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

Heamol

When we were all little, we were so excited that it was near impossible to get us off to bed until we heard Santa's bell! As soon as we heard it, we knew that Santa was really close and we had to rush upstairs and get in bed, because if he saw us he wouldn't be able to leave the presents in case we saw him. Bless my poor dad who crept outside with a bell after dark every year!

We also used to go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve/Christmas morning with the extended family in Liverpool (us traveling from North Wales) so a long car journey was co-incidentally always part and parcel of the Christmas experience for us kids. We used to love it and listened out carefully in case Santa's bell rang and he got to our house before us! (Mass is now at noon on Christmas Day locally- so we are much less knackered!).

I do remember waking up one Christmas morning- must have been about six or seven years old- and checking my clock with a torch. I got my brothers up and we crashed into Mum and Dad's room- "Wake up, wake up, it's quarter past six!". My parents were very groggy and the festivities were well underway before they realised it was actually half past three- big hand/little hand problem!

We used to get the presents from "Santa" in a pillowcase at the bottom of our beds, and the presents from each other plus extended family members and friends under the tree downstairs (still do, in fact ). I always remember getting a blonde doll from Asda, with a voice box and a very strong American accent.

Mum and Dad were always very inventive with presents as things were always a bit tight when we were little (still is!). They got a special discount card for a trade warehouse that sold lots of toys and we ended up with lots of plastic swords, fireman helmets, fabric dressing-up tabbards, felt-tip pens, etc which were admittedly cheap but we always felt overwhelmed with the abundance of presents!

lollipopsarah

Am loving these,
I've already got the best pressy ever,
beautifull tiny little boy (grandson) Eli 2lb 1oz on sunday.
Can't wait to meet him on friday.
xx

iwanttosavemoney2008

My fondest Christmas memory is not actually a Christmas memory at all, but a birthday one.

I was always gutted that my birthday was just 5 days before Christmas and my birthday didn't seem as special as my brothers as my birthday pressies usually had Christmas wrapping paper on them etc.

However one year I was allowed a birthday party all my friends were there and we were having a great time. But when it came time to blow out the birthday candles the house fell silent as a knock came on the door. My mum went to open it and there was Santa!!!

He had decided to make an extra stop that year just for me! I was the most popular girl in school that year as Santa let everyone sit on his knee and make their Christmas wish.

YellowVurt

Wondering from September onwards if any of the UK main TV channels would have paid the rights to show the latest Star Wars films, in my case I was overjoyed when The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi finally came around!

Remember this is back in only 4 channel days not like today!

Remember going out to get the 2 week Radio Times special from WHSmiths when it came out mid December to see what the big Xmas day films were going to be :j

meercatsunited

I was about 10 years old and our family was like the Cratchets from scrooge in that we were very poor.
My dad had been severely injured at work some years earlier and we lived on meagre benefits.
we had a coal fire made from coke from the furnaces that my dad collected on his bike with only a short jacket to keep him warm but he always made sure we had a fire.
This one Christmas we had a small artificial table top tree and the lights were beautiful real candles because we did not have electricity in our terraced cottage.
About a week before Christmas mam would buy crepe paper and we would all sit around the fire making decorations, the room always looked lovely when we finished.
We each had been bought 2 presents except for mam and dad and one of mine was a kit to make glittery decorations to hang.
there was never a christmas dinner just the usual stew but we were all together and happy.
The tree caught fire when one of the candles fell over and no one noticed until it was well ablaze luckily it was near the scullery that had a big sink so mam chucked it in there and doused it, then we all had a good laugh about it.
This was also the only year we had any festive ale given to us by a friend and unknown to mam my little brother age 5 had a good swig of it making him a little tipsy.

now I prefer to give rather than receive and love the look of surprise and happiness on peoples faces.

merry christmas everyone

freddy27

My most magical Christmas was during WW2. As a 5 year old in Manchester, I and several cousins always slept in the cellar, away from the bombing. I remember waking up and feeling the Christmas stocking across my feet. I woke the rest or had they woken me? We had great fun playing with our presents. A game of snakes and ladders, with ludo an apple, but BEST of all a Dandy and Beano comic, and a new penny. We never even noticede if there were any bombs. MAGICAL it most certainly was.

moneysavingmumofone

lollipopsarah wrote: »

Am loving these,
I've already got the best pressy ever,
beautifull tiny little boy (grandson) Eli 2lb 1oz on sunday.
Can't wait to meet him on friday.
xx

Congratulations!! :j

scrappie_2

Oh wow -- thanks for this OP, I have had a smile on my face the whole time I've been reading.

I'm very lucky to have so many lovely memories of Christmas - some of which have only come back to me whilst reading this.

I was 7yrs old, my parents did not have a lot of money, but Christmas was always made to feel special. My pressies were always left in a pillowcase at the bottom of my bed. I woke up at 'stupid o'clock' and ran into my mums room, draging the pillowcase behind me. 'Mum, he's been' I cried. I was soooo excited. As was the tradition in our house I got to open my pressies while sitting in my mums bed.

I ripped the paper off one box and yelled out in the most excited voice 'mum, I've got a plunk'. I was just so over the moon to have a 'plunk' - clearly I did not have a clue what this was. Turns out, after taking off a little more of the paper I had been given the game Ker Plunk!

My mum and I used to make decorations to hang on the tree - I used to love this part of Christmas. I was 25 before she told me it was because we could not afford to buy any from the shop.

babymoo

These stories are lovely and so heartwarming!!

I have a few stories from when I was a child. My nanna was in hospital over christmas 1999 and we went to see her on christmas day and she was very poorly but her face was a picture when she saw us, we had agreed with the hospital and taken our presents in to allow nanna to watch us open them as we knew it would be her last christmas. She gave me a cat charm bracelet that christmas, it is 1 of my most prized possessions now.

Grandad used to make his house look like santa's grotto. I have 20 cousins and my brother and we all used to go around santa's grotto before christmas, it was magical. We were never allowed in the garage though, that was where santa's little helpers were busy making presents for all the children in our town.

Christmas eve was always amazing we spent the evening at my uncles house playing games and eating yummy party food and then new years eve was always at another uncles house they were the best times with all the family around.

Christmas mornings we werent allowed to get up until 7am but were allowed to open our stockings in bed before our parents got up. Grandparents would come over and see us and deliver presents that santa left behind at theirs.

Some wonderful memories, thank you OP for starting this thread.

viclspence

playing the chocolate game when I was about 4 (i have photos to remind me). i have a picture of me wearing gloves, scarf and hat trying to cut up a piece of chocolate on a plate