Memories of Christmas when you were growing up ?

I've been pondering on my initial post and although Christmas Day at home was often grim I do have some happy childhood memories from around Christmastime.

I loved it when the school preparations started; wintry Christmas scenes were painted on the classroom windows (I used to really enjoy those scenes, which were always beautifully painted) and there was always a frisson of excitement in the air. We had a party and played games in the classroom and the food was provided by the school, so it was a proper feast of delights. (I was almost obsessed with food as a child - there was never enough of it.)

My grandparents belonged to the British Legion who used to take the children/grandchildren of members to the circus or the pantomime and give us a goody bag of treats and a packed lunch. Both my nana and grandad worked in factories and we usually went along to some sort of outing or party for the children/grandchildren of the workers.

Our Christmases were much the same as those above. I keep having a little giggle to myself whilst reading, thinking : we did that; we had that; I remember them etc.

When we were quite small our Maternal Gran used to have a Christmas Eve Party for her 12 children, (they would all chip in) their families and friends and my sisters and I used to sleep upstairs whilst this was going on. In the morning we would open some of our presents , and raid the buffet table of left-overs for breakfast, sausage roll, salami, trifle - in no particular order!

Does anybody remember those huge paint sets that came in a tin case? And little soaps shaped like animals?

Mum would make Christmas dinner, and there were always so many people that came, we had to have separate sittings!

Craft granny,Yes I do remember the paint tins Crimson lake springs to mind as the red one..you had to be careful to clean your brush otherwise your colours would go all muddy looking.So many memories on here I had forgotten about the paper chains ,we also had blobs of cotton wool along the branches of our artificial tree...happy innocent days of a lovely family time until I got married at 26 then it went pear shaped.

I usually started to get exited when we lit the first advent candle at Sunday school, then the carol services, my dads work’s party where Father Christmas used to come.

Christmas was the same every year, my grandparents for Christmas Day, us going to them on Boxing Day, before lunch we always went to watch the hunt.

We weren’t rich by any means, but we always got a nice present, and my gran would play with me and my dolls, for some reason my granny thought Port and lemonade was a suitable Christmas drink for children, so we were probably a bit sqiffy!

We used to choose our presents from a catalogue called Dyson and Horsefall , or something like that. One year mine didn’t turn up, and late Christmas Eve my dad had to race me down to the toy shop to choose another one. I really didn’t see how it was going to get to Father Christmas in time for him to deliver it! But he did!

circa 1956 - our cat run up the real Christmas tree, covered with glass baubles and real candles, which had just been put up and decorated with my two brothers. Everything smashed and I was heart broken- all shops closed on 24th Dec. so went knocking on doors, begging. In the end, I rang the bell at a small grocer's shop at the other end of the village, owned and run by 2 spinsters. One of them made me a hot chocolate whilst the other went to the attic and brought down a big box of baubles- and I ran all the way home having 'saved the family Christmas'. I met one of them, in her late 90s- recently (her sister died years ago) and she remind me, with tears in her eyes. Passed away too- and I was one of very few at her funeral- bless her.

I had happy Christmas's before things changed when I was 11. Before then it was Mum, Auntie and Granma and me. I would go to a carol concert before The Big Day, with Granma.

Originally from Leicester, we would have a Melton Mowbray pork pie sent down and have some for breakfast.

In my pillow case there would be an orange and some nuts, a selection box or chocolate tool kit or a sugar mouse/pig [didn't like them much]. Also there would be a French knitting set or a weaving loom or paints/crayons or a plastic model...and books. I would read my new Famous Five/Billy Bunter/Jennings and Darbyshire/Cherry Ames book or Rupert Bear/Beano/Dandy annual in the evening after tea, in front of the fire. One year I had a bus conductors kit and loved that! Always wanted a scooter but didn't get one...however the year I got a pair of skates was a good one.

