What was your favourite thing about Christmas as a child?

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Mine were:

Getting the radio times and highlighting everything I wanted to watch.

Decorating the tree and putting the presents around it while checking the labels to see which were for me!

Christmas Eve sitting in front of the fire with my sister watching tv while our parents did last minute preparation, then opening a present after midnight mass (a teenage happy memory).

As a younger child, being allowed the portable tv in my room on Christmas Eve so I could watch early morning cartoons and not wake anyone. And the best thing, finding my filled stocking (I don't recall remembering Father Christmas, so my memories are knowing it was my parents) and feeling everything in it before going into my parents' room to open it! I never unwrapped anything but used to feel all the gifts!

I also loved handing out the gifts from around the tree.

I still love Christmas, and having young children makes it even more amazing! We stay at home every year so we can do Christmas our way and pass down our happy memories to make new traditions with them.

The weight of my stocking on the end of my bed.

That feeling of waking up in the night and not feeling it, and then waking up again later and feeling it there... pure magic.

australian christmas so a very different slant....

evening street cricket with my cousins in suburbia (we lived country so it was so much fun)
swimming before, during and after christmas lunch. wearing bathers under new christmas dress/clothes. smelling of chlorine. getting sunburnt.
cherries, watermelon and a specific brand of vanilla icecream piled into icecream cones handed out by my favourite uncle

drinking lots of fizzy drink
my aunties shortbread stars with lemon icing
driving home after a long day, windows down, still hot, taking side detours looking for neighbourhood christmas lights
watching the griswolds christmas movie

Going to the christingle with my grandad and uncle on Christmas eve, then going back to my nans for party food. Watching Father Christmas on the online tracker website with my parents on Christmas Eve. My mum waking me and my dad up at 7 as she was too excited and wanted to see me find the thumb print on a piece of paper by the fire place from Father Christmas to prove he'd been. Many of these I will now continue with my DS.

God I miss Woolies.

Going through the Argos catalogue and writing a wish list.
Waking up and feeling my full stocking rustling at the end of the bed.
Waiting for my older sister and brother to wake so we could go into mum and dad's bedroom to open our stockings together.
The radio playing Christmas songs.
Waiting to go downstairs to see what else Father Christmas had left.

Radio times coming out, I still have to buy it! A tin of chocolates, they were such a treat as well as Turkish delight which seemed so exotic! Old people, lots of great uncles and aunts who just sat and drank small glasses of wine but loved to talk. The smell of my grandmas larder when full of cake, mincemeat, pickle and rum fruits!!

The massive excitement on Christmas Eve, because Father Christmas was coming. Ditto on the 23rd, because it was Christmas Eve Eve and not long to wait.

The Christmas tree, and putting all the much loved old decorations on it.

When my DM used to make the Christmas pudding, helping to mix it and making a wish. When still very small I once wished out loud for some raisins, cue laughter all round, and a handful of raisins to eat.

Wrapping the little presents I’d bought. (It only turned into a chore much later.). Money was tight so we used to unwrap carefully and keep the (ironed!) paper for next year - I loved opening that box, there was a certain Christmassy smell to it.

The food, esp. things we hardly ever had otherwise, e.g. nuts and tangerines then (before there were satsumas and clementines for months on end) - there was always a tangerine in the toe of our stockings.

At school I loved singing carols (still love them) - the first we ever sang at the beginning of Advent was O Come O Come Emmanuel, so that was super exciting, because it was the beginning of the run up to Christmas.

Basically I loved all of it, and still do.

I loved Christmas Eve: lunch out, cinema, carol service then home for Crumpets and milk. Loved it as it was proper family time. As we got older we were allowed to watch a film in our parents bed before sleep (Mum kept us out of the lounge by saying if we were in there we had to help to clean for Santa. Worked a treat!) As a 18+ teen I’d do everything up to the carol service, then go to the pub for Xmas eve with friends before coming home to help sort the younger kids presents which I really loved doing.

Christmas Day:
Waking up to the smell of turkey cooking. The moments sitting on the stairs before going into the lounge for presents. Being allowed to eat chocolate for breakfast. Playing a big family game after lunch. Snuggling in PJs and blankets to watch Christmas TV in the evening with the fairy lights on and hot chocolate.

