If you remember these at Christmas you were a child in the 70s

[BreakfastAtMilliways]

Testing the lights on December 23rd, then having to try out every one on the string to find out which one had blown…

Frantically trying to find a shop that sold spare Christmas tree lightbulbs at 3.25pm on Christmas Eve…

Lugging the tree out to the garden on January 6th, and spending the next 2 weeks hoping it wouldn’t die…

Driving (or rather being driven) into London to see the lights on Oxford Street…

Walking home from school after the carol concert and peeking through the front windows of each house on your road to see if you could spot their Christmas tree…

Arranging all the cards from your schoolmates around your bedroom…

Any more?

We used the same one every year for I don't know how long.

My friend up the road had one and I was like you, eaten up with jealousy. It was like a cross between a toy and a pet and a best friend that could do acrobatic tricks.

When I finally got one, it just wasn't the same somehow. I felt as though I didn't train it properly or something. It just got halfway down the stairs and gave up.

My grandmother always drank her sherry out of a glass that was a little bit bigger than a thimble,anyone over the age of ten got a half pint glass.

Mine was half a pair of tights (born mid-60s). I continued this with DD (born late 90s). You can get a scary amount of stuff in a tight.

@MadeOfAllWork that was lovely to read

One of my favourite memories is my grandad breaking open the annual pomegranate! We only had one at Christmas, he would use a silver pin to pick each bit out!
My Nanna letting us into the front room on Christmas Day! It was alway immaculate, and only ever used for visitors! The rest of the year we were all in the back room which was dining room/ lounge.
Mum getting up at about 5 in morning to put the turkey in the oven! So it would be ready by 3! And also over boiled sprouts!!
But they were the best of times xx

I think it was fibre-glass. And it was impossible to get off the tree afterwards!

Agreed, @MadeOfAllWork . What a magical way to spend Christmas! I actually got goosebumps when you got to the bit about Santa landing on the roof.

I was thinking about all this when going round the shops the other day. Everywhere you look, everything is tinselled up, the carols are belting out, and there are gazillions of gift ideas vying for our attention. I really miss the days when the atmosphere had to be created carefully, at home, using whatever was to hand, which was the same stuff used the previous year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Nowadays I enjoy being able to buy a really pretty little string of fairy lights from LIDL for £3, but I do miss the ritual and tradition of digging out the box of Xmas trimmings from the loft and greeting the contents like old friends.

@PastorCarrBonarra there was a lemon one in the box of Weekend.

I was a child in the seventies 🤗 and yes every year re. the first and second ones and both were exclusively df's job!

(My older friend was recently marvelling at the ease and simplicity of today's LED light strings in comparison).

Paper chains made with gummy paper the colour and texture of old raffle tickets which required several fixes over the two weeks they were up.

Intense excitement at the daily prospect of opening a small cardboard door to reveal a tiny cardboard picture. The days when I got an angel or a teddy bear were blessed compared to the days of the handbell or the holly sprig.

Juicy Jellies and Liquorice Allsorts and After Eights.

I'd forgotten about the annual James Bond film! We always sat down to that.

@MadeOfAllWork what a beautiful story, it sounds magical

Apart from Oxford street I did all of these things in the 90s/00s!! What makes you think they're specific to the 70s?

@everyonesgreen it would probably have worked on one LP before breaking 😂

Talking of which, what Christmas day wouldn't have been complete without at least one new toy breaking before dinner was served either.

Thank you all for your kind comments. To me this was all just perfectly normal and it’s only in recent years that I’ve realised most people didn’t do things like that.

The big house in the village would also have a summer fete with egg and spoon races and the like. I realise now it was the end of an era.

That's actually my house this year 😂😂😂 I love them!

60's Hamleys Christmas visits here too. Maybe we once stood side by side watching that train. It was brilliant, the way it went all round the shop, through the walls and everything. Fab.

We had a pillow case at the end of the bed for our presents, no stocking at all.
A Blue Peter hanger decoration without candles!
The Christmas afternoon film after the Queens Speech.
We had to unwrap presents carefully. The paper was ironed and put aside for the next year.
The paper decorations- yes to those too..😆

Studying the radio times TV guide for the Christmas programmes.
New year parties with the whole family, sadly the numbers have shrunk over the years, with loved ones no longer here. Sad I know x

We had the pillow case too instead of a sticking. Always an orange and apple in it

1950’s childhood-My Christmas stocking was one of my dads old indestructible ICI socks, with pillowcase for a sack at the end of my bed. A real tree, A wooden dolls house made by my dad with all hand made furniture. A Robot magnetic quiz game and a toy sewing machine were the gifts I remember the most.
Fast forward to 1970’s I was working by then A green fake tree, dad had a novel way of putting the Pifco I lights on, he threw them at the tree and wherever they landed that’s where they stayed. We had those dimpled glass tree baubles, silver strands of tinsel and fake snow. Foil garlands and those fold out snowflakes on the ceiling.
Loved Woolworths for sweets, Xmas decs, (bring back Wollies). Big tins of Quality Street, Roses Turkish delights, Jelly fruits, dates, dried figs, mothers ‘Xmas Box’: a box of edible goodies: tinned food, chocolates, biscuits, cakes, booze etc that she’d saved for through the year and brought out on Xmas Eve.
Happy days

I did this to out tree one year, I remember by brother coming home from work and exclaiming “Bloody hell, Daffy, it’s supposed to look kissed with snow. That looks like it’s been out in a blizzard.”

Soaps shaped like a tv character? I still have a really vivid memory of getting a Womble shaped soap and an Orinoco sponge in my stocking. Satsuma in the toe, always a treat, we didn't have them any other time of the year.

My DGM had a snowman, covered in a sort of fleece fabric, you could take the head off and there was a plastic tube that had small toys in, like cracker toys, not sure where it came from but I've never been able to find even a picture of it.

My parents were divorced so my Christmases were shared, lots of different traditions but all wonderful through the glow of nostalgia

@bushtailadventures the snowman, omg! I think I had one of those. Knowing my parents, they probably bought it from a Cash & Carry. I think the one they normally went to was called Makro. I think my sister had one shaped like a snow covered castle, a lot simpler in reality than it sounds. I kept mine for years.

@bushtailadventures

oh yes, the Snowman thingy with the presents!!! You’ve really unearthed a memory for me there!! Around 1970-1973??

I like your dad.