We would always have a capon for the Christmas dinner. There would be unshelled nuts, Newberry fruits, Turkish Delight, dates, figs and fruit on the sideboard. Mum would always have some crystalized ginger...I thought it was awful.

We had an artificial tree with real candles on the end of each branch and simple decorations. It was a lovely, peaceful day for us all and I remember feeling very safe and happy.

In the days afterwards we would go to the Pantomime, an extra treat to make the holidays special. Happy Days.

Granddad lying under the beer barrel tap with open mouth.
Parlour games with my lively dad as MC.....In my basket....old Macdonald ....charades.
Being woken by firemen at Aunty Peggy s. ...fire had dropped into cellar.
Knocking my cousin's doll's teeth back into its mouth. My doll only walked. Hers walked AND had teeth.
Sitting in best room with tin of Quality Street and picking out all of the praline cracknels. Seeing father Christmas and reindeer from window. I know u did.
My dad making a fairy 'fly ' from top of tree and out of the window. I believed this was real for years.

I was born in 1946.

Christmas Eve for me was the smell of the Christmas tree, and dancing in front of a big green bauble watching myself in its reflection.

Sitting by the fire after our bath, eating a big bowl of bread and milk before bed. Putting up a pristine pillow case and clambering into bed with a hot water bottle.

Christmas Day was an early start opening all the presents usually a doll. One year a toy post office another year a sweet shop. Books the obligatory Blyton but Chicks Own annual Rupert and those adorable annuals (I forget the authoress) with chubby babies and fairies. Later the Girl annual.
Then breakfast before church in a new outfit. My coat and bonnet matching with a sort of tie thing under my chin.

Christmas lunch usually a capon with usual vegetables and christmas pudding. Afternoons were sitting by the fire or singing carols with someone playing the piano.
Early bed?

Boxing Day seemed to be a day for the adults. The card tables were set up for the evening and everyone seemed to have a jolly time with cold buffet type food. We children played with our toys. We also went out for a “good walk” with Dad after lunch and before the family turned up.

We kept up most of those traditions with our family except no one plays cards any more which I think is a shame. Television has taken over. Although the family still get together on Boxing Day.

We still go out for the obligatory walk though, but now with all the dogs in the family. (4)

Whitewavemark

Are you thinking of Mabel Lucie Atwell, with plump children and elves and fairies?
I loved those books. I was recently in a second hand bookshop with a huge children’s section, but I couldn’t find any.

Yes thank you? They were adorable weren’t they?

Gorgeous

I loved it, such a lovely homey time, me and my 6 siblings,mum and dad. They used to save up in a christmas club and get a hamper delivered. We were a poor family but all the tops were pulled out for the two days of christmas, starting with midnight mass.

Warm, cosy, paperchains, treats but not like these days, hm sausage rolls and mince pies, nuts with shells on. A capon for dinner, christmas pud, gammon ham and picalilli sandwiches at teatime. I remember being so excited when I got a sweet shop in a box and the cardboard doll with tabbed paper clothes. Etch a sketch one year. I don`t know how my parents managed to save for presents but there was always a mound of parcels under the tree when we came down in the morning

Those of us who have these delightful memories, we are very lucky to have been so loved

Oh yes, those awful bonnets that matched your best winter coat (with velvet collar) with the thing under the chin that irritated, whitewave!!

Always bubble and squeak with cold turkey, cold ham and leftover little sausages on Christmas Day.

It was the only time we had dates - and they used to be in containers that could be turned into pencil cases! Yes, Newbury Fruits too - another real treat. Thank you letters had to be written within days of Christmas.

Small presents, a sugar mouse,a slinky spring. Best present was a musical jewellery box with a dancing ballerina and a painting of Mount Fuji on.
Mum and I going through the motions while the spectre that was my dad hovered around , waiting until it was time to get ready to go dancing with his latest fancy woman. I can see him now, stood in front of the room mirror, pencilling in his grey moustache with black eyeliner pencil.
Fast forward to later that evening when my lovely mum and I would sit in firelight eating Jamaica rum and raisin chocolate bars, making each other laugh.
Mixed feelings about Christmasses of my childhood.
Beautiful five weeks young granddaughter joining our small family this year, I just can't wait.

