The simple things you remember most about Christmas

[crochetmonkey74]

I'm not one to judge - each to their own - but the juggernaut of Christmas 'extras' now seems mad and got me to thinking about my memories of Christmas- none of which were present based.
Things I remember most are : starting to see tangerines in the grocer, all stacked up next to the shelled nuts and with those boxes of dates. The grocers looked all lit up on the walk home from school- and it would make me feel really Christmassy.
My other big one is the feeling of a heavy stocking on the bottom of the bed- it was always filled with tiny things that I can't remember- but always a chocolate Father Christmas sticking out of the top!
We had a set of Christmas tapes from Readers Digest (just found a set on Amazon for way too much but bought it anyway)
also, we used to listen to the St Winifreds School Choir 'Christmas For Everyone' record and light our very cheap cinnamon smelling candle - even now any cheap christmas candle (the ones that smell of burnt plastic cinnamon) makes me feel all Christmassy

What are your simple festive memories?

[HandbagCrazy]

I’m back again

Remembering one off things now -
My lovely neighbour sending gifts around (she only lived there for a year). She bought me a small make up set. I was 8 and delighted.
The year my dad put a Wendy house up in the garden while we were visiting family. Can’t explain the excited shock on seeing that when we got back!
When I was around 14 and dsis was 11. We were all ill on Christmas Day. Dm abandoned the dinner and we spent the day eating toast, cheese and crackers, chocolate and nuts, opening a present or 2 every hour or so. No one got dressed and we watched films all day, while intermittently napping. It was the complete opposite of what we were used to but it was so nice and relaxed.

PS I have reported the thread to ask it be moved to classics if anyone else wants to do the same?

[whatkatydidnext1]

@HandbagCrazy
I’ve never asked a thread to be a classic before but I agree it should be.

[ScreamingValenta]

I have also reported to nominate for Classics

[FergalBurgal]

Big foil decorations from all the beams on the ceiling.
The wicker basket of nuts with a big silver nutcracker on top that no one ever touched.
The smells. So many different smells.
Circling the Argos/Index book and the tv guide.
My Mum and Aunt getting a little tipsy and emotional while cooking the Christmas dinner.
I hope my dc have some of the lovely, lovely memories on this thread...at least the modern equivalent anyway.

[bertsdinner]

My grans advent calendar. She had had it years and I loved opening the doors and seeing the pictures. She used the same calendar every year and just closed the doors, but I never tired of it.
I used to love the school Christmas party, basically sandwiches, crisps, jelly and a cracker, then a bit of a disco.
The fairy lights, they always fused and my dad would spend ages fixing them. Modern fairy lights just aren't the same (ie, they work).

[SingingBabooshkaBadly]

whatkatydidnext1 thank you, yes they were lovely DPs - I was a very lucky child. . They were pretty broke when I was tiny but they always made Christmas lovely. Your post about going out and buying your DGM a tree on her last Christmas is one of the many posts that moved me so much.

Is it just me or do Christmas trees not smell the same these days? is it because we never used to have non-drop trees? The smell was magical. Mind you, we rarely had a real tree. I used to pitch for one but DM usually insisted on artificial. One year she gave in and accepted the offer of a tree that a neighbour had in his garden. Once it was dug up and in a pot in our tiny living it was suddenly HUGE. Mum was and just kept saying 'but it looked so small in the garden!' Took up about a third of the room. I LOVED it .

Once I got a place of my own I started doing Christmas how I thought it should be - a real tree, tasteful white lights, wooden decorations etc. Then a few years ago I had the overwhelming urge to recreate Christmas as it had been in my childhood so ended up buying a tinsel tree and loads of vintage baubles on eBay. I even bought a load of unused vintage wrapping paper like the stuff PPs have mentioned - like thick tissue paper with a slightly waxy finish. I remember excitedly showing it to my DM thinking she'd love it as much as me and she was all the paper we have now is so much better! I even bought an unused 1970s box of Christmas cards. Clearly having a mid-life-Christmas-crisis!

[larry55]

It is lovely to read this thread. My childhood Christmas’s were in the 50s and 60s so earlier than a lot of these. One of my best memories was the Christmas Eve my df took 2 of us out (I am one of five) for tea. I think my dm wanted some peace. My dm would go Christmas shopping on a Saturday and come home with lots of bags.

One Christmas my brother had a large rocking horse for Christmas and as we unwrapped our presents on my parents bed he was given a parcel addressed to Silver containing a slice of bread for the horse to eat.

Reading this thread has had me in tears because it is two years this week since my dm died.

[SingingBabooshkaBadly]

larry55 I'm so sorry. Doesn't matter what age we are, we are never grown up enough to lose a parent . Glad you have some lovely memories.

[larry55]

Although I am sad thinking about childhood Christmas’ this year will be good as my four month old first grandchild will be with us.

[BaublesAndGlitter]

Larry i am a little similar. This is the second year without the lovely nan I mentioned previously, whose house smelled of Christmas. I miss her a lot, but this year is also the first with my beautiful, very small, very premature niece. Bittersweet that they never got to meet

Singing i have been through the same crisis. Started with artificial tree, white lights, red and gold decorations and everything just so. Then thought sod that and got a real tree (about 7 years ago). I've started adding multicolour decorations including ones from wherever we travel to. Then year before last I treated myself to coloured lights - now the tree looks amazing!

Another memory from me too - always having that nervous feeling in my stomach before doing the Christmas play in school, and the way the hall was so busy. Once in Royal Davids City takes me right back to singing as loud as I could even though I can't carry a tune

[Keel]

So many lovely memories just made me all teary.

