Hankering over past times.

The only thing I miss about christmas is going to see my grandmother and handing her a present. When I first began work I used to give her a box of little items which I knew she would not buy for herself, such as special chocolates, perfume, a silk scarf and so on. I used to love watching her open them.

She said I was "difficult" to buy for so always gave me a cheque so I could choose my own gift. I always spent it on something special and took it to show her. When I became interested in antique jewellery (1960s) I would buy a new piece and be reminded of her when I wore them. Some of these pieces I still have.

I miss family gatherings on Christmas day.
But life moves on and i am glad i still remember them.
I would love my parents to be here,but that`s life.

I don’t hanker for the past in general, growing up in an unhappy family in an inner city two up two down.
I miss that feeling as a teenager, that I would probably live forever and the world was full of exciting possibilities. I still think there are exciting travel plans, but I won’t be here forever.
I’d like to return to the long summer holidays in the Cotswolds with my aunt, it truly was a paradise.
Now I’m so so grateful for MACHINES; having children with a washing machine, later a dishwasher, central heating, car and all the things which free up time for more interesting ventures.

Kate1949

Oh yes the dentist. He took all of my teeth out when I was 11. Life changing.

I really feel for you, my relation has battled with false teeth for so long. It must have been traumatic for you.

Buses trams and trains. Very good transport then and not many cars

I hanker for the Christmas of my childhood. The tree going up and being decorated was so exciting. My dear mum got all us children involved, The wonderful old decorations for the tree , I can still remember them clearly . There were paper decorations that unfolded as well and in the shapes of bells . Hung on the ceiling I seem to remember. And the excitement of the stocking hung on the end of the bed ! Filled with a satsuma and some sweets and a comic. The only time we had a satsuma!
It was so wonderful being a child at Christmas

Thank you Yammy. Yes traumatic indeed. A double blow when I lost all my hair a few years ago. That's life I suppose.

I think it's swings and roundabouts, as the saying goes.

On the whole, life seemed simpler, but then other things have become needlessly complicated.

It's great to have information at your fingertips on such things as an I-phone or a computer, OTOH we have become dependent on them and have maybe lost the human touch.

JaneJudge

oh yes, lighting the fire and lighting the fire to have a bath with bathwater that you'd have to share with someone else, a pan would be boiled to warm the water up a bit

You were lucky 😄 we never had a bath until I was 15.

God no! I do not hanker for the past and certainly not my childhood. I did not have a happy childhood and it crept in to my adulthood with a very unhappy marriage to the ex because I recreated my childhood in adulthood.

I guess if I could go back I would go back to when I met my 2nd husband in 2003 who changed my youngsters and I life for the good. Unfortunately he passed away 4 years ago unexpectedly. He was just 60. I class myself as a married widow.

Life was certainly not simpler in the past for me and millions like me.

Doing the voluntary work I do I hear alot about difficult childhoods. Things today that are not tolerated in society and were swept under the carpet back then.

I have a happy life today and certainly wouldn't want to go back any further than meeting my 2nd husband.

My 4 adult youngsters have good happy lives. I have 4 wonderful grandchildren I'm privileged to help bring up as I help with childcare.

I have alot of close decent friends from two fellowships I'm a member of.

Three of my four youngsters live abroad. We live in a day and age of tech so I talk through video call etc with them regularly. My daughter 3-,4 times a week since she had her first baby.

I get the best of both worlds with their lives. Fortunately, my eldest has stayed local and I help with my son and DiL 2 youngsters.

Not a chance I would go back

DH and I were sitting putting the world to rights yesterday as you do.
Both in early 70s come from very similar background family's lived hand to mouth ,had roast dinner yesterday small Iceland pork joint roast potatoes&3veg used duel air fryer for meat and potatoes, and Morphy Richards steamer for veg took total time 1 hour 10mins no standing over cooker for hours. We live a quite life through choice, we both new the struggles our family's had being eldest for me and his mum being widowed when he was 10. Would never go back, can have food in cupboards, and afford to heat house, still get a kick out of being able to have a biscuit any time I like

I think I have a reasonable balance in my life. I live simply on my narrow boat home...no central heating...but warm and cosy. I cut and split logs and cook everything from scratch... I even have to dispose of my own bodily waste once a week... This is all very much a way people used to live. BUT...I enjoy modern day living...tv, music, smart phone and laptop. I think it is all about balance in your life...appreciating past and present.

I had to sell my lovely house 8 years ago due to family problems and I miss that and the lovely family Christmases we had there. I miss the time I spent in our tiny council house before I was 12 when my lovely dad died at Christmas. Sad, poor times after that but mum tried to make Christmases good for her 4 children. I go to my DD on Christmas day now.

Like others, I miss family, especially at Christmas. There's only my sister and I now and she's the Grinch, she hates it and I know she only comes to mine so I'm not alone. My parents made Christmas so special for us as kids, we didn't have much, but it was lovely. We all played in the street with our friends showing off the presents that Santa had brought. Those were the days.
Nowadays I like having an iPhone, although I don't do fbook, Twitter, etc, just Gransnet so social media isn't an interest for me. I don't even have internet and just use my data on my phone. I still enjoy reading, having my dog to walk, my life's pretty simple.

