Christmas past..

[Rupertgrintismyguiltypleasure]

What’s one memory or collective memories that stands out at Christmas?
i always think about the christmases I had when I was aged between 8 & 14

the Christmas week would start with us staying at Nan and grandads house whilst my parents worked. I always remember watching Christmassy Tv shows, blue Peter, all of them kind of shows. When I got a bit older I’d also spend the run up doing bagging at the local Tesco’s for scouts.
we used to do the tree the week before Christmas back then... gradually over the years it’s got earlier and earlier.
on Christmas Eve we would walk into the local town with the dog too, get takeaway, walk back admiring the lights. We’d come home and go to the pub across from our house. ( my Nan, uncle and aunt all worked there) we would stay for a few hours in the earlier years, got longer as we got older. I’d go home watch a nightmare before Christmas, it was on every year on Christmas Eve without fail, still do now.

Christmas morning started with us being able to open stocking presents before my parents woke up, it was so it would hold us over till they woke up. Finally we’d get to open our other presents. We would go around to my nans straight after, open more presents. Go visit my other grandparents for an hour come back Eat dinner just in time to see the queens speech. Everyone did their own thing for an hour or 2 and then we played cards whilst having all the Tv specials on in the background. We’d usually get home by 11/12 pm

Boxing Day we’d all go back around my nans, she’d do a massive Buffet, we’d watch Tv, movies etc and then it was a trip to the pub in the evening.

every year it surfaces to front of my mind and it’s just one thing I’ll never forget. I’ve kept a lot of the traditions with my kids, minus the pub bit... and having to leave the house, we just do it here every year. We still play cards, kids too, we play3d as kids so they do too, Christmas Eve we still have takeaway, except it’s been only Chinese for the last 14 years. Still watch nightmare before Christmas. Kids love it and I hope they will carry on some of the traditions when they have family,S of thier own.

So many… I’ve been a parent for 25 years now so there are many that surround the early years of each child. In my own childhood we had a traditional meal
at my Grans with the other relatives there, so many find memories there.
church features a lot too- midnight mass, Christmas Eve services, even going on Christmas Day. It’s no longer part of my Christmas but I do like a carol service if I can find one…

That's beautiful OP, how lovely to have such fond memories to treasure

So many memories. A lot of memories with my grandparents. My grandad loved Christmas and would decorate every inch of their house until it looked like a Christmas grotto. The stereo/record player would be blaring out Christmas songs. Big Christmas dinners at home or walking round to my grandparents, occasionally driving further afield to other family members. Carol singing for charity with my grandparents charity, shaking a bucket for passers-by wrapped up in my coat, scarf and gloves. Christmas Day walks. Driving round town to see the Christmas lights. Hearing sleigh bells but not realising my mum and grandad had them in their pockets. Getting dressed up for Christmas dinner in my best new party clothes. Boxing Day buffet with all the family and intensely competitive board and party games. Trying out a new bike or roller skates. All piled onto sofas in front of a fire with a plate full of special treat foods we weren't (and still aren't) allowed to eat before Christmas Eve, watching Christmas specials. Certain Christmas films and songs can now without fail make me cry.

I miss my grandma and grandad all year round but especially at Christmas.
My grandma did so much to make it lovely. I remember her house being really warm, bowls of sweets, crackers, the fake silver tree they had. I remember going to pantos and their friends coming over. I used to live listening to them all chat!

Happy memories:

Gorgeous tins of biscuits sent over from Irish Granny
My mums Christmas pudding - I've never tasted better
Ditto Mum's Christmas cake
Christmas specials on TV (Morcambe and Wise , Generation Game, etc..)
Midnight Mass
A new Enid Blyton to read on Christmas day

Bad Memories:
My dad always being grumpy and bad tempered (I think he hated Christmas)
Dad not helping with anyhting so mum was run ragged
Being poor, so knowing it was a big struggle financially.

I remember it being the first day of the holidays and we were cleaning and spraying polish everywhere (Pledge!) And dad went to buy a real tree - we probably couldn't fit in the car. Tree and decorations didn't go up until we broke up so 22nd December or something. Remember chopping and de-seeding grapes on Christmas Eve for the big fruit salad, chopping kiwi, satsumas, pineapple, melon, soaking apples and pears in lemon juice. Banana was added near to serving. Crushing digestives for the cheesecake, making mince pies, crossing sprouts...
We always had an old family friend over on Christmas day, she would give us one of those cardboard sleeves of miniature/ individual dairy milks. Not sure when they last made those. Dad would bring nan round boxing day.
Loved mum's Christmas dinner, there's always a stress about something - forgot to buy tin foil one year, I think the mushy peas were left in the microwave one year (clearly no-one missed them!) but they always pulled it off. Stockings, they were put on the end of our beds - dad's socks - all funny shaped and usually crinkly or rattly. The buffet for Christmas Day tea, amazingly we had room for it after lunch - Turkey stuffing sausage sandwiches, smoked salmon, cheeses, celery sticks with primula, trifle, cheesecake, fruit salad, ham, cheese biscuits. Incredible. Very food orientated memories, but it was home made and not fancy, just good homely food. I loved the bread sauce which we never had at any other time of year.

My dad's office held a Christmas party for children of staff every year; they went to so much trouble, we loved it. After tea we'd all sit on the floor in the biggest room waiting for Father Christmas to arrive. "Can you hear the sleigh bells, children?" and sure enough the silvery jingling followed by one of the male staff members lumbering in with a sack of presents. This would have been late 50s so there were far fewer presents and treats for most children.

I'm sure I've posted this in the past but always happy to remember it again!

I grew up in Ireland and my mum was one of five girls. I have tons of cousins. One of my aunties lived in England and every Christmas around the second or third week in December she would send an enormous box to our house that contained presents for the entire extended family. This would be the start of several weeks of endless visits to deliver presents, collect presents, and just generally feeling very festive and jolly. The arrival of my auntie's box was the catalyst that started all the festivities. It wasn't so much the actual contents that was exciting, but more the thought of what came next.

Also remember the decorations very fondly indeed. I can still smell the tinsel. Very particular smell. And the beautiful Pifco London lights, little multi coloured lantern shaped things, so pretty even if they were a huge pain in the arse when one of the bulbs blew (a frequent occurrence) and took all the rest with it so you had to test every single one to find the culprit. So many of those decorations I wish I'd kept but most of them were thrown away when my parents downsized.

Always always an apple, orange and packet of prawn cocktail crisps at the bottom of my stocking.

TV was epic.

Christmas dinner was the worst bit, the turkey was always like cardboard

I wonder what my daughter will remember when she's older. Every year I make a Christmas cake plus an extra small one that she gets to decorate all by herself. She loves that. And she loves when we get into the car and drive all round town spotting houses that have outdoor decorations and trying to spot the most garish best ones. I think those things will stick in her mind.

Good memories start on 1st of December when I was crossing the days out of calendar. Waiting for the first star in the sky to sit to start celebrating Christmas Eve (it was in Poland), me and my sister looking through the window, waiting for Santa while my parents were putting presents under the tree and telling us we just missed Santa (they even left window open that he used to leave the house).
Bad memories start on Christmas Day when guests arrived (usually one of my parents' siblings with family), dad having too much alcohol (not being rude or aggressive but having one too many and going to sleep after guests are gone) and my mum all grumpy because of him taking it out on us. Dad waking up next day with hangover and mum pretending all is fine. I don't visit my parents for Christmas anymore, I only know from my sister that it still happens every year 🙄