The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

MingVase

The only religious service I ever liked is Midnight Mass, long long time since I've been to one as we lived too far out to get there. Might be able to do it now down here though, I'll think about it.

monnagran

Florence, in my school costumes were of the simplest possible. Angels - nighties and a sparkly hairband, all the male characters wore dressing gowns.  Kings with gold crowns, (I always told the parents that any old gold crown they had knocking around the house would do) Shepherds with a teatowel headdress, the innkeeper with an apron on, Joseph carrying a crook.  One Joseph was the son of the local inn manager and his dressing gown was made out of beer mats.  That year, Joseph was advertising Watneys, Stella Artois, Heineken et al.

One of my mothers swore she would never come to our Nativity Plays again because she was  always reduced to tears, either from emotion or hysterics and ended up losing a contact lens.

I clearly recall the year the 3yo Mary suddenly bent down, lifted her baby Jesus from the crib, kissed him tenderly and tucked him back in again.  Before the Aws and Ahs had died away, 4yo Joseph, being older and wiser, gave Mary a sharp poke and shook his head reprovingly.  Dear, sweet little Mary responded with a vicious kick that knocked the crook right out of his hand.  This earned her a clout on the back of her head................An embarrassed Nursery Class teacher entered the fray and separated the fighting lead characters.
Away in a manger? 
Not in our school.

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
i hope you don’t mind me adding my boys nativity. It’s a long long long time ago but the school believed all should join in and it should be done cheaply so we had the traditional Mary, Joseph etc but also cowboys, soldiers, and the occasional princess to allow all the littlies to join in without too much expense 😀 

Florenceem

I loved to cook so my busy time at C was fine. As the years went by - I came to dread C as my then husband's heavy drinking ruined the day. The first C after I told my ex to move out - I had no alcohol in the house.
When I remarried - C was different - just the 2 of us and Mr F didn't have much time off because of his work. Mr F did social drink when I met him but doesn't now because of the trauma that alcohol caused in my life.
This C day - will be - what I have wanted to do for a long time - volunteer at The Salvation Army.

Florenceem

cuddlymarm - the school that my Grandchildren attended did an alternative nativity one year - The Naughty Fairy - I was roped in to make 30 elf hats.

Hard_Up_Hester

I used to love C, always did it on the cheap, the bits I loved were the sparkly lights, cheesy films and music.

Being able to sew means I have made many, many costumes three wise men, umpteen shepherds, reams of Angel wings from net curtains off cuts and even three pigs. One year I painted a matey bottle gold and stuck fruit gums on it as one of the wise men's gifts. The wise man who carried it was a little terror who usually caused mayhem. Everyone was amazed by his docility not realising that he was discretely picking of the fruit gums and eating them. Fortunately neither pva glue or the gold paint were toxic.

annieb64

We had the largest house so often had over 20 for Christmas  lunch. Dad kept a couple of big boards in the barn and would rest them on top of the dining room table. 

Goodness knows how Mum managed the meal. Dad was an electrician  and kept a spare cooker-a little Baby Belling- to lend to customers  while he fixed theirs so we used that in addition  to our own cooker.

I think the food was less elaborate. Just turkey, stuffing, bread sauce and veg. No yorkshires and no one was vegetarian  or had allergies.  Just Christmas  pudding or trifle afterwards. A couple of bottles of wine for the adults. Perhaps a beer for the men later and a Babycham or Snowball for the women.

mothernerd

My father was nasty sober and worse when he drank. Fortunately he always chose to work on 'C' day (he was a bus conductor, they were paid triple time and had very few passengers - just those visiting relatives and hospital visiting) so when he went to work the rest of us breathed a collective sigh of relief and started to enjoy the day. Supplies would be put away each week - mum would give me the 1lb of nuts and the 1lb of sweets from ww counter with the large square tins to hold biscuits and sweets to mind as she could eat her way through them whilst ironing. My best ever present was probably the garden swing, just before my 4th birthday - but they also bought a wooden baby seat for my brother, which they hung back to back with mine, so I could push him as well. 

I didn't have a lot of money to spare when my boys were small, but was a whizz at charity shop (fp activity set for a pound, so well made it did all 3 boys), second hand shop (10.00 for a small snooker table and not one of the cheap cardboard ones sold for exorbitant prices) and places like bnm (b-i-l scoffed when I said DS2 wanted a skateboard for a certain amount of cash, bnm delivered).

After divorcing my husband (due to his gambling - I think the year my mum gave me her wedding ring to sell so I could buy food was a particularly low point) I had even less money (he never paid maintenance) but mum would pay for large lego sets I found half price in the end of summer sales and I would pool money from my brother and other relatives. My particular triumphs were the games console (each game I paid for took 10 pounds off the price of the console, I also squeezed a couple of special price games from my catalogue commission) and the year they wanted bikes.

The main cost was split between my mum and my ex (he always wanted to hand over a big show off present whilst making no contribution to feeding and clothing them all year round) but the essential helmets and the bits like water bottles and  bells were financed through extensive negotiations, haggling and juggling. They were delivered whilst the boys were at school. I took everything out from under the stairs, very carefully put the bikes in one by one (there wasn't a lot of space) and then put all the 'junk' back (being poor doesn't mean you have 'nothing', it means saving every piece of wood/ plasterboard etc so that when you need to make repairs you can find something suitable). My neighbour was most impressed when I offered him the side bar for my great-grandad's bed to replace the architrave on his back door after a break in (he was a carpenter so could make it 'do').

After mum left my dad she came to us for 'C' day. I think the hardest year was when I was expecting DS3. Husband was working 300m + away from home so all preparations were down to me (not that he ever made a great contribution - the day before DS1's 1st birthday he decide to complete the shelves under the stairs so my kitchen was filled with wood and tools and then on morning he decided that as it was Mother's Day, he must go and visit his mother (in Wales) for the day, leaving me to make food for all the people he'd invited

The year I was expecting DS3 (having recently found out about husband's gambling), DS2 was still riding his tricycle up and down the landing in the early hours of 'C' day (he knew he hadn't been good). When he eventually dropped off I did the stockings, laid out all the presents and sank into bed - for all of ten minutes before the cries of 'he's been' started. Dragged myself down stairs and lay on the couch with a pen and notebook, as the boys were too young to know who had given them what (Ds2 couldn't even read the labels). At 9 am I went back upstairs, told husband he was 'on duty' and had a couple of hours rest, before starting lunch. Had to keep pausing to go to the bathroom to be sick.

However, as I tell my turtles, the things that go wrong, will become your family stories, retold over and over again. The new record player that set on fire on "C" day. The year my father's friend came to tell me a neighbour said dad was ill and had gone to the walk-in centre (cue turning all the dinner off, dash to pick up dad - probably too much to drink - and then reworking all my timings when I got back). The year the cats got through the protection on the defrosting turkey but only ate from one part (I cut of about an inch all round that part, gave it a wash and carried on as normal.   

Florenceem

Each year I make some C presents - I would get complaints if I didn't - one year I was told - you didn't make any of our gifts this year - oh yes I did - the scarves - must have been a good job.
I start to get ready for C in January - need to with 6 children + partners and 10 grandchildren.
I was asked yesterday if I could make a laundry bag for Dgs who is off to performing arts college next week. So today I have made a laundry bag, a sewing kit and an apron.

annieb64

I didn't  see DD2 at Christmas  last year due to the Covid restrictions.  She finally came to visit us in July and asked for her stocking