What a lovely topic. Reminded me of my Tressy doll. My friends had Sindy. Newberry Fruits. Mum was always bought a big box of chocs called Mon Cheri. Dates and nuts to crack. Searching the wardrobe for presents.
I don't know how they found the money for our toys. Eight siblings! Dad worked for the local Power Station and sometimes worked Christmas Day. We had to wait dinner for him at 3pm.
Mum was a great cook. Making us mince pies, sausage rolls, Xmas pud and Xmas cake. Had lots of ornaments on the cake.
Best remembered presents roller skates, toy record player with 6 records, big bride doll I had been admiring in a shop window for ages.
Loved playing boxed games with my older brothers. Totopoly was a good one. Monopoly caused arguments! Remember the boys having big white bazooka guns one year. Running round the house firing big plastic bullets. Never realised how lucky we were to have each other. Too busy arguing half the time!loo
Having Xmas Carol concerts at school and church. Lovely community we had.
Christmas parties at the power station club and pantomime at the London Palladium. Mary Hopkins and Tommy Steele starred in Cinderella. Those were the days my friend, her hit record.
I don't think we thought of ourselves as poor. No benefits in those days only a small family allowance. None for a first child, reduced amount for a second child. People are so lucky these days and they still complain!

My DD had a Tressy doll

I had a Sindy doll, the auburn haired one, and I saved up and bought her little sister, who I think was called Patch. My friend had Tressy.

Lots of memories brought to mind, reading these comments. The Christmas before I turned 10, I hoped for a pretty doll in the local toy shop window. I remember my mum asking me if I would like a real baby at Christmas. My baby brother was born on the 23 December, at home. (I got my doll too!)

I was an only child. On a cold mid-December evening, my dad would take me by the hand and we would go out to pick the finest Christmas tree we could find. I can still remember the smell of Douglas Fir, the mess of pine needles all over the front hall and how the sap off the tree scented our entire house. After dad did the 'electrical', my mom and I would hang the decorations. I remember our Christmas lights were the kind that bubbled when they got hot and I thought the silver strands of tinsel were absolutely gorgeous!

What wonderful Christmas memories, so magical, I am feeling all nostalic now! :-)

I don’t really remember much about Christmas. I remember putting the pillowcase at the end of the bed, and being very excited about my Dansette record player, then my transistor radio the next year. All my presents came from Santa, but I presume the grannies and aunties contributed. My mother used to babysit for a neighbour, and I remember getting Avon ‘ Here’s My Heart’ perfume from her, and feeling very grown up! Dinner was always a capon cooked by my father, as was every ‘big dinner’. The tale was often told of the year I got a twin pram, when I allegedly said that I now had two, as there was one on top of granny’s wardrobe.

The first Christmas's I remember were always at my maternal grandparent's house.We would walk from our house, a short distance away with the presents we had received at home ,after dinner. My grandparents always had the coal fire in ''the room'' as my grandma called her front room, which was only used on special occasions. My grandpa always smoked cigars on Christmas Day, and even now when I smell cigar smoke it reminds me of happy childhood Christmas's.
We would get more presents and a tea with home made cakes and cold meat.The adults would drink and smoke while we played with our new toys.
When we got older and lived in a house which was a bit further away, my grandparents came to us on Christmas Day.
There was a bus service on Christmas Day and then and my grandpa would always carry a suitcase with our presents in.
By that time our dad was spending a lot of his free time in the pub and Christmas Day was no exception. He would arrive after morning closing time sometimes worse for wear but would go to bed to sleep it off until it was opening time again but my mother and her parents made sure our Christmas's were not spoiled by drunkeness which they could have been.
God bless my lovely grandparents, now long dead who always made us their priority, which I am doing now with my own grandchildren.