An old fashioned Christmas. 🌲🎄

I can’t ever remember having a real Christmas tree. Mum bought a tiny artificial tree which in those days looked pretty sparse. It was only about 2 ft high and was on a red block of wood but we used it on a table for years. We put decorations and chocolates on it and it looked nice enough.

We always had a good Christmas mainly because Mum was a great budgeter (she had to be as we were not well off) and a great cook. We had lovely homemade food over the festive period.

We had a real fire in the front room and we all used to try and get as close as we could as the winters were very cold indeed.

I used to be sent out to gather holly with berries and for some reason we poked it into the top of pictures on the wall. Mum always put loads of scraps out for the birds.

Like a lot of kids we didn’t get many presents but we really appreciated them. Selection box, books, crayons, pencil cases, new handknitted jumper or gloves or hat. In those days you didn’t ask for things like kids do today.

moggiek

Every December 1st I settle down for the afternoon with the DVD of BoD and a box of Maltesers. Watch all of the episodes and finish the chocolates. Bliss!

Sounds like the best afternoon ever 👍🏻

Supernana1
My Father also died in January aged 49 .
This was in 1949 and I was 11 and an only child.
It affected Christmas after that really until I married when I could create my own version of Christmas in my own home.
I hope very much you have not let it affect you too much.

Sorry!! Box of Delights.

I have just watched Episode 6, watched over 3 days.
It was as wonderful and nostalgic as ever.

Oh Esmay,there has to be an alternative,even if you spend it alone.Get food you like ,buy yourself a present( using the money you would have spent on the ungratefuls next door),watched your favourite programmes,pretend it’s an ordinary day.If you are near the Peak District ,come to me.

Remember Christmas in the sixties as a child. It was very ordinary similar to many of the posts on this thread.

Was begining to become overly commercialised even then according to my father.

But nowhere near the Monster it has now become. Awful Spend, Eat and Drink Fest.

However at our house the big thing at Yule Tide was New Year. Cue BBC Television.

And now from BBC Scotland. To celebrate Hogmanay.

We visit the White Heather Club

Kenneth McKellar, Moira Anderson,
Jimmy Shandy. Auld Lang Syne and the unforgettable Andy Stewart. As in Donald Where's Your Trewsers! We loved it.

Mum made tons of meat and potato stews with crusts on them with red cabbage. All her relatives piled round and drank bottled beer from crates. Shandy for the ladies, lemonade for the kids

Us kids would then do the first foot in with the neighbours. Go around a few minutes after Midnight. Knock on their front doors and give them some slices of bread and a large piece of coal.

So, hopefully they would always be fed and warm in the. New Year.

New Year celebrations are barely acknowledged nowadays.

Loving and great Christmas memories for me.

😻🎇🎉
Xxx

Sorry to read of your very sad Christmas memory Supernana1. That must have been a tough time for you.

Lovely reading all these Christmas memories. I remember as a child in the 50’s my Mum would anxiously await the arrival of a turkey from her parents small farm in the west of Ireland. Grandpa would wrap it up in brown paper, tie it with string and secure the string knots with melted candle wax then send it in the post.

I remember in the final week or so before Christmas there would be multiple deliveries per day. A van would appear in the street, several postmen would jump out and hurry round the doors with parcels. My Mum’s heart would sink if the van left and still no turkey. But there was never a year it didn’t arrive by Christmas Eve at the latest.

We didn’t have a fridge and amazingly after the fresh turkey travelled by train and boat we never once had food poisoning . If it arrived a few days early the local butcher used to store it in his fridge for us. I remember one year it arrived with the brown paper damp and torn and the turkey’s large claws were poking through!

My dad used to chop the claws off it and pull on the tendons and make the claws move. We were easily entertained back then 😆

Supernana1. That is such a sad memory. No wonder Christmas was not the same for you after that. I agree the magic isn't there anymore. I have no grandchildren so I dont know how children view Chrisrmas. My childhood Christmases were simple and low key. And our children's were as magical as we could make them until one year something prerry awful happened..not a death...and after that it was never quite the same for me although we still tried our best.

I'm a bit 'bah humbug' about Christmas, but I think it goes back to when I was 13, the eldest of three daughters.

My parents put a lot of effort into Christmas - chains hung from corners to centre, fat red candle on the table, tree loaded with decorations -we had it all. Plus a sheepskin rug which was only put on the floor in front of the fire on Christmas day, and we'd sit on it to open our Santa presents.