I hanker for the heedless optimism and hope of youth! When you just KNEW that something wonderful was just around the corner and you would definitely make it so. Whether that was being a child looking forward to happy times at Christmas, a teen just knowing that your years ahead would lead to a better and exciting life, a young bride convinced that her marriage would be a fairytale with the obligatory happy ending. Being older you know this isn’t true! That there are tough times, unpleasant and downright sad experiences, loneliness and that life does not always turn out the way that you have worked hard and planned for. I am pretty happy most days, but sometimes have to really work to achieve it. That’s when I remember the joy and promise of youth. And, yes, I do hanker for it!

I do know life was hard when I was young. Never much money, no fancy clothes, hairdoes, nails. For Christmas I was in my 20s before there was a turkey on the table and there was 5 in the family. It was chicken usually. No pigs in blankets and the trimmings we expect nowadays. I can recall the crackers on the table though. Gifts were simple. One big gift or something dearly yearned for and a few bits in a stocking. I was fortunate in that I had a sister and brother who were 15 and 14 years older than me and they whilst living at home until marriage were able to give me a bit more presentwise especially my brother who was a professional footballer and even all those decades ago had more money than most. Without my siblings Christmas would have been really hard. Only this mirnibg I cringed at all the festive food (probably some needing to be frozen I imagine) in trolleys in a supermarket, why do we need so much? I do wonder why so much emphasis is placed on Christmas when churches are being sold off due to non attendance.

My only 'hankering' is for the HOPE we actually had back inthe sixties. Hope that, (provided the bomb was not used), things would actually improve for us 'little people'. Hope, that feels to me is no longer there and things get worse on everyday living.

I have similar memories of days working in the bank KittyLester & Calendargirl I remember the massive queues at lunch time especially on a Friday when people had to come in for cash for the weekend, a £10 cash withdrawal card was just starting to be introduced but was more for emergencies and not many branches had the cash machine facility.
I remember emptying the night safe on a Monday morning with the local shops Saturday takings, The pub landlords used to come in with big cloth bags of cash that stunk of beer and cigarettes, hated counting that. And yes we all had to stay until everything had balanced, no matter how late. The local factories would come in for large sums of cash for wage packets. Very few people had credit cards. We had to input everything into a great big computer terminal that chugged away with its golf ball printer all day. We all pulled together though and had some laughs along the way & some good staff nights out.
Do different now as hardly anyone uses cash and the few banks with branches in our local town only have a couple of staff. One of my old branches is now a hairdressers, another a cafe/bar.

One of our banks is now a food bank SachaMac , says it all really.
Like when the local baker became a funeral parlour.

I occasionally hanker for when we were younger and still god's to our daughters! Such happy times. Never miss my childhood, just glad my mum got to enjoy being a nanna for my girls. Have gorgeous grandchildren now and back to living near our girls, which is amazing but we are, of course, the older generation now. Hanker after being able to spring up from any position, even just being able to comfortably and elegantly sit and get up from the floor 🤣

God's? Pesky autocorrect

Life was definitely harder for ordinary folk but I think for many, it still is. Some things are better but I miss having a proper high street with shops and a bank instead of ATM and poundlands. I love a mooch in a charity shop but we have about 7, all raising money for great causes which should just be better funded. I really dislike the throwaway society we seem to have become. Cheap and mostly substandard goods from overseas. You only have to watch one of those programs that rescues things from the recycling places and upscales them to see the waste...some really lovely things are thrown away. Love the internet but hate how it's made us more vulnerable to scams etc. I despair at how violent and feral some parts of society have become and wish there was more investment in people to help level things up to stop this kind of behaviour and also actual deterrent for those who think it's okay to be serial robbers, thieves and cause harm to others. I love the medical advances but hate that they are denied to too many due to cost. I hate how litigious we have become, in some cases its justified, in others people want a fast buck. I think many have become so entitled.....'Its my right' has become a battle cry. I think

I miss the NHS of my youth. We lived in a village with two GPs, husband and wife. They made it their mission and life's work to provide the entire village with the best possible care. I clearly remember the lady doctor turning up for a home visit once when I had chicken pox because she knew I would be miserable and she was just passing by! I still live in the same village but now its seemingly impossible to access the GP surgery and I absolutely dread any of the family needing swift health care because I am certain it wont be available. However I dont at all miss the house I grew up in which was freezing cold, had no damp proof course and a flat roofed bathroom extension where ice regularly formed on the inside of the windows. I also remember being mind bogglingly bored as a child on days when the weather was poor and we were stuck inside. Those days seemed to be much more frequent too back in the 50s. Now I am never bored and highly value my computer, iPad and smartphone.

I do not hanker for the difficulties of my childhood and school days, but for my children and grandchildren, I regret they will never know the utter freedom I had as a child. Today it would be depicted as neglect, but it was glorious and taught me to be independent and resilient.

7 of us siblings, me the eldest. 5 girls in one large bedroom. Poor family by by golly didn`t we learn to make do and mend as well as glorious happy times, talking for hours while in bed. Aspirational parents, all became professionals. Much love and now all siblings are in contact via whatsapp, every single day. All 5 still married to their only loves and two of us widowed

Wonderful simple struggling lives, playing out safely because all neighbours kept an eye out. Twenty or more children out in the play street at once

Simple stuff but a heck of a struggle for our parents and a very difficult time for our mum to keep us fed and clothed on very little. No real distractions from digital stuff, we knew that work and study was the way out. My only hankering is for a simpler life with less useless noise