Christmas When You Were Growing Up

[zabadak]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I would have been at infants school, so somewhere between 5 and 7. I remember that was my big scene--my only scene, actually--and I never got to be in the Nativity play again.

The Frank Spencer episode is the one where he plays the angel and ends up on the roof.

Apparently Michelle "Betty" Dotrice was laughing so much she wet herself...

[Richard1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

Apparently Michelle "Betty" Dotrice was laughing so much she wet herself...

I know she, Michael Crawford & Richard Wilson had to hold back he laughter when the sofa started to collapse underneath them.

[George 1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

As we are in December again, I think I will add my own memories of Christmas:

Advent calendars on the wall - the ones that had chocolate in of course. Christmas parties at school (please see the other thread for more details on that).

The same old Christmas tree, decorations and baubles still used in the 1980s as they were in the 1970s. And the cotton wool on a toilet roll tube to make a snowman.

Once broken up from school, I remember visiting the man in the red cloak and white beard at the top floor of the Co-op department store. This would have been around 1985 - the last year that I probably officially believed him. I remember waiting in the queue, and there was a young girl there before me in the queue, and I remember Father Christmas asking her what she wanted for Christmas, and she said that she wanted a Game of Life (MB Games) and a beanbag. Funny how one remembers these little things after so many years! I might have also seen a children's film at the Odeon or ABC afterwards as well.

In 1985 I remember getting a Mars selection box - possibly the one that I got from the grotto that year. We put the chocolate bars in the fridge, and I remember biting into a Mars bar, and it was so hard that it was like biting into concrete! Mother had to make a post-Christmas, but pre-New Year appointment with the dentist (which I had found out about when obtaining my medical notes under the Data Protection Act 1998 a few years ago), and I remember having to bite on a gauze because of the bleeding!

Christmas Eve, and we used to leave a mince pie and a glass of something so that it would be eaten while we were asleep. I don't know about Father Christmas, but I was right with the "Father" bit anyway as he used to eat them. Also, I remember leaving a note for Father Christmas one year, and I found out that he had exactly the same handwriting as my mother - I hope that he hadn't been done for forgery! I actually thought that Father Christmas couldn't come to my part of Nottingham as he was too busy going down the chimneys somewhere in Dorset instead!

Christmas morning - out of bed, half a dozen boxes wrapped up in seasonal paper at the foot of the bed. Switch the radio on and Jonah Lewie was playing on either BBC Radio Nottingham or Radio Trent. Unwrapping the paper and finding toys, books, and anything else that I might have wanted, and if I didn't get it, then I would go shopping during that precious "bridge between Christmas and New Year" pre-January sales.

It's also ironic how you can associate personal things with actual things that happened during a specific Christmas one year. For example, I had got a Petite typewriter for Christmas in 1986, and I remember this because Jackie Wilson's Reet Petite was the Christmas number one that year! - How ironic was that, despite that not being a Christmas song?

After the church service (that I wasn't too bothered about back in those days), there was some Disney cartoon film on the television (I remember Dumbo premiered in 1986), TOTP (when 1980s acts like Band Aid, Shaky, Jackie Wilson, and the Pet Shop Boys used to dominate); and then the Queen, (who had black hair in those days), and then the film (during the days when ITV showings didn't have as many DFS "sale starts 10 am Boxing Day" adverts every 25 minutes).

Evening television - more variety and fewer soap operas, until Hilda Ogden decided to hang up her curlers in 1987 anyway. The ITN bulletin had swapped a football for a Christmas pudding for their sports results. So many sherry adverts on the television. We had more entertainment - Blankety Blank, 3-2-1, Two Ronnies, etc. And a James Bond film - an ad break meant a chance to nip to the toilet, or find out about the Texas Homecare sale.

Of course it was better when it was at home.

[staffslad]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

Same here staffslad Some to spend and some to put in my Birmingham & Midshires building society account. Sadly no more as B&Mids BS no longer exists. I believe it was bought out by one of the major players; Halifax or Leeds BS maybe

Birmingham Midshires still exists, but they closed all their branches many years ago to become a telephone/internet/postal BS. I still have a couple of accounts with them that I opened while they still had branches.

[George 1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I had only heard of Birmingham Midshires when I watched a Central West ad break in the mid 1990s, although I am certain that had a branch here in Nottingham.

Back on topic: I remember the family putting a indoor cotton "washing line" in the living room to hang the Christmas cards on - sometimes too many cards on it and would fall down. I use Blu-Tack on a noticeboard these days.

[Richard1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I had only heard of Birmingham Midshires when I watched a Central West ad break in the mid 1990s, although I am certain that had a branch here in Nottingham.

Back on topic: I remember the family putting a indoor cotton "washing line" in the living room to hang the Christmas cards on - sometimes too many cards on it and would fall down. I use Blu-Tack on a noticeboard these days.

My parents still put their cars on a ribbon hanging on a door with blu-tak.