Then dinner (after Mass) - turkey, ham, the lot. Our Christmas cake was always made by Mam and decorated by Dad - it was a job he loved and he made a lovely job of it.

But then when I was 13 Dad spent Christmas in hospital, so we went to my aunt's house for dinner instead. What a difference - Mam of course was worried sick and there was no lovely Christmas atmosphere. My aunt and uncle weren't warm people and even though I was young I had the feeling they didn't really want us there. Couldn't wait till it was all over.

And then in January Dad died at the age of 49. I've a feeling maybe that's why I'm a bit of a 'bah humbug' ever since.

Or maybe I'm just a grump!

But I always feel that the magic of Christmas back then (with the visits to Santa in several department stores) is missing for children now, which is such a pity. We were innocent and accepting, so grateful for everything we got, no matter how small.

Lovely memories.

Tuinoma, decades ago my sister and family happened to be living in Abu Dhabi at the same time as us. Through her dh’s job, her family was invited to the Dutch contingent’s Sinterklaas arrival at the port.

He arrived in a genuine Arab dhow. My sister’s son was only about 3 at the time, and apparently he’d been a little bugger all day, and someone had told him about Black Peter taking the naughty children away!
Sister told me that he was hiding behind her the whole time!

We enjoy the Christmas season, and this is a most enjoyable Thread.
When my youngsters grew up, I said, 'So you won't need stocking now?'
We still do stockings. Little tiny ones that Mum knitted for them. Easy to fill.
Will keep coming back to read about your versions. 🎄 🤶

I still remember the music from the “Box of Delights” - the Carol Symphony, if I remember correctly - haunting and magical - so fitting for the story.

keepingquiet

I remember watching it but soon went off it as I thought it was a bit posh for posh people.

I agree about the magic of Chrsitmas though- for me it still lies in the music which can transport me back to childhood in just a few notes...

This - especially when children are singing

Apart from the commercialisation, etc, the joy of Christmas has disappeared for us, because we became Adults and had the responsibility of all the cards. Presents, decs and food, etc, etc, etc. There may be those amongst us who love organising it all, and it was fun whilst kids were small and we had abundant energies… but once the kids grow and we have other jobs… and grow older and tireder, the joy fades. Lovely to see Grandchildren enjoying it, but they are in Japan. I had enough of everything else, and doing all the cards, gifts etc, has become a real chore. Last couple of years I deliberately spent it on my own … I was exhausted having sent off all the cards, gifts, etc to Japan. Canada, other parts of the UK … it was nice to have some rest days! I am still self- employed and working part time from home, and, at 80 next year, Christmas is just another day. I will Face Time with family… and cook myself a small version of Christmas dinner. Happily watch TV or read, etc. Then heave a sigh of relief on Boxing Day that ‘it’ was over!
Not just a case of Nostalgia, but a case of growing up!

Esmay

I have to admit that the Christmasses of my childhood weren't magic.
My mother hated the season and complained a great deal about the chaos and expense.

I tried to give my childhood wonderful memorable Christmasses .

I've spent the last three Christmas days with my neighbours.
They are a family ,who are continually at war with each other .
They never stop complaining about each other continuing this habit throughout the year .
If invited,I'll spend most of Christmas day waiting for the lunch .
It is always burnt and almost stone cold .
The grown up daughters sit around the table glued to their phones and wanting to be elsewhere.
Gifts that I buy for them aren't even acknowledged with a bat of the eyelid.
Their faces faces remain impassive.
Their parents don't speak to each other .
I usually sit drinking wine with the husband who is completely ignored by the rest of his family .
I make attempts at conversation and feel like a court jester with bells on my hat.

That sounds horrible. Better on your own with a few treats !

Every December 1st I settle down for the afternoon with the DVD of BoD and a box of Maltesers. Watch all of the episodes and finish the chocolates. Bliss!

