Spill the beans... on your happiest childhood Christmas memory

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  • lollipopsarah
    lollipopsarah Posts: 1,333 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    What a fabulous thread thankyou OP, I'm so overcome by some of the replies that my mind has gone blank but I do remember my lovely brother used to make amazing decorations using cereal boxes and tinfoil.
    Please keep them coming folks - I may yet get in the mood for crimbo.
    xx
  • sisbod
    sisbod Posts: 166 Forumite
    my most outstanding memory was when it all went wrong!!!
    I must have been about 10 and it was just my mum and 2 siblings living in a crappy flat! Church mouse and all that
    We made paper chains and had stored them to put up nearer the time -only all the chains had lost their stickiness that we had to sellotape each ring before we could hang them.
    It was also the year that the chicken went off - my mum just sobbed but we had steak pie for Christmas dinner. I loved it!
    I cant remember any presents really but do remember the love that we had 40erm years later. :D
  • joolimac
    joolimac Posts: 1 Newbie
    Mum making the Christmas cake weeks ahead & getting us to make a wish whilst we stirred it - i have continued this tradition with my children until last 2 years when I haven't made one as I tend to eat most of it

    My Dad always cooked the turkey slowly overnight - getting up to baste it. Getting up on Christmas day the house smelled wonderful

    Getting an ironing board & iron and a Sooty annual when I was 5 and being overwhelmed

    Merry Christmas everyone
  • chattyviki
    chattyviki Posts: 3 Newbie
    I had to come out of lurking to post on this thread, there are so many great ideas for xmas, I'd like to share some of my own.

    Christmas Eve after I have laid out presents in the living room I cover the entrance of the room in wrapping paper. The children think it's done by Santa, they love bursting through it! It also means they can sneak down to see if he's been but are not tempted to open presents. (Score the middle with a knife, like perforation marks, or the paper just pulls off at the sides)

    I stick numbers on each present and I lay cards face down on the floor with the same numbers on, eg 1-15. Each child takes a turn to turn over a card then they both open their present with that number. I have done this for the last 6 years but this year will be slightly different. My eldest has asked for Maths questions and the answer is the present they get to open and my youngest (5) has asked for them to be hidden around the room so they have to find them first. (I'm always aware when numbering the presents what each child will open at the same time and I will buy inexpensive nik nak gifts to even up the numbers)

    I really look forward to Christmas :-)

    My childhood Christmases were very rushed, I think that's why I try and be so creative with my children and draw them out all day. I was 1 of 4, I remember we all used to go down together, spend 10mins unwrapping our presents, not seeing what any of my siblings have got, and then spend the rest of the day bickering with them whilst dad slept on the sofa and mum spent 2 hours in the kitchen cooking Christmas dinner.
  • laineygirl
    laineygirl Posts: 43 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    It was in the 50's and we were coming home from my Grandmas Christmas Eve party at about 2 a.m and it had snowed. Everything was magical and quiet.
    I was eight and my brother was four. My cousin, who was 10 had just told me Santa didn't exist.:( My father had heard him and had tried to assure me he still did but I was very upset
    We got to the top of our road and my dad picked me up and pointed to our roof.There was 2 track marks on the roof up to the chimney and the snow on the chimney pot had been dislodged.
    'Come on, we might just catch him' he shouted as we ran down the hill. ' 'Who' I asked.
    'Santa' he said.
    Well we got in the house and all our presents were around the tree, the sherry had been drunk, the mince pie eaten and the carrot for Rudolph had gone and there were wet puddles from the chimney to the tree which my dad said were his foot prints My brother was dumbstruck just staring and smiling his face was a picture and then we heard jingle bells fading away into the distance.
    'Quick you might just see him' as we rushed outside but we didn't, he'd gone.
    I found out later that my father:A had come all the way home instead of going to the pub with the rest of the men, got a ladder out and marked the tracks on the roof with the clothes pole, put out all our presents, marked out the footprints on the carpet and removed the sherry and mince pie. Whilst we were downstairs looking at the evidence my mum:A was hanging out of the window upstairs with a ring of bells shaking it to make it sound as though it was sleigh bells receding into the distance.
    Father Christmas did exist and it was magical that year because we had sleigh tracks on our roof and we'd heard the harness bells and Father Christmas had definitely been to our house. I was a believer for 1 more year:)
    Cheers:beer: Have a good one.
  • AnnieB129
    AnnieB129 Posts: 3 Newbie
    I'm certainly going back a few years now, when coal fires were the norm (even in the bedroom). One Christmas morning I awoke to see a small pile of soot on the hearth (the fire wasn't alight), and just showing a little way up the chimney, was.....could it be? A present which Mum and Dad said Father Christmas must have dropped on his way out! Well this present was for me the best ever, just one of those liquorice selection boxes, you know the ones I mean.... a pipe amongst other things.

