Childhood Christmas Day Memories

[MarmaladeSandwich7]

I just saw a photo on FB of a typical 70s Christmas morning & it made me remember how lovely my Christmases were as a child ( I was born in 1965). DBro & I had pillowcases out on the landing & would take them downstairs to open the presents inside. We had to stay in bed til 7.30 which was pretty hard! Sometimes we’d have pork pie with a glass of milk for breakfast. Christmases at my maternal DGM’s house were the absolute best as there would be at least 10 of us round the table & she was a great cook. I remember my DGD ( sorry not sure of the abbreviations for Grandparents!) always being given loads of boxed chocolates which he shared with us. I acted as waitress, proudly serving drinks on a gold tray including what I viewed as a very sophisticated ginger ale for me! Also remember being allowed snowballs but we were in our early teens by then. Lots of games & my DGM played the piano so we all sang carols. I don’t remember watching tv at all at my Grandparents house & very little at home. Always a walk after lunch - my Grandparents lived in Yorkshire so there were some beautiful places to go right on the doorstep. We didn’t get piles & piles of presents but always had lovely things. I remember getting Galt wooden toys which were played with for years. DM would always buy me books as I was a real bookworm. What are your best memories of Christmas past?

Our presents were never wrapped either. We would come down and they’d be lain out on the sofa/chairs. We’d instantly know which one was ours. In later years I realised that my friends had theirs wrapped and I felt the odd one out (not that I minded them being unwrapped all the way through childhood!) so it’s interesting that others didn’t.

Only downside is that I asked for a Mr Frosty every year and didn’t get one!

Hahahalol! I always asked for a Mr. Frosty, too...never got one, either😂
Maybe he was just a myth.

My big sister and I always got a new doll. One year, we got life-sized dolls with a beautiful outfit and long blonde silky hair...by the next day, I had my new doll's outfit changed, and she never wore it again. I also thought she needed a haircut and a bit of lipstick.

I'm from the US. Our Santa stockings were wherever the Christmas tree was. My parents stuffed them with tangerines and walnuts in the shells which we had to bang with a hammer if we wanted to eat them.
We always got a new pair of pajamas and slippers, too.
This particular year, we also got a little table with 4 chairs so we could eat breakfast with our dolls.

I remember the sheer excitement of going to bed on Christmas Eve then finding out that Santa had been and my plastic sack was full of stuff.

After that I hated Christmas day. Boring lunch with me, sister and parents. Nobody ever came to ours and we never went anywhere. I was so jealous of friends who mixed with family members.

For me it was all about the anticipation.

I would always wake up excited in the early hours and creep downstairs, but often my mum was still awake doing stuff and I'd just be sent straight back up. My sister and I would still get up ridiculously early and come down and see all our presents there in a huge sack, one of each of us. It was very magical. We'd get chocolates that we would never see at any other time of year, like chocolate oranges and Neopolitans. We would always get a Christmas Annual to read and usually a new board game which we would play later in the day. As well as a main present and other things.
We always spent Christmas with our maternal grandparents who lived near us, and we'd have dinner either at our house or theirs. One year I have a clear memory of it snowing and of me walking up to my grandparents with my doll's pram, which was probably a present that year. After dinner we'd always want to play our board games straight away but my mum and grandmother always seemed to want to have a nap, then eat an orange or crack nuts open.
In the evening we'd play cards and I remember being allowed to drink some alcohol like Martini and feeling quite tipsy although I don't think my parents realised! We were both still under 10 so it's not something that would happen today!
Boxing Day would be mostly a repeat of Christmas Day but without the presents and at the other house.