What are your best Christmas memories/traditions as a child?

[Freco010]

So many great ideas out there these days. I'm looking for simple traditions that wouldn't take a lot of time or money!

My one is helping my mum clean the house of Christmas Eve so that she could have a rest and it was ready for Father Christmas visit and then after lunch we settled down with films and treats. She was very surprised when I told her!

[Tartle]

Gemdrop your story made me tear up. It just goes to show how Christmas can be made magical for kids whatever the circumstances.

My favourite memories are going to the carol concert the Sunday before Christmas as that was when Christmas really started. Opening stockings in the morning and then all rushing to get ready in time for church.

On Boxing Day we all used to go to my grandmas with all the cousins and she used to do us all an extra sack of stocking filler type presents followed by some quite competitive board game playing.

[Musidora]

Madison I love him!!

Love this thread!

[Dabisadancemove]

The Salvation Army band coming by on Christmas morning and playing carols on the street outside. Every year without fail regardless of the weather. Bizarrely we always seemed to forget they were coming....cue a lot of (good natured) rushing around for the charitable donation right in the thick of Christmas lunch preparation!

[TheBitterBoy]

We always had egg and chips for dinner on Christmas Eve, probably because mum was anticipating the amount of cooking effort the following day.
Also, we were not allowed into the living room on Christmas morning without mum and dad or all the presents would disappear. This was because they had been enchanted by Tinkerbell (who of course travelled with Father Christmas). Tinkerbell also used to cover all the presents with glitter, and leave a little pile of glitter on the plate we had left out the night before with a mince pie for a Father Christmas.

[ridingsixwhitehorses]

We did the same every year - wake up at home and presents from santa/parents, then to my grandparents mid morning but no presents until after lunch and the queen. Then watch Only Fools and Horses. Loved it all.

Doing very similar with my kids - wake up here but go to my parents for lunch with presents after lunch. Also make everyone watch the queen which I love doing.

But have brought in some traditions of my own too - a christmassy theatre trip (we live in London) to a kid/family friendly show on Christmas Eve. (We have done Charlie and Lola, The Tiger who came to tea and Father Christmas. This year doing The Very Hungry Caterpillar). Also new pyjamas on Christmas Eve. And a walk - my parents do not do walk. Me and dh insist on it, preferably with duck feeding...

[MTWTFSS]

At my Grandma's house. My parents always gave us small food portions but at Grandma's she fed us until we were full.

[ihaveabookaddiction]

The last Sunday before Christmas we always went to grandma and grandada. Dad was one of seven so everyone came with their Christmas presents and my uncle acted as santa and handed out the presents. It was the most exciting day of the year.

[SecretSaffron]

oh gemdrop what an awful situation to be in, but how lovely of your Uncle and family and how lovely you have good memories of it now.

[gemdrop84]

My dad left us on 22nd Dec, we had no money, he'd run off with the money mum had saved for our presents & bills, we were also out of electric/gas. I was 5, my sister was 3. Ended up at my grandparents for christmas sleeping in my uncle's bedroom. I got up late to use the toilet. I remember my uncle, his gf and her best mate in the front room with a ton of shopping bags. He took me back to bed. On Christmas morning I woke up to find Santa had bought me Barbie, 3 outfits, clothes and books!! We had a lovely dinner together and all cuddled up on the night eating chocolates off the tree. To me that just sums up Christmas, they all pulled together to give us a good one!

[Cliffdiver]

Decorating the tree with together and m putting the angel on the top.

Opening our stockings in parents' bed.

My parents used to do Father Christmas footprints on the mat with flour - I was always so excited to see them on Christmas morning.

Watching 'The Snowman' on Christmas Eve.

I got a personalised Christmas Book one year and my parents used to read it to me every Christmas Eve in bed.

[altik]

Sorry friends party in the afternoon, parents in the evening!

[altik]

Just asked my family...

DH says it's the way we just close off the world for a week and spend time together as a family, seeing friends and family and having time together.

DD1 says she loves the way we have an evening decorating the tree. We put on Christmas music, drink mulled wine and spend the evening decorating the house. For us, this is the first weekend in December and it kickstarts Christmas. Also, the Christmas Eve presents where they get new pyjamas and a little something to get Christmas started!

DD2 loves the countdown to Christmas. The advent calendars, the Christmas candles and the joke present (a disguised present that the children get to feel / smell / rattle ) every day and if they guess what it is, would open early.

Our friends have a Christmas Eve party. I love that we go round to a friends and have a big party to kick start Christmas. Then my parents come over in the afternoon. We also have big family meal with all the aunts / uncles / cousins etc the weekend before Christmas. So I love the socialising.

