Retro Christmases

[Grinchycrinchy]

I was born late 70’s, so an 80’s kid, 90’s teen.

The things I remember from childhood Christmases were..selection boxes, Jackie annual, Wizard, huge gatherings with relatives drinking and smoking in the houses, a Father Christmas float that came down the street, a feeling of complete excitement and magic

Anyone else?

Devouring the Argos catalogue on winters nights leading up to Christmas, writing out a huge list to Santa

@Grinchycrinchy

I was born late 70’s, so an 80’s kid, 90’s teen.

The things I remember from childhood Christmases were..selection boxes, Jackie annual, Wizard, huge gatherings with relatives drinking and smoking in the houses, a Father Christmas float that came down the street, a feeling of complete excitement and magic

Anyone else?

Oh yes, the Father Christmas float!

Flower fairies!

60s and 70s for me. Making a decoration at school by winding tinsel round a wire coat hanger, making a star and hanging it from the middle.

Paper chains made out of coloured crepe paper.
Beano annual, later Diana annual
Spirograph. Later Spiro-matic, a turntable you put a card on and squirted paint at and ended up with pretty patterns - in theory anyway.
Talking Barbie. You pulled a string at the back of her neck and she made inane comments like "I have a date tonight" and "How shall I wear my hair?"

Christmas cards hanging on a string between the wall lights. Tree lights that were like little Victorian lanterns.

Drinking a snowball (from around age 8), mini Sherry when parents friends popped by, babycham (my parents weren’t alcoholics honest!), the postman dressed up as Santa knocking on the door, but it was obvious who it was given he had a metal hand and so did Santa! Waking up at 1-3am most years, presents I remember were; TV, Hi-Fi, Bike, Soda-stream. Sitting in my room with my new hi-fi playing my new records over and over. Never actually remember eating Christmas dinner, but it wouldn’t have been as many dishes as now. Like no cauli cheese, no Yorkshire’s, no honey parsnips etc. And a Salad for dinner. Funnily enough I do remember eating that. Wish I could transport back for a day for a childhood Christmas

The Father Christmas float still goes around my childhood town, and it does here too actually

And yes, no Xmas jumpers really or pjs like today..a fancy velvet dress/pinafore with a lacy collar

@Grinchycrinchy

And yes, no Xmas jumpers really or pjs like today..a fancy velvet dress/pinafore with a lacy collar

I was allowed to wear my long party dress on Christmas day. It did indeed have a lacy collar, with a black velvet ribbon.

No outfit I have ever owned since, even my wedding dress, has ever made me feel as special as my 1970s long party dress.

The year we got an Atari games console for Christmas! So exciting.

Making Christmas lanterns in school out of clear plastic egg boxes and red crepe paper. Also a really crappy Santa mobile with individual eyebrows, eyes , beard etc.

Watching Blue Peter for craft ideas to make crappy homemade presents for aunties and grandmas.

Buying 5 hamlet cigars as a Christmas present for grandad and a mixed flavour bar of chocolate for mum - no idea what it was called, but it had multiple different fruit flavours all in one bar.

The only time of the year when we had fizzy pop in the house - a mixed crate of flavours from the pop man who came around delivering from a truck.

Eating at the table together - the one time we did this in the year.

Buying notelets as a gift for friends.

Paper decorations from corner to corner on the ceiling - later updated to a shiny foil version. Also a fold out ball or bell that went in the middle of the ceiling. Blowing up balloons to put on the ceiling.

Being excited about what the 'big Christmas film' on TV was going to be. The one time in the year we bought the TV and Radio Times.

Having a whole crate of satsumas in the house. Eating bananas and cream with sugar on top. We rarely had fresh fruit in the house other than at Christmas.

@SantasBritchesSpelleas oh, Tottie! I was saying today that I finally got a Sindy house (with a LIGHT UP HOB) after aeons of longing, but a Tottie house was an impossible dream. I tried reading the book again last year, but found it so impossibly sad as an adult that I couldn’t finish it.

[quote NowellSingWe]@EveningOverRooftops I think I need a recipe for that Black Forest Gateau Swiss Roll!![/quote]
It’s not exactly like a Black Forest gateau but close and it works for us and I hate Xmas cake and thought I’d try something different and it’s stuck .

Standard chocolate Swiss roll sponge recipe. I use just the sponge bit from Mary berry’s one on bbc.

Cherry jam spread over the sponge after you’ve rolled and cooled it.

Add some preserved cherries on top of the jam. if they’re slightly tangy it really works with the sweet jam etc. I really like to have cherries to bite into 😋 if you want to use boozy cherries go for it.

Whip some cream with vanilla bean paste and sweeten with sifted in icing sugar if needed. I usually use a pot of double cream. Spread this over the cherries then roll up and stick in the fridge.

Stretch cling film over a shallow tray (or use a silicon biscuit tray)

Melt some chocolate. I use dark chocolate but milk works fine or you can marble it, I did that one year when DC ate most of the chocolate 🤬. And then spread it over the tray to make some ‘bark’. Use a spoon to spread out some strips or cover the whole tray with it to break up when it’s set.

I stick these pieces to the Yule log with cherry jam rather than a ganache just because I prefer it. you can make a chocolate ganache though to stick them on and cover the whole cake with it.

Dust with a bit of icing sugar for snow and decorate with cherries etc.

It’s best to add the whipped cream to it just before serving in my experience and defo follow all the steps for the sponge to make it perfectly light.

Oh my! Such nostalgia!

Late 70's baby here. I didn't get a Mr. Frosty, but my friend did and it was indeed a bit naff.

Wish we could still get the Dairy Milk dispensers! A lot of the other treats (Turkish delight in octagon boxes, gummed paper streamers, rum balls) I loved as a child are available in Home Bargains...

Pierrot - my parents bought me EVERYTHING, but I ended up hating it due to nightmares about Pierrot turning into an evil clown.

Does anyone else remember The Box of Delights on TV, having to wait for a week between each episode? It's available on BritBox

We used to have a dedicated "Pop Man" (rather than fizzy delivered with the milkman). It was a special treat to return the bottles for the 10p deposit and be able to choose our favourite flavours. Did anyone else have "the bread van" to visit weekly, or was this something that only happened in my Northern town?

Born 1984.

Foil decorations hung from the ceiling. We had some garland ones which were wrapped in tissue and labelled so we knew which one went where the next year as they were cut to length.
Mum had these little plastic stockings that went on the coffee table. One had sherbert lemons in, the other toffee éclairs. And a big bowl of nuts in the middle of the table. Of course the shell goes everywhere if you can even mange to crack them!
My best friend got a Mr Frosty one year. I was so jealous. Until we used it and realised it was shit.

winechateauxjoy could that be the Fry's five centres chocolate bar you're thinking of?
Yes to the Sindy House, still remember walking into the living room on Xmas morning and seeing it sitting there, all built up.

Yes, LMBoston it's incredibly sad and almost gothic in its horrible ending. I was upset after reading it - but, oh, I longed for a wooden dolls' house and a family of Victorian dolls to inhabit it.

The mini dairy milks, the tiny ones, were so delicious. Nothing like dairy milk nowadays.

Ceefax advent calendar

wolfmom Yes! My goodness, I thought Ceefax was amazing when we first got a TV capable of receiving it. I remember the thrill of the advent calendar - pressing the 'reveal' button!

@SantasBritchesSpelleas

Yes, LMBoston it's incredibly sad and almost gothic in its horrible ending. I was upset after reading it - but, oh, I longed for a wooden dolls' house and a family of Victorian dolls to inhabit it.

I’ve never looked at a shoebox in the same way again! Merry Christmas to all (with, as is mandatory, a bittersweet sense of nostalgia that this year might just make me sob like a big girly)!

I was born early 70s, so remember all the classics - foil decorations, the 70s baubles. My dad still has all the decorations, just a sniff of the tinsel box transports me right back to being 6.

I always wanted a Major Morgan for Christmas for years! Never got one - till I was 14 when my parents got me one as a joke. I kept it nice and gave it to my DD many years later.

Also remember the orange & lemon sugary slices! And the Babycham getting its annual outing on the sideboard. Salvation Army singing carols on the street. Eggnog/snowball. Leaving sherry for Father Christmas.

82 kid here.

Remember sitting quietly on the couch at my grandma's house, which my kids would never do.

Remember those massive Dairy milk bars?? Huge

@EvilPea

The cadburys mini dairy mills that you could never buy the mini ones to refill. Gutting when you realised.

Yes you could buy them, they came in a little cardboard package that contained about 24 miniatures. Our local sweetshop sold them and I always spent my pocket money on them.

I always wanted a Major Morgan for Christmas for years! Never got one - till I was 14 when my parents got me one as a joke.

I got the cheap Tandy version called 'Monkey See'. Our only chance of getting electronic toys was if Tandy did a cheap version - we also had the Tandy version of 'Simon Says' which I played obsessively until I finally beat it.

Spirograph and Etch a sketch!

The adults would hijack the etch a sketch and draw a racetrack on it in felt tip pen. The time each other to see who could complte the course (without touching the side of the track) the fastest.

Leatherette sets, that you'd sew with the raffia that came in them. I loved those.