Easier to be OS in the olden days?

115K

Did anyone else used to get a bar of chocolate or a packet of sweets on a Sunday as a reward for going to church?:D

Catcherupper14 wrote: »

My parents would have at least three meats with all the trimmings, a large pudding and a large cake, several pounds of nuts in their shells, dates, figs, sugared orange and lemon slices and several boxes of chocolates. They would also buy a range of spirits and mixers, port, sherry, several packs of beer and dozens of fizzy drinks.
I almost forgot the After Eights, Matchmakers, twiglets, salted peanuts, crisps, oranges, tangerines, trifles (home made), pints of cream from the milkman, bottles of fresh orange juice (again from the milkman).

I was thinking this exact thing about Christmas today. I bought two packs of Twiglets to go in my store cupboard and it reminded me of my Mum, my Nan and My Gran all having the Christmas goodies stocked up in the weeks before Christmas. I always buy my hubbie Matchmakers at Christmas even though I don't buy them at any other time of year.:rotfl:

candlelight_2013

Isn't this a lovely thread?

We always had a lovely Christmas, although money was short. Mum and Dad made sure we had presents in a pillow slip, together with the usual nuts and orange.

Dad always bought us a book, usually a classic, like Charles Dickens and he would always put the year on the front page. They would always try to buy us the one present we asked for (we knew not to ask for anything too expensive) then always had a stationery set, usually a new fountain pen for school and possibly a pencil case, or a new satchel if needed.

I was lucky to have 2 sets of grandparents. Dad's parents were not wealthy, but they were definitely comfortable. They would give Mum and /Dad money to buy us some new clothes, and that was a big help to them. We always had a selection box off the grandparents as well so that we had something to open from them on Christmas Day.

Mum's Mum and Dad were quite poor, my Grandad having not worked for 15 years duing the depression and didn't have a well paid job later. Grandma always, every year, bought me a Rupert Annual, now bearing in mind she had quite a few grandchildren because Mum came from a large family, it must have been quite difficult for her. I will say, though, she made the best welsh cakes I have ever tasted, and she never weighed anything

Our 2 daughters were born in 1968 and 1972, and money was short for us then because I stayed at home and Himself wasn't well paid. I used to knit and sew, both for them and their dollies, and make new blankets and sheets for their dolly's cribs. I loved making these things and we always managed to have a lovely Christmas.

We don't buy loads of food now, because other than Christmas Day there are only the 2 of us, and to be honest we don't eat nearly as much as we used to when we were younger.

Candlelightx

[Deleted User]

It was a far cry from all the must have electronics, latest phones and designer clothes that even 5 year olds seem to expect to get these days. When our two were young (1978 and 1984) we were cash strapped too as I was also a stay at home mum but they got one big present, a cabbage patch doll or in one year a brittans farm but they also got homemade bunk beds and a crib for their dolls and homemade clothes for them and covers etc. then they got books, magic painting books, one thing they loved was a tiny sweet shop with tin scales and tiny bottles of real sweeties to weigh out and they loved the year that I made them a shop by saving packets from things we'd eaten and filling them with paper and resealing them. He Who Knows made them a sledge when we had snow and there were always little things to make up the numbers, a bottle of Matey bubble bath, some hair bobbles, a pair of lacy edged socks things like that. I don't ever remember them expecting presents that cost hundreds of pounds or asking for anything that expensive either. Christmas was more family time with nice food and going on the santa special steam train on boxing day and walking in the woods on christmas afternoon then going home for tea not so much what you could show off to your friends with but then both of mine are happy to be the individuals that they are and don't feel the need to be the same as everyone else so the must haves aren't and never have been a problem.

dronid

It was difficult but quite happy times. It's true that if you don't appreciate what you have then you won't enjoy more. So many people seem to have excess but rarely enjoy it. I have everything I need and pretty much everything I want but I do recognise that we had far less in the past and appreciate all we do have.

patchwork_cat

I obviously had quite a different experience from others, admittedly as I was born in the mid 60's I am a bit younger, but not everyone lived how is being described. We had heating, an indoor bathroom and washing machines, as did both my grandparents. My grandparents had lived in the same house since 1937 and it had an indoor bathroom from construction, there was an outdoor lavvy ( which Grandpa did his business on!), but it wasn't used apart from that daily morning visit, with his preferred izal paper!!

candlelight_2013

LYN do you remember the Post Office sets as well. If we had one at Christmas we probably shared it, and used to put the fireguard on the table so that it looked like a real Post Office, and one of us would sit behind it pretending to be the Post Office assistant.

I can also remember the sweet shops and scales, what fun my 2 girls had with that, and very often Himself and I would make things that were shown on Blue Peter at Christmas time.

We used to cut branches from the trees in the garden and put glue and glitter on them, oh my goodness that glitter went everywhere

I don't think I am looking at past Christmases with rose tinted glasses, but I do think they were more fun because we just didn't have the money to do anything else and we had to be inventive with what we had.

Candlelightx

fiftyeighter_2

I use to love the Christmas,s. How on earth my mum did it I will never knows they were such fun times. We all had the obligatory stocking with satsuma, nuts, pencils, drawing books etc. then mum would decorate cardboard boxes, with our names on them, filled with our presses, bliss.
I remember one year I received a Cinderella watch. Oh I was over the moon, so thrilled. And then another year,I was 11 I think, getting pink net 1/2 slip to wear under a full skirt, my sister, a year younger got a blue one. We thought we were the bees knees.
My elder brother, by 3 years got a monopoly board game. He still has it to this day.
I,m loving reading all these memories.
I remember the Lino floors and mum washing them every day, usually with a toddler on her back pretending he or she was riding a horse. Dear oh dear. The fire guard was very ornate lol. My dad made it from an old iron bedstead. Well I say made it was just bent to fit around the fire. Lol.
And that lovely warm feeling of our clothes being warmed before we went to bed and underwear warmed ready for school. Oh remember the gloves on a thread through your sleeves, so they didn't get lost. I still did that when mine were young.

mardatha

My daughter was born in 68 and always moans that I gave her far better xmases than she does for her lot. She has 5 kids and spends an absolute fortune. I made things, knitted things, cut up sheets of foil and crepe paper for decorations, and had a ball doing it.
My sons seem to have landed on earth in pods at the age of 10, they can't remember anything lol.
I loved the Post Offices and Toy Shops too. The older I get the less I seem to want or need, and I like that.

recovering_spendaholic

Gosh! Post Office sets! I got one nearly every Christmas, along with three Annuals - Bunty, Mandy and Judy, plus other assorted bits like sweets, crayons and a board game. My favourite was Coppit!

I was born 1960 and we lived in a small house with no central heating, but we did have an indoor loo, and a fridge with a freezer section on top. We had a washing machine with a mangle on top, which I loved doing

There was much less choice and we were al much less greedy and acquisitive. The food choice nowadays is utterly ridiculous - no wonder there is an obesity crisis.

Loving reading the memories!

Catcherupper14

I remember the post office sets and little shops. We would get one between us and take turns to be the customer.


I remember when I was small my father made me a doll's house - from scraps of wood and hardboard, with knitted and stitched carpets etc. Far better than the many of the plasticky things around now.


We didn't get expensive presents - I think a watch was the dearest item (also a Cinderella watch). My next sister and I always got the same gifts, perhaps in a different colour. My mother could make simple clothes, one grandmother knitted our jumpers.


The one thing my parents struggled with was school uniform for so many of us. Ours was very strict and only stocked in John Lewis and cost a fortune - none of the £2 for 2 blouses from Tesco. Yet somehow they managed to kit us all out (with second-hand and hand-me-downs sometimes)