[George 1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I have always found the cotton too weak for the cards to be hung on - occasionally when spring cleaning, we could find odd bits of broken cotton from previous Christmases stuck to the wall.

I used to have a cork noticeboard at my old place, and I used to pin them onto there. It would mean that the cards would have a pin prick on them on, but at least they stay up a bit longer.

[staffslad]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I remember my mum putting up a string for Christmas cards back in the days when we used to get so many. Nowadays, we get far fewer as older people pass away.

[Danniella]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I remember i got a china tea set for Christmas when i was about 6, i got into bed with it after opening it in the early hours, it had water in the teapot and i put my mums best coat over my bed to keep the covers dry, but as i made tea mums coat got soaked!

[staffslad]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

Growing up, as much as possible was made rather than bought. The Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, mince pies etc, as well as decorations for tree and rooms.

I remember fruit soaking in alcohol for days prior to making the pudding and cake. Everyone had to take a turn at stirring it and a 6d was put into the mixture. My gran made the mince pies. She made hundreds every year as neighbours would bring ingredients and ask her to make them some. I don't think I tasted a shop-bought Christmas pudding, Christmas cake or mince pie until I was in my 20s. Now my gran and mum are long gone, the shop-bought ones are just not the same at all. The filling in some of those shop-bought mince pies is very poor...just a sickly, gooey mush with hardly any fruit. The Christmas cake iceing was what I call proper iceing, not the roll iceing that seems to appear on many shop-bought cakes. My mum would fluff up the iceing to make it look like snow, and she had a tiny snowman, Santa and other things she would decorate it with. The cakes were rich but not sickly. Today, I find shop-bought cakes too sweet, particularly that roll iceing.

Decorations lasted many years, as did the tree. We had the same fairy perched atop our tree for decades. I recall making decorations from crepe paper that would be put in a box after Christmas and brought out next year for service again.

My gran had a tiny Christmas tree, no more than six inches in height, complete with stuck-on baubles and other decorations. She would perch it on top of her TV and that would be it as far as her tree was concerned..it took all of ten seconds to put up and take down. I have no idea what happened to it after she passed away. She also had a Santa on a spring. The end of the spring was taped to the ceiling and when you pulled Santa he would bounce up and down. Again, no idea what became of it.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

My mother also made the Christmas pudding the way your gran did. A Chrissie pud was not a Chrissie pud without the addition of hidden coins. None of the plastic tress of today. We had the real thing when I was growing up. Every Christmas my Dad would bring home a fir tree. You could not buy them as you can today. Expect he surrepticiously aquired it from the nearby national park. We kids spent hours making decorations out of coloured paper (no lites or even tinsel in those days). This was joined by hanging wooden decorations and shiny colored baubels. A large figure of an angel always adorned the tip of our tree. I recall on Christmas Eve Santa (Mum or Dad dressed up) coming into my room when myself and my brother were supposed to be asleep and placing our presents at the foot of our beds. Once they had arrived I could then sleep. Come morning and we not only had those on our beds but an assortment of wrapped goodies under the Chrissie tree. Christmas is such a magic time for children.

[Danniella]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

My mother also made the Christmas pudding the way your gran did. A Chrissie pud was not a Chrissie pud without the addition of hidden coins. None of the plastic tress of today. We had the real thing when I was growing up. Every Christmas my Dad would bring home a fir tree. You could not buy them as you can today. Expect he surrepticiously aquired it from the nearby national park. We kids spent hours making decorations out of coloured paper (no lites or even tinsel in those days). This was joined by hanging wooden decorations and shiny colored baubels. A large figure of an angel always adorned the tip of our tree. I recall on Christmas Eve Santa (Mum or Dad dressed up) coming into my room when myself and my brother were supposed to be asleep and placing our presents at the foot of our beds. Once they had arrived I could then sleep. Come morning and we not only had those on our beds but an assortment of wrapped goodies under the Chrissie tree. Christmas is such a magic time for children.

Very nice memories you have. I remember making paper chains and snowflakes, then decorating the tree. We didn't have much money to spare but we always had a nice Christmas. I'm 28 now and i still believe in Father Christmas!

[staffslad]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I remember that on Christmas Eve morning my dad and I would go to a farm and pick up the turkey he had ordered. My mum or gran always made 2 puddings, 1 for Christmas Day and the other would be saved for Easter. We also weren't exactly flushed with money, but my parents put a bit away each week so we would have a good Christmas. For years, my aunts and uncles would hold a rotating party on Christmas Eve. Sadly, that ended years ago as some have passed away and the others are very old.

[George 1978]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I just wish that Christmas now was just like Christmas was back then.

[Zincubus]

Re: Christmas When You Were Growing Up

I just wish they'd show that program where a popular celebrity goes to and chats with sick children in a hospital somewhere - I'd even settle for repeats from the 60's (Leslie Crowther ?)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro