Childhood Christmas Presents

[Deleted User]

I always had a Rupert the Bear Annual for Christmas, it was left at the bottom of my bed on Christmas Eve after I'd gone to sleep and I can remember the excitement of waking up in the dark and crawling down to feel that it was there, I wasn't allowed to open it until it was light enough to read, subtle planning by parents for a not too early start. It was for many years the best part of Christmas. We had a stocking too and had things like crayons, a colouring book, marbles, a tiny toy doll or car (for my brother), chocolate money, an orange and a shiny shilling and one main present known to be from parents and a few smaller ones from Santa. Always there was a chocolate 'smokers set' where we got a cigar, a pipe etc. all made from chocolate (very unPC nowadays) and a book to read in the afternoon after lunch to keep us quiet.

skogar

Saychezza - you will be a very similar age to my Dad. Thank you for the insight into typical presents. I wondered if people made home made sweets for stockings/presents but wasn't sure if there would have been the sugar available to do it. Did you have any brothers or sisters and if so did you used to give each other presents and did you make them or buy them please?

Mrs Lurcher Walker - I would have loved a rupert annual too. The tactic would have worked well for me as I was a real bookworm. I'll have to remember that one - it's a great idea.

jackomdj

As a child in the 70's my Great Uncle bought my sister and I a chocolate orange each year. We really looked forward to it, it felt very grown up. The year before he passed away his daughter did his Christmas shopping and I remember being disappointed because I got an umbrella.

I still have some of my old Rupert annuals.

One year I got a toy organ.

skogar

Jack - Yes - I would have definitely preferred a chocolate orange too. As kids we regarded as a very posh chocolate and i don't remember ever having a whole one. It was always a few segments of one.

kerri_gt

GreyQueen wrote: »

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Oh, and we both got Slinkies one year, they were great.:rotfl:

Omg I remember my slinky from the 80s. It had a piece of paper in the box to stop it going rusty (or so it said) and if you put it on your arm it was liable to pull the hairs out :rotfl:

Frith

My grandad was born in 1914 and was allowed to chose a gramophone record each Christmas!

camelot1001

Always a coin and tangerine in my stocking, something that I still do for my children and they are aged 25-30. DDs BF thinks it's really odd!

I remember getting Pretty Peach bubble bath from Avon with a little peach on the lid and I too got a battery operated organ one year which I loved.

[Deleted User]

I was so happy with a cardboard doll and push out clothes made from paper with tabs that went over the shoulders, I think I got one each year under the tree from when I was about 4, born in 1948. Roller skates when I was about 8

In our box of toys, six younger siblings, I remember skipping ropes, a jack in the box, wooden cubes with pictures on each side to make 6 different pictures, a xylophone and I remember when I was 10, I got some hm stilts

A chocolate coin and a tangerine in the toe of a sock at christmas and a large chicken for christmas lunch

ScarletRibbons

I grew up in the fifties. I used to love those Post Office sets, and I once received a pretend sweet shop.

I once received a toy typewriter - you had to turn a pointer to each letter and type it, turn the pointer to the next letter and type it - it wasn't high speed! It had a painted tin keyboard, pretend of course.

Also, one year I received a John Bull printing set. You put the tiny rubber letters in a wooden holder, pressed it on an ink pad and then on to paper, I loved it.

Other years I got dolls (I loved dolls) a dolls pushchair, coloured pencils......happy days

monnagran

Well, I was born before the war and don't remember much about Christmas during the war years. Certainly nuts and oranges didn't feature. I had a HM golly in those pre-PC days and an old gentleman that I called Grandad, not having one of those of my own, actually made me a scooter from bits of wood. Even the wheels were wooden. I don't think it was terribly successful as a vehicle but I was thrilled with it. There was also a book called, Puffin, