were beef.)

Forgot to say: in Bradford where my father grew up, the baker wrote the customer's name on a wooden skewer that he put into the beasties he was roasting, so people got the right one back.

Calistemon

We used to have a capon.

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

We always had a capon which was something DH and I used to do as well but the smallest we could get was always bigger than we needed so we stopped.

Getting told off for watching Christmas Top Of The Pops instead of eating our dinner. Always liked the turkey and stuffing sandwiches better anyway. Stuffing our faces with Quality Street and holding the coloured paper up pretending we had a colour telly.

I had a schoolfriend whose family was pretty hard up. Every year, they received a F&M hamper from a relative who was an actress. Their modest house had quite the Christmas feast. However, the best bit for me was returning to school to swap my cheese-and-tomato sandwich for all sorts of exotic foods from said hamper, in her lunchbox, which she hated, but her frugal parents needed to use to make the January penny stretch further.

Boxing day bubble and squeak with cold cuts is the best meal

I just remember my poor mum in a mood because my sister and I used to go out to the local disco on Xmas Eve and then sit in front of a huge dinner my mum had slaved over unable to eat it because we were a little hungover.... nowadays I'm in bed by 10pm on Xmas Eve with a cuppa. Merry Christmas everyone

My father losing his temper once again and throwing the Christmas tree down the stairs (we lived in a top floor flat)
He hated Xmas with a passion until the day he died aged 92.

I love bubble and squeak.
I never have it now.

We had Capon not Turkey, and all the trimmings.Mum used to do the cooking helped my myself and my Brother. Dad went to the pub to have drinks with his mates and came home to a lovely fire roaring in the fireplace.I think after the dinner when we had listened to the Queens Speech, we played Monopoly which went in for days!
Those days in Liverpool I loved and will never forget.

We used to go to my nans on boxing day, and I loved that, too.
She always bought me the sort of present that I think mum and dad secretly disapproved of.

For a few years from 1945 my wife's parents always had a turkey in the parcel post from relatives in the Irish Republic. They used to send butter as well!

We also had Capon and guess what I have for tomorrow?

We kept chickens for their eggs but my parents were very hard up so my Dad asked an experienced neighbour to kill one of the chickens for Christmas dinner.

I spent the whole of Christmas Day sitting on the doorstep calling him a murderer. I must have been 5. I expect I ruined Christmas, but anyway, he never did it again.

Calistemon

Boxing day bubble and squeak with cold cuts is the best meal

Absolutely..... and with lots of pickles.

We always had a brace of ducks, a gift from a farmer uncle, proper farmyard ducks that had swum on ponds.

Mum used to partially cook them the night before, as she never thought they would be ‘done’. A wonder we never had food poisoning as we had no fridge, but they would rest in the cold pantry on Christmas Eve night.

She would also make ‘giblet pie’ which was Christmas Eve tea. As I recall, it was Mum’s rather thick pastry covering the heart, gizzard, neck of said ducks, not the liver as it was considered not good to eat, don’t know why. All in a watery stock. Not very appetising to us as children.

I remember my mother bought a Capon for Christmas Dinner as a very special treat and my ungrateful self feeling I didn't want to eat it because it smelled. Was that just me or did food smell stronger years ago I wonder.

We used to make ginger beer with a ginger beer plant, one Christmas the turkey was in the pantry and a bottle exploded leaving bits of glass all over the turkey, we spent most of Christmas Eve picking it all off, this was 60 years ago, happy memories with Mum and Dad

One year, the turkey must have let out more juice (?) than usual.
It spilled out into the oven overnight, and seeped all over the floor.
Mum went out there at some ungodly hour and slipped over.

I’m loving this thread already MissA and I’m only just up to EV! The one about the asthma attack brought on by feathers was SO funny (sorry bet it was awful at the time). I’m going to make a cuppa now then enjoy reading all the rest!
Perfect Christmas Eve entertainment MissA thank you.
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