Christmas Nostalgia Then Vs Now

[VeronicaFranklin]

Christmas time always makes me feel nostalgic.

What is something you had or did at Christmas as a kid that you don't now and miss?

For me it's:

Family (Grandparents specifically)

Foil Christmas decorations that were hung with blue tack from the ceiling in every room...

We always left Sherry out for Santa...

Angel hair tree tinsel that you wistfully sprinkled all over the tree...cat...dog...carpet...

The selection boxes shaped as a Stocking with netting on...

Multi- coloured Christmas tree lights (the old style glass ones that used to get hot to touch and probably presented a massive fire hazard! not the LED coloured ones of today)

Toys R Us advert

Annual trip to see Santa at the Arndale which was usually some bloke who had a really cheap looking wig and beard and was probably not DBS checked!

Only having 5 TV channels so you had to sit and watch Christmas movies when they were scheduled to be on, which some how made it more exciting to watch Christmas films when they weren't available to watch all year round.

Christmas shopping with my grandma looking in the bustling high street department stores, no online shopping.

Searching the sky for Santa on Christmas Eve not tracking him on an app.

@Redwineandroses so true, the magic has gone because we have so much now all the year round. I never used to see a tangerine before December back in the 70's/80's ! The smell was glorious.

To be fair, the magic has also gone because we are adult, and do all the work, and know the truth about Father Christmas! We feel a lot of pressure to deliver ‘the perfect Christmas’ for our children from the world our there, which I’m pretty sure our parents weren’t, anywhere near the same extent anyway.

I’m pretty sure that my own kids still find a lot of it really magical and exciting. I hope so anyway!

Advent calendars with pictures. I was excited about what the morning's picture would be in a way I could never be excited about a lump of chocolate, as they seem to have nowadays. Always on Christmas Eve there would be a double door with the Nativity scene behind it.

I remember being disappointed if the picture in the advent was something “boring” like a cross - oh lord above don’t strike me down, I twas but only a child!

Cool pictures were things like presents or a stocking.

My mum used my Dad’s rugby socks to leave out as the stockings. My brother and I were soooooo pleased that she used such big socks, that meant more pressies.

We had pillowcases! Kept that up for my kids too. Easy to fit stuff into. But still the thrill of feeling the weight on your feet when you woke up.

For some years our stockings were the big, thick grey woolly sea boot socks my DM knitted for DF during WW2 - he was in the navy, on the N Atlantic convoys for 2 years. (I am a Very Old Bag.). A younger DSis recently told me she’s still got one - used it for her own dd (now 30) but it’s finally falling to bits.

I remember being disappointed if the picture in the advent was something “boring” like a cross - oh lord above don’t strike me down, I twas but only a child!

Ha ha, me too!

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER i love the thought of that old sea sock being used until it fell apart. Your mother would have loved that it had a long and happy life bringing joy year after year.

Going up town on the bus to see Jenner's Christmas Tree (Edinburgh)

Those that got the crate of pop from the milkman, did you also have a big sack of spuds delivered? And, they were covered in dirt! lol

Yes! I'd forgotten that but we did indeed have a sack of spuds just like that!

We never had stockings. Instead we would have a selection box wrapped at the end of the bed.

And they lasted for weeks didn't they? Not like the ones now a days sprouting eyes withing days! lol

Why on earth would cats be given alcohol 😱

Im 49 so grew up in the 1980s. Picture advent calandars with glitter on them that would go everywhere the minute you touched them. Mars Christmas stockings with the red netting. Marks and Spencer Christmas cake with the shiny paper round it that was frilled at the top (the paper not the cake)

The December issue of Woman and Home has a three page spread on 1980s Christmases

I know. 😶

It was the 80s is all I can say. And I’m not sure my parents were truly convinced that advocaat could count as booze. Or that it would be a problem for cats to have it even so.

I should assure you that no cat of mine has ever had the taste of alcohol on their whiskers.

Did anyone else burn the letter to Santa on the fire and the glowing sparks were magic writing that somehow communicated to Santa?

Sorry, that was a bit snippy of me to have posted that, it was an automatic reaction!

I loved my 80s childhood, but you’re right that some things were definitely different back then.

No worries! I think the face is merited. It was though seen as a special creamy treat so the cats could join in the festivities.

Memories of my childhood Christmases include:
Decorating our 1960s silver tinsel Christmas tree.
My dad, who was usually very strict, allowing us to eat chocolate at breakfast and giving us Coca Cola or Babycham with our lunch.
Watching Billy Smart's Circus on the telly on Christmas afternoon, followed by a big blockbuster film (Spartacus, Cid, Far From the Madding Crowd etc) and then Morecambe and Wise in the evening.

Memories of Christmases when my children were children include:
Family coming to stay.
Wrestling an enormous turkey into the oven at 8.00am on Christmas morning and cooking a Christmas lunch for 10 people.
Playing games and having silly quizzes with the family in the afternoon.
Going for a walk on Boxing Day.

@Wbeezer we used to take the Santa letters to my grandparents' house to send up the chimney to Santa as both sets of grandparents had coal fires whereas we had a gas fire which just would not have worked 😂

I also just remembered the special trips to see the Christmas lights and displays in the windows of the Croydon branch of Allders near where I grew up. Allders was a huge shop and the windows seemed to stretch on forever. In my memory they were better than any of the famous Christmas windows in London. So exciting in the 70s and early 80s.

New Year rather than Christmas but I once found one of my cats helping himself out of a glass of Baileys with his paw😯Obviously I confiscated it. He lived to the grand age of 19 so no long term damage done; I suspected he had a hangover afterwards though.

Yes! Loved my version of this from Argos! 😂

My fondest memories would be coming home from school some time in December and the Christmas decorations had been dug out ready to be put up. Mostly big foil ones that I loved. Also multicolored tree lights. One year my mum got us spray on snow for the windows and I was so excited as my friend had some and I thought it looked amazing.

Walking through a department store that was decorated to the max and filled with beautiful Christmas items.

Looking through the Argos catalog and writing down the order number of things I wanted.

We do none of these now. It's sad really.

Our decorations are minimal (mainly as I cannot find the big foil decorations anywhere).

There are no department stores nearby and the closest one we couldn't afford to shop in.

Our dc create wishlists online.

I hope our dc have fond memories as they grow up, even though they are different to ours.