    To this day my love of all things liquorice manages to transport me back in time to that bedroom, and the magic that truly was Christmas. :)
  • AnnieB129
    AnnieB129 Posts: 3 Newbie
    flizzy wrote: »
    "sprinkled glitter under the mat to make it really magical :-) "

    This is something I always used to do to try and keep the magic of Christmas alive for as long as possible for my son, I'd sprinkle some glitter, here and there, leading up to the Christmas tree (we called it pixie dust - dropped by Santas' little helpers) :)

    All too soon, the Santa magic fades, especially when the children hear stories at school, you know the kind of thing "how can one man go to every child" etc., but you see I always said that Father Christmas is much like the Chief of Police, there's only one of him, but he has thousands of helpers, who all wear the same uniform, but they all do the same job, and so it is with Father Christmas (I can even believe that myself)
  • jilltoon
    jilltoon Posts: 28 Forumite
    When I was little my nan gave me a present I will never forget. She bought a small red vanity case and filled it with all sorts of goodies a little girl would love. hair slides /bands felt tip pens barbie doll etc. It was such a nice surprise as she never had much money . Also I was amazed as I thought the present was just a case. R.I.P nan miss u
  • moneysavingmumofone
    moneysavingmumofone Posts: 4,296 Forumite
    What wonderful memories, thankyou all for sharing. :)
    I can still remember the delicious excitement I felt all snuggled up in bed waiting for Father Christmas, too excited to sleep but worried if I didnt go to sleep he wouldnt come! Every creak in the loft caused another rush of excitement. Could it be?? :j I can hardly remember the presents, except for a tv/video combi I got one year, the Spice Girls cassette album I got in my stocking (have got a One Direction album for my DS' stocking this year to carry on the tradition! :j) and the Barbie aeroplane that had a million tiny pieces on those sheets of plastic and my stepdad spent all afternoon untwisting all the teeny knives/forks etc off the sheet. :D What I remember most is us all being together and the exciting, magical atmosphere. Oh I am even more excited about Christmas now! :xmastree: :j
    'They only had one cow!'
  • bagby
    bagby Posts: 828 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited 5 December 2012 at 2:38AM
    My two stepdaughters would come round on Xmas morning but our presents always seemed to be things that were practical and not very exciting so I used to make up clues to where there presents we're hidden ie washer, fridge, bathroom, and the winner getting all their presents first would get an extra present. It was noisy and mayhem but they absolutely loved it and still think fondly of it now and they are 38 and 36. Another memory is coming in on Xmas eve with mud on our shoes and we told my daughter they we were really cross that the reindeers had trampled through the house. Now I plan the games on Xmas night that are suitable for all ages I try and find new ones but still have our old favourites. I can remember going to bed with my stomach in knots with excitement. My mam had once bought us perfume and had put a thirty shilling price tag on it - it was sooooo expensive I didn't want to use it. I don't think it was worth 30pence.
    ..
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