[noeffingidea]

Making mince pies with my Mum. She had a special way of making mince pies - instead of putting a pastry top on them she would put a layer of white glace icing. Loved them.
Christmas tea which consisted of mince pies and about 4 other kinds of home made cakes. We were allowed to help ourselves. Christmas tea was the best meal of the day, dinner was just a standard Sunday chicken dinner, which I wasn't very fond of.
Going to see the nativity crib scene at our local church.
Our christmas stocking, always had an orange and a mars bar. This was a rare treat as we didn't get a lot of sweets or chocolate.
Going to church on christmas morning. I really didn't like going to church, but it wasn't as bad as on normal sundays.
Can't really remember much else to be honest. Nothing really stands out.

[noeffingidea]

Ooh just remembered another one, Going to see the christmas display in Fenwicks windows in December. Geordies will know what I'm talking about!

[littleredlipstick]

Being told off for waking up at 2am - still do this now and still get told off by DH and sons for it being too early
Spinners Christmas album I found this on vinyl not so long ago and reminds me of my dad
Asking my dad to crack open the walnuts as no one else could do it
Making paper chains and snowflakes
Best present I had as a child was a baby doll and my mum had knitted tons of clothes for it and made a carry cot from a wicker shopping basket with lots of lace and ribbon. It had a blanket and pillow as well. My sister had the same present but in a different colour.

[littleredlipstick]

Alternating with my sister on opening the advent calendar windows
My dad playing Father Christmas at the local coop store when I took my boys to see him, they never knew it was him and he made a few comments on things they wanted for Christmas and made it all magical. I miss him so much

[TheWildOnes]

I loved those carriage lights on the tree and cool ceiling decorations. Best Christmasses always at my GPs, it was the only day of the year nan used her hostess trolley so all the mountains of food would keep hot.
I loved the smell of going into the house, the real tree, the tinsel.
We used to have big family get togethers Christmas days, thinking back all the adults that were there are now gone, all died pretty young, my grandparents, my mum and my auntie and uncle.
Her home used to be like a grotto, i had a pretty shitty upbringing but Christmas was always made special by my Nan.
I wish I could make my kids Christmas even half as amazing but I never feel like it is.
I'd love to do a huge family Christmas now.

[Skittlesandbeer]

We weren’t allowed into the living room (lounge?) on Christmas morning until we heard the tinkling first notes of Bing Crosby’s Christmas album being played.

Mum & dad always had us open presents to that music, and just hearing it in the shops (5000 times an hour) still gives me a tingle!

My granny was a great one for Christmas pudding. We all pretended to like it to make her happy. After she died we stopped having pud, but we have a small glass of brandy and a dollop of brandy butter every Christmas lunch in her honour!

[whatkatydidnext1]

@SingingBabooshkaBadly
Not a midlife crisis at all nothing wrong with trying to re create safe and happy times. I’m such a traditionalist. Especially when it comes to Christmas.
What is SCREAMING out from this thread is that Christmas presents haven’t really been mentioned. No one has said, I never got this and I never got that. We all have some lovely memories and they are simple things, like the smells and sounds and people.
What I’m trying to say not very well is that it doesn’t take loads of money to make Christmas special, and our memories are all proof of that

[Novemberblues]

Yes absolution Xmas is about so much more than the gifts but I am sure many posters on this thread got a good amount of gifts! It annoys me when people say.. I am giving my dc one gift because we don't want it to be about the gifts.. To me it will never be just about the gifts whether you give one or twenty

[ShizeItsWeegie]

In my teens and early twenties I was a keen bellringer. In the run up to one Christmas, our instructor taught us to ring the handbells that belonged to the church and we went around the village ringing carols and Christmas songs. We made an amazing amount of money for charity. We only did it that one year though and I don't know why. Such a lovely memory. We all wore red tunics and floppy red hats that his wife had run up on the sewing machine.

[crochetmonkey74]

Babooshka where did you get the vintage wrapping paper from? I would love to have some of that!!

littleredlipstick your wicker basket carry cot has brought a real tear to my eye and reminded me of two more memories:

Getting hand knitted dolls clothes from Jumble Sales and the like, they were always on a bit of cardboard with cling film over and a sticky label with the price on.
And my most memorable present was a set of small dolls with each having different coloured woolen hair- they came in my stocking and me and my sister LOVED them.
We always used to get a small 1/2 pound box of chocolates too- which my Mum carried over from her childhood- I don't think I have seen any little boxes of chocolates for ages.

[glitterlips1]

Foil decorations which kept falling down
Coming home from school and see that my parents had put some christmas lights on and the tree was up
Writing out my class christmas list
The red post box at school and the excitement of receiving card from friends at school.
The smell of the turkey cooking overnight on Christmas Eve
Opening up one present before bedtime on Christmas Eve, was usually a present from my grandparents.
Massive tubs of Quality Street and Roses - I don't buy them now.
Multicoloured Christmas lights
My Dad's Christmas Trifle
School Christmas nativity

[whatkatydidnext1]

@crochetmonkey74
You may find it on amazon. Also the Christmas gift shops you find sometimes sell it. I saw some on Saturday it was £4.75 a sheet

[MrsHathaway]

Is it just me or do Christmas trees not smell the same these days?

Singing, I've picked up some weird "tree smell" sticks in B&M which smell absolutely like a Christmas tree ought to. The idea is that you hide them in the tree as time goes on so the smell lasts.

I think the main difference is that we have trees up for much longer - nowadays it's usual to put them up at the beginning of December, whereas I'm sure it was more normal in the 80s/90s even to put it up on Christmas Eve or shortly before. You didn't need non-drop for a tree that was only up for a fortnight in a house that wasn't generously centrally heated.

[LornaMumsnet]

Waking up early hours to a full stocking at the end of the bed, eating copious amounts of chocolate before even making it downstairs and feeling a little bit sick for the rest of the day.

We're sending this thread over to classics now!