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

123578

Comments

  • JJ. wrote: »
    I apologise in advance, this might turn into a long post.

    I'm going back a fair few years here, to the mid 70's when I was but a young girl.

    In the many weeks leading up to this Christmas, my mom and I would gaze longingly at all the new foil decorations that seemed to be in abundance in Woolworths Christmas section. They were all shiny and glittery and were so new. My mom said one day we'd have some, but not this year......

    Christmas was nearly upon us, and our house was about as festive as a gnat bite. Mom and dad had brought out the boxes of decorations from the loft, but on close inspection it was decided that the rolls of crepe paper streamers were just too tatty to hang that year. So, all we had was a small Christmas tree, with half the amount of decorations on it than we'd normally have.

    Christmas Eve, off to bed I went, an excited little girl, scrunching my eyes up tightly; and wishing myself to sleep.

    I don't know what time I woke on Christmas morn, but it was still dark. I can remember creeping downstairs, to see if Santa had been. Halfway down the stairs I stopped, (not sitting like Kermit) but curious as to what the glow was that was emitting through the glazed door of the hall into the lounge. I'll never forget the sight that greeted me when I opened the door. Bless my mom and dad, god knows how much they must have gone without, and how long they'd saved for. But the lounge looked spectacular. New, glistening decorations adorned the room, hanging prettily from corner to corner and draped over pictures, were some of the decorations that I'd gazed at over the previous weeks. Gone was the small tree, replaced by one that towered over me, shiny new baubles hanging amongst ones we'd had for years. Fairy lights twinking, smiling at me. Do you know, I can't for the life of me remember what presents I had that year, but I will never, ever forget that Christmas. I don't think I stopped looking at the tree all day... Just wonderful. I just wish I could tell my parents now, just how much that Christmas meant to me. God bless em.

    Thank you Mom and Dad, for such a wonderful, wonderful memory. Merry Christmas.

    Thanks for sharing , as a new comer I just had to comment on this , made me feel all Christmassy , wishing you a very Happy Christmas with lots of new memories
  • We always had a Santa boot on the table which held each name on a piece of folded paper. After dinner, we passed the boot around the table, each took a name out. The paper would state things like "uncle Jack, look in the bookcase, third shelf". We all had a present hidden somewhere in the house- and had great fun finding them!

    :j
  • KDC
    KDC Posts: 133
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Back in the late 60's before my parents divorced is my fondest Christmas memory. My grandfather came to the UK from Sicily. We were told that he was the co-owner of The Brompton Grill in London and each year close to Christmas the restaurant would have a very posh Dinner Dance. My Gran would take my sister and I up to the restaurant via train during the day. We would see all the chefs and waiters and all the other staff. They were mostly Italian and always had time for us and made lots of fuss of us. We saw the tables laid out with more than 1 set of knives and forks which amazed us!!

    There must've been a flat above the restaurant as I remember being up there, watching the original Sinbad and the Golden Fleece film on the tv and being treated to a huge bar of Bourneville chocolate. There were in fact 2 thin bars in the one package!!

    All the guests at the dinner dance received gifts like a powder compact for the ladies - very posh, expensive gifts at the time. We went there for several years and the staff always remembered us and it felt so wonderful.

    I still remember it so clearly and it always makes me smile :)
  • flizzy
    flizzy Posts: 89 Forumite
    Every year my brother and I would leave our letters for Father Christmas under the front door mat on 1st December as we didn't have a fireplace and our parents told us he had a special front door key for all the houses without chimneys! The next day Mum would have sprinkled glitter under the mat to make it really magical :-) I remember that feeling of excitement going to check under the mat in the morning for the glitter - such a simple idea but really special for us.

    I also remember one Christmas Day, the first after my Grandma had died, we had our presents in the morning as usual and had Christmas lunch, then Mum and Dad got out more presents. We weren't spoilt as children and would usually get one main present and then some stocking presents, so more presents coming out in the evening was a real surprise. It turned out they'd got us a second big present each - a Playstation 2 for my brother and a digital camera for me - bought by some of my Grandma's inheritance money. It was like one last present from her even though she wasn't there to see us open it.
  • I still remember the excitement I felt on Christmas day 1943 when I was 4 and a bit ...not just getting the china doll I had craved for so long but a rag doll made by my mothers friend, beautifully dressed in a smocked dress and lovely brown plaits (Hair?) made from knitting wool carefully sewn on to the head and complete with shoes and socks painstakingly made while the friend had spent the nights in the air raid shelter listening to the fighter planes low overhead. I kept that doll for many years while the china doll lasted but a few weeks before I dropped it and broke the head!
  • JJ.
    JJ. Posts: 122 Forumite
    There are some wonderful memories here, it's heart warming to read them. Thank you also to all who've commented and thanked my memory post. I'm glad it brought a smile to you all.
  • soba
    soba Posts: 2,166
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    I remember me and my sisters getting bikes for Christmas that my dad had got from the scrapyard and done up for us. And a very vivid memory of having one pair of roller skates (the kind that you put on over your shoes and laced up at the front and you could alter the length of them by pulling a metal bar underneath!) between the three of us. We never did get to wear a pair - only ever one at a time. It was a very exciting Christmas spent biking and skating round the back room on the lino!
  • My happiest memory was when I found a present on the bed then a trail of presents leading down the stairs to the tree. My Mum told me father Christmas must of had a hole in his sack
  • JJ. wrote: »
    There are some wonderful memories here, it's heart warming to read them. Thank you also to all who've commented and thanked my memory post. I'm glad it brought a smile to you all.

    It was amazing and incredibly inspiring. I'm still in tears. I have to say I'm sooooooo tempted to recreate this for my 8 (going on to 18) year old daughter who is starting to have little doubts about "his" exsitence this year! Thank you very very much, JJ and thank you to everyone for sharing such lovely memories.
  • Baking_Mad
    Baking_Mad Posts: 405
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 28 November 2012 at 11:04PM
    I grew up in Russia and have some wonderful memories of New Year celebrations (Christmas wasn't celebrated during soviet times). We used to live in the block of flats and celebrating New Year always felt like a huge family affair. We would spend the whole night migrating from one flat to next wishing the neighbours Happy New Year, dancing, singing traditional folk songs round the table and playing games. People didn't have much in those days but there would always be an abundance of food at New Year. Every child would always get a goody bag filled with walnuts, chocolate sweets and mandarins. The smell of exotic mandarins which you could never find at any other time of year still triggers memories of New Year in my head!

    One Christmas, when my daughter was almost 3 my husbands brother got dressed into Santas outfit and came down the driveway to wish her a Merry Christmas and gave her the present. She was so excited she never recognised him and still remembers that Christmas day very vividly.

    My husband too has a few fond memories of Christmasses. The one he remembers most is when him and his brother went playing football in their brand new football boots at 2 am! That wouldn't have made them very popular with neighbours! When he was slightly older, one Xmas him and his siblings found all the presents hidden around the house and were convinced they knew what they were getting. How big was their surprise when on Christmas morning they got completely different presents. It turned out his mum and auntie swapped the kids presents so everything they'd found before Christmas was actually meant for the cousins.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 606.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.7K Life & Family
  • 247.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards