Childhood traditions/rituals that make you happy to remember - what were yours?

[AdmiralOrangeroo]

I don't just mean Christmas, but things that you did with your family or friends as a child that, when you think of them, take you back to a feeling of safety and nostalgia?

My childhood was spent with my grandparents and after Church every Sunday I would watch Little House on the Prairie with a sultana and butter biscuit that my grandmother got out of an enormous old tin she kept in her larder. I remember the feeling, taste, of that ritual so vividly it's almost like I can re-experience it. When I'm upset I think myself back there and to those people who loved me so much. Everything feels so unsafe at the moment that I thought it’d be nice to start a thread where we can collectively remember a time that was.

My dad on a Friday afternoon 'come and see what I've got in the van' - it could literally be anything from a new bathroom suite, to the results of a trip to the cash n' carry (oh, the joys of my dad doing unsupervised bulk shopping as he'd get a giant box of kit kats or broken biscuits which my mum didn't approve of and would never buy any biscuits apart from Nice or Rich Tea), to on one memorable occasion 6 geese which he thought would be good to make some money for christmas.
My mum and dad are dead now, but when I think of dad its often that image of him wandering down the back garden path with a cheeky look on his face to get us to come look.

@CMOTDibbler Oh God, that's lovely

On our birthday we'd be allowed to get into Mums bed in the morning. Siblings had to sit at the end. Then we'd get breakfast on a tray (I'd always have a flower in a vase too). Then cards and presents before we got up. Whoevers birthday it was got to decide (within reason) what we did for the day and what we had for dinner. Birthdays were really special even though we didn't have loads of money for presents.

I used to have sleepovers at my Grandparents house quite often. I'd always get brought a cup of coffee and a couple of biscuits in bed and told "we'll get up for breakfast presently". I thought it was great. Mum pointed out to me as an adult that Grandma did it so we wouldn't get up so early, and they had time to get washed/dressed/remove rollers before we got up and saw them in their PJs.
They also used to tape Countdown and we'd all sit down in the afternoon to watch it. Grandad would pause it when the timer started so we all had time to find long words/solve the maths. Of course that totally defeats the point of countdown, and I think he could have solved them in the time limit. But he did it so Grandma and I could have a chance.

Memories of grandparents are so precious aren't they? Your story has reminded me of Saturday night tv and the very familiar programming and very familiar snacks that my grandparents would dole out. It was just so so wonderful!

I lived with my GP's during Primary school and we would have an day outs to Mablethorpe. Always up at the crack if dawn while it's still cold and set off with a half way stop at Newark on Trent

We would stop in the car park by the river and my Grandma would get the flask of tea out. We would arrive in Mablethorpe quite early and there would be trips to the little shop near the beach that would refill flasks with hot water

Grandads concession to the beach was to take his tie off and roll up his sleeves. My Mum and Aunt would always pay for lits of donkey rides. We my at have a wander around a big pond but didn't go on anything though would have dinner in a cafe

It wasn't until I was an adult I realized sed there were amusements at the far end of the to beach

It was always Mablethorpe as Grandma thought it posher than Skegness

But I remember the cold mornings mostly

Bedtime stories with my mum - she used to read Laura Ingalls stories or Milly Molly Mandy, sometimes Shirley Hughes … I used to adore them. Remember vividly leaning into Mum every single night at 8.30 for a story, my sister on one side and I on the other.

Also Sundays, we always went to mass every Sunday morning then went to the supermarket after (which went through a variety of changes over 20 years - Presto then Safeway I think or Somerfield, then Morrisons and eventually demolished) .

We always, always got a French stick for lunch and something for dessert after tea … Somerfield used to do an incredible cheesecake . Then I’d do my homework with Mum folding washing (always school uniform!) and playing Elton John in the background.. get an ice cream from the van and we’d go for a walk . Last of the Summer Wine, Antiques Roadshow and Ground Force before bed .

Same every Sunday for years and years.

I’d give anything to go back now!

These are so so lovely, thank you for sharing them. I'm really enjoying reading them. It's like a hug!

It was occasional but on a lovely summers day (this was Scotland- I did say occasional!) we’d go to a local small glen with a shallow brook to paddle in and have a BBQ - we’d be allowed crispy BBQ’d bacon and explore to our hearts content. Hardly ever saw anyone else. My parents would only tell us on the morning we were going as they’d make a call on if the weather would be good enough without getting our hopes up! Simple pleasure.

Raspberries in the summer.

My mum was a single parent in the 80’s, worked full time as a district nurse, we were comfortable but there wasn’t much cash to spare.

She grew canes of raspberries, in my head they were like a jungle. We would go hunting for them under the leaves and tuck into them as we picked. We ate them on our breakfast cereal and mum taught me how to make raspberry jam. How to check if it was too runny by popping some on a cold plate and checking the skin.

Every time I eat a raspberry I am instantly back to being about 7 and just having the best time with my mum.

I'm so struck about how it's these simple, meaningful things that we all remember and yearn for rather than big ticket stuff. It's something I'm going to be more mindful of with my own children

Proper Sunday lunch if we were at home, then Sunday tea with trifle, cake and bread and butter with jam while watching Ski Sunday - the theme music takes me back nearly 50 years whenever I hear it.

Afternoons spent walking with parents always with a bribe to keep us going - either skimming stones in the loch, or an ice cream from the van on the sea front, depending where we'd gone.

DDad always used to take one of our half term weeks off - Mum would be at work, and he'd plan a long walk every day, pack a picnic and we'd head off. These walks with my beloved Dad are the reason I know the names of flowers, trees, birds, mountains, how to read a map, and that a mug of chicken soup, a cheese and tomato roll and a couple of squares of chocolate taste like ambrosia when eaten with a view of a loch and a mountain.

So many others - helping Dad in the garden, treat of tea in town with Mum after we'd bought new school uniforms, a glass of lemonade in a pub garden when we were on our annual holiday. Cooking sausages on a primus stove (usually in the rain, under an umbrella).

Going to my nan's with my dad on a Saturday morning. She would make a pot of tea and we would have currant bins or lardi cake wedges bought from the baker's at the top of her road, always with Lurpak butter.

Loved Saturdays back then, mid 60s, I was about 11. Happy days ...

Currant buns!!

Staying with my Grandparents and having fish and chips for tea. Sleeping on a camp bed in their hallway.

First day of the christmas holidays my dad would take me to see the Christmas lights. We would wander around, then always have lunch at the same Italian restaurant. It would be antipasto and lasagne followed by pistachio gelato. We did this easily for 12 years.

I also have vivid memories of baking with my Grandmother and my Mum.

Washing the car with my Dad, or family trip to the car wash as a very special treat 😁

Oh god this thread is making me all Misty eyed!

Used to stay and my grandparents every weekend, my grandad always made me a bacon sandwich and a strong cup of (loose) tea in a china cup and saucer for breakfast sat on the rug in front of the fire. He used to always polish my shoes (and try to do my trainers which I didn't let him!)
He also used to play with me and let me play tricks on him, hiding and tickling him with the pampas grass out of the vase, which my grandma never would.

I love this thread

Family parties at my nans, my nan would set up the games console in the hall way and get the quilts/pillows down for me and all my cousins. Such good memories, my nan would always end up singing to everyone.

On Fridays after Brownies, I would nip round to the fish and chip shop for everyone's tea, then me and my Mum would watch Flambards in the front room together. Bliss.

There was always cake in the tin.
There still is. My mum bakes both normal and gluten free so my dad can have some.

The recipe was passed on from my great grandmother to my grandmother and mother at least and I've taught it to my DDs now. (In ounces, it doesn't work in grammes!)

Sunday tea - there was always a trifle which we were allowed to eat first, just in case we were too full up and didn't have room for it after eating our tea.

Saturdays spent at Pop's house (Grandad) counting thrupenny bits and going through my Nan's button tin as he watched the horse racing on the TV. He made the most delicious roast beef, cooked on a trivet over the Yorkshire pudding.

Happy days!

I was raised for a few years as a baby by my nan and she was my best person ever. We were very close as a result. She used to take me to her little caravan of a weekend and during holidays. I remember the smell of the little wall mounted gas lights with their papery mantle. The feeling of the satin edged blankets gently tickling me through the brushed cotton Candy stripe sheets. The feeling of her warm body as we cuddled up in the pull down bed . Then I would wake up to the smell of porridge and golden syrup. She had this amazing way of making porridge so it floated like an island. I loved her so much.

So many things from those trips are still with me. The diesel smell of the busy coach station and the Green vinyl seats in the waiting room. The noise and bustle of the market with the fruit and veg sellers. How juicy the peaches were as I played on the park and how hot the chrome slide was on my skinny legs. Thank you Nan for loving me so much and giving me the most amazing memories . It was the only time I felt secure and truly loved as a child.

That made me cry @Boogaloony ❤️

When I was between about seven and nine we'd often have 'cheese and potato pie' for tea on a Saturday night. It was mashed potato with a bit of cheese mixed through, in a Pyrex dish (I remember it vividly: a white one with a little red rose on one side); then grilled for a bit, with some sliced tomato on top. Served with toast and margarine (cheap white sliced toast), which I'd pile the pie on to.
We didn't have much money and with hindsight it was mainly a stodgy and cheap way of filling us up, but it was ambrosia to me.
It was even more of a treat because we'd eat it not at the kitchen table but sitting/kneeling round the coffee table in the front room while watching (in my memory anyway) Knight Rider.
Not so long after that my parents' marriage massively deteriorated. My later childhood and teens were all about hearing arguments/being caught up in them and used between my parents/weeks on end of cold silences in the house. This memory is bitter-sweet because it was of a time that was warm, full of laughter; but then things changed so much.