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

Brilliant Madison

[MadisonAvenue]

Musidora, here he is waiting last year! Times are posted on lamp posts beforehand so we have a general idea of what time he'll be here

[Musidora]

My kids are far too old now so I get the dog wound up about Santa coming

Haha that's so adorable Madison.

I'm enjoying reading these. Especially the kind German neighbours who left presents on the 6th!

My best memory is going to open stockings on Mum and Dad's bed while they had cups of tea we still do this though we're now in our late twenties

[MadisonAvenue]

Every year Christmas started off in a frustrating way! I wasn't allowed to have the Christmas tree up until around the 20th. Everyone else at school would've had their tree up for weeks by then. We had a 6ft silver tinsel tree and I loved it, it was so pretty with the multicoloured lights on it.

Christmas morning my Dad would go downstairs, light the fire and then shout "He's been!". I'd rush down, followed slightly more slowly by my older sister (11 years older than me so in her teens and not prone to excitement at that age).
After presents had been opened, Dad would make us all a cup of tea with a slosh of whiskey in it. I know, I know but this was the early 70s. I still make myself a cup every Christmas morning.

He, my sister and myself would then walk to visit his cousins at their houses (they lived a few doors away from each other and his aunt lived with one of them) while Mom stayed home to make dinner. The walk took about half an hour and there'd be more presents when we got there, along with mince pies.

Christmas night we'd have a 'party' at our house. There'd probably be around 15 family members who'd come along. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and Mom would do a buffet. When I say party, the adults would mainly sit around chatting. There wasn't any loud music or dancing. i always had something new to wear for that night though.

We still have the Christmas float come around our street - I never knew about it until we moved here a few years ago but I love it. My kids are far too old now so I get the dog wound up about Santa coming and he comes out to the street with me when I put some money in the bucket. It's either the Round Table or Rotary Club who do it here.

[goose1964]

& a proper one having mince pies & darjeeling before opening our presents and proper breakfast after

[goose1964]

asking shall we go to midnight mass & getting a no

[Greenfingeredfun]

Anyfarrah a float used to come round my village too at bath time! I can vividly remember being in the bath and my mum calling to my dad 'I can hear Father Christmas coming' they opened the window and we could hear the very quiet music getting slightly louder as the float came closer! My dad scooped me out the bath and held me on the doorstep wrapped in a towel as I waved furiously at Father Christmas! It was years later until I found out the FC was in fact the neighbour opposite!!

[AnyFarrahFowler]

Christmas Eve my parents always had an open house, so family friends would start coming about 10:30am and the last family would leave way past bedtime - by that time, my brother and I were climbing the walls with excitement and we'd cuddle up with Christmas stories with my Mum trying desperately to calm us down (never saw Dad at this point - looking back now, I guess he was putting the doll house/subbuteo kit together, or bringing the bikes in that had been hiding in the garage, or whatever it was that year)

Every year a charity Christmas float would come down our street, music blaring, Santa waving, "elves" collecting donations in buckets - for some reason it always arrived at bath time, so my brother and I would stand at the window, waving in our bath towels

[Mrs5boys]

Citizenerased123 yes storyteller cassettes !!! I had the collection in a case ,, one red one blue ,,, I still have one in my loft !!! The christmas one was the best though ,,,, sitting in bed in the dark listening to the story of a chocolate soldier !!!! Also not christmas but watching through the dragons eye in primary school ,,,, this thread is bringing back do many memories !!!

[HandbagCrazy]

My dad always had to go downstairs first to 'check Santa hasnt fallen asleep.' He would talk down there sometimes and me and dsis were convinced he was sending santa on his way.
N Christmas Eve he also used to look out the window at some point and shout "there's the sleigh" and we would run to the window and not see anything. He always sounded so sorry for us "you just missed him. Are you sure you didn't see anything?...." He does this with dnephew now.

Also loved Avon stuff - I used to have quite a collection of soaps in the shapes of animals

[justgivemeamo]

yes bath oils and they left scrum mark

[charlybs]

The smell of tinsel, getting gloves and a beano annual in my stocking (aged 27 this still happens haha) and my nan's veggie sausage rolls which are delicious and I don't know how she makes them so yummy.

I have to watch muppet Christmas carol as well. Have done for years. It is SUCH a good film!

Thanks everyone for the trips down memory lane - I had the body shop pineapple putty stuff and hadn't thought about it since I used it up probably!

[Onehellofaride]

Loved the bath oil balls they would go in the bath and you would keep catching them.

Does anyone remember the Body Shop kids soap that was in a bar and you could squash and mould like play doh? I think it was pineapple. I loved that in my stocking and want to get DD some!