What was Christmas like when you were a child?

[ScrabbledLeggsAndToes]

I like hearing / reading about all the different ways people celebrate Christmas. I like hearing about all the seemingly insignificant things that happen, and end up becoming treasured memories, or special traditions

So, what was Christmas like when you were a child?....

Amazing. It was a truly magical day. We had various traditions. We always left a mince pie out for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. Me and my brother always opened our stockings in bed, and weren't allowed downstairs without our parents (the wanted to see our faces when we opened everything).

'Santa' had always laid the table for xmas dinner and left a note for us every year. Big/surprise presents which we didn't know about were left until the end, and we're often in a different room. My mother would frequently tell us to go and put our shoes away, and when we went to get them there were more presents. It was so exciting.

We never left our house on Christmas Day. We had Buck's Fizz in the morning, has Christmas dinner together and then all of our family would come round our house for a party at night.

Now I'm older I really appreciate the effort my parents went to in order to make Christmas such a special day.

My mum had very, very little money. My dad was not a very nice man (putting it mildly) who kept the vast majority of the household money for himself, most of which he drank away. My mum had to account for every penny she spent and had to borrow money from him if she wanted to buy anything (shoes for us, stuff for the house etc), let alone Christmas presents. He had a little tally book with her repayment schedule in it and she had to pay him on a Friday evening from her wages (she worked 8 hours a week at a cafe and had to buy our food from her wages too - my dad didn't work but sent her shopping for steak etc for himself which he paid for out of the benefits meant to keep us all). He was violent on top of it all. Christmas was often horribly fraught.

However.

My lovely, lovely mum did all she could to make the day magical for us, and she succeeded. She would make us the most beautiful toys - one year when we were tiny she sewed me and my brother wombles out of old curtain material. Every Christmas morning I woke up to find a new dress that 'Santa's elves' had sewn especially for me, nobody else had one the same. We would have a roast chicken for dinner and cider flavoured pop in wine glasses and home made crackers. But most of all we laughed and cuddled and it was utterly perfect. My father chose not to join us and looking back I'm glad he didn't. Those Christmas days with the home made paper chains and 'posh wine' were so special. My mum died just before Christmas ten years ago and it was especially poignant given the time of year. They are my most precious menories of her - she had such a terribly hard life but she made sure that Christmas was always completely magical.

Ahh 0pheliaBalls your Mum sounds lovely.

I have some great memories from when I was little.
My main ones are running up the road to the top of the hill on Christmas Eve, with my friends, to wait for my Nan. It was only Christmas when I saw her little hat bobbing at the bottom of the hill

Also, every year, just before bed on Christmas Eve, my Mum would light a candle and sing to me and my brother/sister the rhyme-

"Christmas Eve all dark and drear, time to go to bed,
you must hang your little sock just above your head,
through the door or down the chimney, in the candlelight,
Santa Claus, the Christmas fairy, wishes to come tonight,
wishes to come tonight, wishes to come tonight......."

It's making me teary just thinking about it.

I also remember my Dad getting us to choose him some weird and wonderful drink out of the cabinet and pour it for him. It was the only time of year that he used to drink alcohol as far as I know

My Parents and Nan are all gone now but I have so many happy memories and I hope, in the future, my kids remember their Christmases now with such fondness.

I love Christmas

I need to reply to this tomorrow

I'm just sprinkling some elf shit pixie dust to mark my place. I really, really am enjoying this thread.

My memories of of late 1970s and 1980s Christmases. The Mars Christmas stocking with the red netting on it hung on our bedroom door handles on Christmas Eve. along with a clean sock of my dads that had a choc orange in it along with a real orange and nuts.
The sickly sweet smell of sherry. (anyone remember the Emva Cream ads with Hinge and Brackett) when some elder friends or my grandparents came round in the week before.

One year making an indoor snowman with my dad and DB. A tall piece of wide tubing as the base (my dad was a site foreman) loads and loads of white toilet roll stuck on it. Bits of toilet roll balled up and painted black for the buttons ..red felt for the mouth shaped into a smile and an old scarf and hat. This was dragged out as a decoration that used to go in the dining room for a few years on the trot till it finally fell apart. DB took a Polaroid photo of it which is the only thing left of it now in an old photo album.

mum used to do a fry up Xmas morning as well as the full Xmas dinner but we used to start the morning all in our parents bedroom with cups of tea and the Rover biscuit tin.

I remember eating an entire box of Elizabeth Shaw mints one Xmas morning

one year a relative who couldnt read English bought me a lovely bright pink box of chocs. I was halfway through them before my dad realised they were whisky liquears and confiscated them.

TV was always on BBC1 on Christmas Day and i remember watching The Wizard of Oz for a few Christmases.

The Roses tin. We were a Roses family and my DM hates the fact that they have changed so much. They were a proper size back then too.

Aww 0phelia your post made me cry, what a lovely mum you have.

Ophelia what a lovely mum xx

My favourite Christmas ever was when I was a young mum. I had 3 children of my own and I was a childminder to 3 under 4. I also looked after two brothers affter school.

One Christmas the mum of brothers asked me if I would have their 2 sisters aged 11 and 12. She was in dire straits so I agreed. I had forgotten that two of the mums I walked to school with had just started cleaning jobs and asked me to have their 3 kids for the mornings during the holidays.

So for 4 days in Christmas week between 7 and 8am my house changed from 3 kids to,13. It was amazing, the kids were so good. I remember one morning taking their lunch in stepping over bodies while they giggled over Buggsy Malone. Immediately I asked them to sit at the table, the bigger ones got the little ones organised and sat round the table helping each other.

My mum was one of 10 and I would have loved a big family. I certainly would not of wanted 13 kids permanently, but I think I laughed and had more fun in that week than ever before.

Orphelia - that made me cry too.

I remember Christmases being brilliant when I was young. My (late) father grew up with a father who was a drinker too and he had Christmases with nothing when he was young. He never told me any of that but my mum did. As a result of that, he always made sure that Christmases were special.

We didn't have loads of money growing up but I always remember lovely food and drinks, nice presents and most importantly...a great atmosphere and a general feeling that Christmas was supposed to be a really special and magical time. Something I'm trying to instil with my own children

When I think back, my memories are more about Advent than Christmas day itself.

A lot of school memories, the school advent carol service in the big, draughty church, having to dress again in the evening in clean, pressed uniform, and goggling at the huge Christmas tree in the church.

The school nativity play, dressing up as an angel with an itchy crown made of tinsel.

The excitement of seeing the classroom get more and more Christmassy and decorated, and not being able to wait until the end of term.

At home, opening my advent calendar, and being really, genuinely thrilled to see the little picture inside. Counting up the days left and thinking Christmas would never come, until suddenly it was only a few days away.

Going and buying a real Christmas tree and all decorating it together, icing the Christmas cake, making mince pies and Christmassy biscuits.

Walking round town delivering Christmas cards because my mum didn't want to pay for a stamp for the local ones - and going for a hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards with twinkly Christmas lights shining through the darkness.

Hanging out stockings on Christmas eve and waking up ridiculously early to open them.

We used to go to church on Christmas day, all the children all hyped up not being able to wait for it to finish. We didn't open our presents under the tree until after church, but some of the other children would have brought huge presents along with them.

You're all absolutely right, my mum was lovely and I was so lucky to have her. I miss her every day, but especially at Christmas.

This thread is gorgeous, I feel all sparkly and tingly and not a little nostalgic reading it!

for ophelia.
This is a super thread. Everyone's recollections, even the less than positive ones, seem to sum up what's really important about the Festive season.

We had coloured tree lights which were somehow synonymous with Quality Streets in my mind. I loved seeing the same tree decorations come out every year and the tinsel in bright jewel colours as well.

My favourite memory is looking out at the north star one night in Advent with the radio playing When a Child is Born and my Mum coming in with her eyes shining to tell me that a relative had given birth to her first baby.

We always had a Chinese takeaway after midnight mass (over ever had this once a year as it was a huge treat) and were allowed to open one tree present.

I was five when I saw my first advent calendar. The teacher brought it into class and it was the most enchanting thing ever. It was a nativity scene, mainly blue with silver glitter on it. Magical

I always made my own Christmas cake out of the leftover marzipan. It was my favourite part of Christmas!

I had one very memorable, very magical Christmas that I remember with so much love and fondness for my father who is no longer with us. My dad was a local postman and he had struck up a very good relationship with one of his customers who was a proper old fashioned eccentric Lord of the manor type in a massive local house with a deer park in the grounds. This one Christmas when I was about 7, it was very snowy, my df took me on a magical mystery ride to this beautiful house. I can remember now watching the deer grazing with the snow falling around me, as we turned a corner down the drive, a massive Christmas tree came in to view with twinkly lights, and on that tree were loads and loads of little gifts hanging for me to pick find. The Lord of the manor was dressed as Father Christmas and told me that the deer were Rudolph and co. It was the sweetest thing and such a lovely surprise. Definitely the most magical Christmas ever! I still have a tiny little porcelain house that I found on the tree

The 12th of December was one of the best days of the year, as it was when the box of Christmas decorations came down from the attic. The smell of that box is the most nostalgic thing in existence. I remember pressing my face in as the box was opened to snort in massive lungfuls of concentrated Christmas essence, then marvelling as the familiar treasures were carefully brought out: the gold dangly things with red plastic stars, the little battery operated angel that tinkled out the most robotic sounding version of 'Jingle Bells' possible, the glittery apples and pears and the one mysterious glittery lemon (so festive), the beloved Christmas dalmatian that sat below the tree, the fairly lights in bold blue, green, pink and yellow.

I go home now and I'm a bit saddened by how tasteful things have gone. It's all garlands and golden beads and 'warm white' LEDs. The battery operated angel still has pride of place on the mantel, though

This is a super thread. Everyone's recollections, even the less than positive ones, seem to sum up what's really important about the Festive season. - Totally agree with this.

Thanks to everyone who's contributed to it.

The year my mum made me a furry cat costume, with tail.
I desperately wanted to be a cat and that sweaty scratchy onesie was an absolute dream :)

Aw Flumplet that sounds magical

Oh, wow, what a lovely thread! Crying my eyes out reading some of your stories but they're lovely all the same .

Ophelia your mum sounds like a wonderful woman .

Like a previous poster, my fondest memories are of the run up to Christmas rather than the day itself.

The school nativity play where, as a shy child, I was very happy to be given a "make up the numbers" part such as "Third Potter From The Left" or "Angel 21" . I would have hated to be Mary with all eyes on me.

Excitedly opening the little windows in my advent calendar to reveal a tiny little Christmas picture beneath. The only pictures available on advent calendars were either religious scenes or children playing in the snow. I have been known to buy myself an "old-fashioned" advent calendar from WHSmith as an adult, just for the nostalgia of it.

Going Christmas shopping as a complete family on the first Saturday in December. Buying 10 sheets of thin wrapping paper from the market with my sister & then arguing over who got the nicest pattern & who got the one with brown baubles on.

Choosing a real Christmas tree on the second Sunday in December & watching Dad try to attach it to the roof of a Ford Cortina with string . Getting said Christmas tree home & leaving my dad & my brother to chisel the trunk down sufficiently to fit it in the oddly narrow Christmas tree stand, whilst the rest of us got the decorations down from the cupboard on the landing. Then decorating the tree with our Christmas LP playing on the music centre.

Helping mum make mince pies (the lids often didn't stick), a Christmas cake (baked in November, iced on Boxing Day ) & brandy butter with a little holly leaf on the top.

We would always watch Songs Of Praise on the Sundays in Advent, to hear the carols & see the advent candles being lit.

As young children we would hang our pillowcase at the end of our bed at about 8pm on Christmas Eve & try desperately to get to sleep. I can still remember the magic of seeing it full of presents when I woke up. When we got too old for Santa, we went to Midnight Mass & then helped mum arrange the presents under the tree and maybe have a squidge of some before going to bed.

The day itself, lovely as it was, was always an anti-climax in comparison.