In Holland we had the present giving part on the eve of the 5th of dec. called Sinterklaas avond.
Saint Nichas day was the 6th.
No tradition of father xmas.
Sinterklaas on his white horse arrived each year by boat in Amsterdam from Spain with a lot of helpers called Zwarte Pieten, or Black Peters.
No thoughts of sexism or racism then! There then was a lead up of a few weeks during which we each used to put our shoe before the stove a cple of nights a week, filled with a carrot for the horse and a crust of bread with some water. Zwarte Piet came down the chimney during the night, but only if you'd sung your Sinterklaas songs, and something small might be in your shoe in the morning, a colouring book or some special marsipan sweets or a satsuma but if you'd been bad you found a roe in your shoe, a small bundle of sticks tied together, like an old fashioned brush.
Sometimes zwarte Piet came to our house and there would be a loud banging on the front door then the door of the room we were in wld open a crack and a hand (black or gloved!) would appear filled with pepernoten, special Sinterklaas biscuits a bit like ginger nuts. This would then be thrown into the room, with great force, the harder the better....oh the suspence of it. . That was zwarte piet's job. Oh and he came down the chimney at night....it was such a given that nobody i knew ever asked how zwarte Piet managed that feat!

Just to say….I’ve really enjoyed all your Christmas nostalgia stories

WelshPoppy

My everlasting memory of a Christmas back then was 1960, I was three and a half. Went to bed on Christmas Eve, house not decorated. Woke up on Christmas morning to a stocking on my bed which contained a small tin plate 'musical box' which I loved although it wasn't very tuneful 😂. When my Dad carried me downstairs into the front room I couldn't believe my eyes. There was a decorated Christmas tree, decorations hanging from the ceiling, Christmas cards on the mantlepiece and presents around the tree. My parents must have worked like crazy to do this. It was the first year my parents had rented the whole house rather than just the first floor so it was a special time for all of us.

We still do that now. It was a tradition in my husbands family which I loved and we kept up. It was always a bit of a struggle waiting for our little one to be sound asleep before we started, but worth it to see his face on Christmas morning. We continue to do the same, and much to our delight that little one who is now all grown up with a family of his own does do too, and his children love the idea that Father Christmas came and the house was magically decorated.

Usedtobeblonde

Talking of presents in the pillowcase, who else had a John Bull printing set, so every new book and any bit of paper has a crooked inscription in it?
Also a miniature toy sewing machine, alas it never gave me a taste for sewing if any kind.

Reading through posts with interest, until I saw this one which took me right back to my childhood. I loved my John Bull printing set. Also had the miniature sewing machine one year, I remember my Great Aunt showing me how to make dolls clothes. That same Aunt provided a complete set of knitted clothes for my baby doll each year too. I still knit and sew myself based on her lessons. Everything was very busy in our home right up to late Christmas eve as parents had a shop and were busy making sure everyone got their Christmas orders. On Christmas Day, after opening presents it was churh, then lunch. In the afternoon my Dad would always give me what I used to think was the biggest box of chocolates ever, always with a beautiful picture on the lid. The Father Christmas presents were always in a pillowcase at the end of my bed, but the chocolates were most definitely from my lovely Dad.

Anyone else remember getting a Dymo label printer?
Not exactly a toy really but I remember twirling the dial to name things that really didn't need a label!

Esmay

I have to admit that the Christmasses of my childhood weren't magic.
My mother hated the season and complained a great deal about the chaos and expense.

I tried to give my childhood wonderful memorable Christmasses .

I've spent the last three Christmas days with my neighbours.
They are a family ,who are continually at war with each other .
They never stop complaining about each other continuing this habit throughout the year .
If invited,I'll spend most of Christmas day waiting for the lunch .
It is always burnt and almost stone cold .
The grown up daughters sit around the table glued to their phones and wanting to be elsewhere.
Gifts that I buy for them aren't even acknowledged with a bat of the eyelid.
Their faces faces remain impassive.
Their parents don't speak to each other .
I usually sit drinking wine with the husband who is completely ignored by the rest of his family .
I make attempts at conversation and feel like a court jester with bells on my hat.

Sorry, but why? I would rather do my own thing, my own way, than sit amongst neighbours who are so unpleasant, and try to eat a stone cold meal as well.

I love The Box of Delights, so very atmospheric.I loved our family Christmases in the 50s , with all the cousins. My nan made the Christmas puddings and my mum and the aunties all contributed something to the meal. We only had mince pies at Christmas so they were a treat. Presents were very modest, I still have the dolls house my dad made. It's a long run up to Christmas now I agree, though I do enjoy it. The grandchildren love going to Christmas at Kew and its a tradition that I have to go down the helter-skelter skelter( I'm 76!)
I used to love going to midnight Mass but haven't been recently. I'm sceptical about religion now, but also miss it.