Love this thread!
I had the best Christmases as a child, me and my sister would always say on Christmas Eve 'whoever wakes up first, wakes the other one'
We used to leave out a mince pie and a brandy for father Christmas and a carrot for rudolph. In the morning we would open out bedroom door (when we shared a room)/doors and see a big sack of presents each. We'd then sneak downstairs quietly to have a look if father Christmas ate his mince pie. I remember seeing a big Barbie house under a bed sheet by the tree one year , my sister shouted 'what's this, a fridge!?' I was like shhhhhh.
My parents had a 7am rule as we got slightly older, we used to sneak down quietly and take them a cup of tea up at 7 or a little earlier ,(my mum would leave out the mugs with tea bags, sugar and spoon already in them) we would get the dog all fussy and excitable too and get her to come up with us and then we'd go in their room and get the dog to jump on the bed to wake them up. (Dog was never allowed on furniture so it was a treat on Xmas 😁)
My dad always asked "has he been?"
It was then tradition to all sit on my parents bed to open our presents. When we got to teenage age we sat downstairs instead and my sister was usually the designated present hander-outer.
Christmas day evening was always spent with loads of family, alternating between our house and my auntie&uncles house. We'd have a big buffet and play games for prizes. These days my grandparents usually just go to either my parents or my uncles rather than everyone getting together as there's so many people now with kids.
My sister and I and our husband's always spend most of the day at my parents still, the year before last we all slept over there Christmas Eve so our partners got to experience our original family Christmas. I have an almost 2yo now so it's time for us to make it our own a little bit☺️

@mumonthehill me too, I go out and the buy the Radio Times on the day it comes out!

@GunsAndShips I'm so sorry for your loss. My Christmassy did (and still do) involve extended family and will be sad if this year we cant do our normal traditions.

@Aposterhasnoname I love that! Though if we did that my children would never go to sleep!!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER I will miss carol services (and nativities) this year. I'm hoping they'll be something outdoor and distanced organised locally if allowed.

BalconiWaferAddict

I love christmas eve too- almost more than christmas day.
It's the expectation, excitement crackling through the air.
Hanging stockings, watching santa on Norad, whan I was a chikd I would sit with my nose glued to the window looking out at the dark night sky to see if I could catch a glimpse of Santa flying though the air.
I love the fact that the house is clean and tidy, everything ready to go, things at their christmas best.
Some years we now have mulled wine and Carols from Kings with a few friends over at hours late afternoon- just a couple of drinks for two hours or so.
DD and I often bake biscuits for Santa ( despite the fact she is 20), with a glass of something fizzy on the side.
Christmas eve dinner is something to keep the kitchen clean- so sometimes a takeaway, or something super easy.
Then polar express, hanging stockings and bed.

I don’t have a big extended family- it was just mum, nan and 2 of my sisters (the 3rd was born when us older girls were teens)

My mum used to go overboard with decorations, not by today’s standards but we always had a house full. She would decorate the front window with little ornaments and lights and we would go out into the street in our pjs and dressing gowns and watch while she switched the lights on. Was magical!

We only had fizzy drinks at Xmas- there was a milk float type delivery service that used to bring us the bottles in so many different flavours. Funnily (or not) enough I think they were called Corona!

As the oldest, I used to go Christmas food shopping with our mum on Christmas Eve or the day before. I got to pick the sweets and snacks out.

GunsAndShips I am sorry for your loss.

OH and I have only one surviving parent between us, I know how bereavement can cause a hole.

@Wherearefoxssocks

- going to see Fenwicks window then going round their toy floor (anyone in the north east knows what I mean!)

• the school nativity play
• Christmas eve. Picking up the turkey with my dad, wrapp8ng presents, making a chocolate log. Once my nana arrived, that was it, Christmas had officially started. It's still my favourite day of the year
• my The Snowman bedding HAD to be on my bed
• waking up with my stocking heavy on my toes and going into my parents room, then going downstairs to see if Santa had left anything there.
• my aunt arriving with a HUGE bag of presents (it wasn't really. She just bought multi packs of sweets, socks etc and wrapped them all up separately, with maybe one proper present in there somewhere. It wasn't expensive and there was no tat, so nothing went to waste. I loved it
• as a teenager, singing at midnight mass and exchanging presents with my friends in church

Mine was Bainbridges I am sure they devoted an entire floor to Christmas, although I may be misremembering!

Also at primary school, making the endless paper chains, singing the Christmas carols in assembly, and posting the Christmas card to your friend who sat next to you in the cardboard post box in the school office

There is always room for Santa magic!
My youngest is 20- we still bake christmas biscuits and mince pies to leave out on christmas eve.

Oh I love this. I’m going to try and keep our traditions going this year and hopefully DC will be onboard.

There was a tradition in our house for the women to do nothing. DF would cook and DB’s wash up.

I grew up in the 60s and Xmas was special as there weren't many treats during the year. I had a lovely childhood ..not many material things, but my dad especially spent time with me.
I loved my nana's mince pies, being given a snowball to drink, a netting selection box and a winceyette pillowcase at the end of my bed.

Great thread, it’s really made me smile.

Christmas Eve was always the highlight, especially the going to bed and waking up with a heavy stocking by my feet. Back in the 80s always used to get a selection box which was in the shape of a stocking with netting over it, and had a full size mars bar, marathon, opal fruits etc...not like the diddly chocolates you get in a lot of selection boxes now.

Also, agree with previous post, Christmas tree lights were nicer, softer, more pastel colours. I love Christmas, in my 40s now and it’s still my absolute favourite time of year :)

I kind of loved the feeling of not being able to sleep on Christmas Eve. I always loved Christmas Day - the family would come round and have a meal, and my brother and I always got really exciting presents, toys, chocolates, games etc. It sounds materialistic but the thought and anticipation of what the day might be like was amazing. And in the evening my dad would make a buffet and we'd grab whatever we wanted (we were allowed to eat plenty of crap at Christmas!) and put a Christmas movie on .. and we would always get some nice bubble bath so I loved my Christmas Day bath.

When I think now about how happy I used to be at Christmas, it makes me almost want to cry .. I haven't felt anything like it for years and years.

-Sitting up late with my sister on Christmas Eve watching films

-getting the Radio Times and my sister and I circling all the films we would watch
-fantasizing about the perfect Christmas

Without TV and my sister, Christmases would have been fairly shit tbh!!

• decorating the house and trimming the tree with my dad. We always had the same Christmas album playing and it was wonderful. This is the bit I miss the most now he has gone

• Christmas light safaris where we would drive about looking at everyone’s decorations and trees in the window. The sight of a Christmas tree in a window makes me so happy even now.

• waking up with the weight of the stocking on your feet and carrying it in to mum and dad. Can’t ever remember opening it in their room but I do remember my mum snuggling me down in the hope that I’d get a couple more minutes sleep! Usually worked too!

• my favourite Christmas Eve memory is the smell of my mum cooking the ham. That smell zooms me back to Christmas Eve every time and I love it so much.

At home:

Decorating the tree on Christmas Eve, especially the smell of the tree;

My father rubbing balloons on his hair and then making them stick on the ceiling;

Feeling the pillowcases on our beds on Christmas morning - and not being allowed to go into my parents' room to open them for hours (probably something perfectly reasonable like 7.30);

My mother making sure that we didn't ruin the paper on big presents, so it could be re-used, and making lists of who had given us what so we could write our thank you letters;

Food that never appeared any other time of year, like Meltis fruits, candied orange and lemon slices, and the big tin of biscuits sent by a Swiss friend of my mother's (they were square with funny white icing sugar on the top).

At primary school:

Making paper chains. We were allowed to take home the chains made with what we had brought, so then we put them up at home;

Making Christmas cakes. Everyone was asked to bring certain ingredients and then we all had a go at stirring it. The youngest and oldest child in each class were allowed to lick the bowl and spoon (never me, unfortunately). We ate it on the last day.

Singing Carols. Being reminded every year that in "We wish you a merry a Christmas" it is 'to you and your kin', not 'to you and your king' (we didn't use books so everything was sung from memory).

Happy memories!

When I was a child, the first hint of Christmas was the arrival of the annual parcel, in early December, from my Grandmother. She had been a Cook General in a large Edwardian household, and still kept up a lot of their traditions, so she would send us a large rich fruit cake and a Christmas pudding, to herald Christmas!

Not long after that, we would celebrate the Feast of Saint Nicholas on 6th December, with a gift of sweets and a spicy biscuit in the shape of a bishop with his mitre and crozier. These were made by my Dad, in a lovely mould, which I still have.

Nice Christmassy smell in the house.
Everything pretty and decorated.
TV.
Different food.
Presents under the tree as well as pillowcase and stocking which I dragged into parents' bedroom at crack of dawn.

My parents’ Open House on Christmas Eve. Friends and neighbours would all call in at various points throughout the day, and the house was full of music and chatter and food - just thinking about it now makes me feel all warm & fuzzy