My dad died 13 years ago & my mum 3 years ago. One of the saddest parts of clearing out the house was sharing up the box of baubles, some of which had come from our grandparents years before.

I'm even crying at my own post now - damn you emotional Christmas!

I have really fond memories of Christmas, although it wasn't all plain sailing, as my mum and dad divorced when I was 8 yrs old and Christmas had a lot of tension after that.

Loved the run up to Christmas, though! My mum made a Christmas meat order at the butcher's in September, and then started buying bits of Christmas food with each weekly shop, until finally we were allowed to go to the supermarket with her and do 'The Big Shop' a few days before Christmas. I found it so exciting! . We had all the classic 1980s working class family-fare, too . Orange and lemon slices, Eat me dates, Milk Tray (and Terry's All Gold for the grown ups), cheesy footballs. Funny - seasonal food like satsumas and big net bags of nuts were massive treats then, too. How times have changed.

I have really fond memories of the excitement of Christmas morning - being allowed to have chocolate for breakfast! - and the smell of Christmas dinner cooking. We had a tiny kitchen, so my mum brought the kitchen table into the living room and folded it out and laid it really nicely. It was such a novelty. Me and my sister used to lie under the table after dinner and play with our toys while the grown ups got mildly pissed watched TV.

I get very nostalgic for those Christmases now, even though there were years around my parents divorce when my dad would turn up raging at the house and try to ruin the day . My parents always played Irish music on Christmas morning, and I find myself doing the same now. My dad also made a huge deal of turning off the TV when the Queens Speech came on, which we also do now, although I dont use his colourful language to insult her

Aw SantasLittleMonkeyButler that brought a little tear to my eye, clearing out the house and sharing up the box of baubles

I too buy myself an old fashioned advent calendar each year, with the pictures behind each window, but can never rekindle the excitement that I used to feel back then. I doubt the kids these days get the same joy at opening a kinnerton 'Hello Kitty' chocolate one.

Someone up thread said "regimented", how familiar! Mum planned and planned, Christmas pudding and cake made the same weekend every year. Cake was Royal iced the weekend before, and as it was 12" square, it lasted til Feb. By which time the icing was hard as a brick. We even had the same advent calendar every year, afterwards the doors were shut and it was put away with the decs. That was before chocolate calendars. Presents had to be opened one a a time so mum could write down who it was from on the list for thank you letters. Which were written before the end of the week -or else! Despite all that something was always forgotten, it might a veg for dinner, or a present or a decoration.
She only gave up pudding making a three or four years ago when the arthritis got too bad. I do it now, her recipe makes the best pud me and my brothers have ever eaten. Must be about time actually...
And for all it was predictable I kept up lots of the traditions with my family. And now they are both grown up with homes of their own. DD works shifts so can only come home the weekend before, DS might not be here at the same time and it feels strange. I know it's the circle of life but if I could put the clock back a few years I would.

What a lovely thread, though some sad stories on here. I'm sorry people have had such hard times.

Christmas when I was a child would start with the run up to the nativity at school. We also had a cardboard post box where we could post cards to our friends. Being the postman or lady was a much coveted position! We had advent calendars - chocolate and an amazing one that played music that we got out every year. It came from my (rich) grandparents.

We used to go to my aunt and uncle's on Christmas Eve - that was the best day. Playing with our cousins and lots of older relatives there - grandparents, great aunts and so on. Magical times, Christmas carols playing, going carol singing in the close they lived in, mint Matchmakers, Roses, sherry trifle, sherry in general actually, my uncle having his yearly Baileys...

Christmas Day would be at home and then Boxing Day with my paternal grandparents. They were divorced so we'd have the morning with one set and the afternoon with the others. Again, loads of food and just a general happy feeling.

We live abroad now and I haven't had a UK Christmas for a few years. It makes me feel nostalgic and a little sad to think we won't be there again this year, but my memories aren't what it will be like now anyway these days. We have two DC and I try to make it as magical for them as possible - lots of Christmas crafts and carols and trying to make it just a little less consumer driven than it is here in the US.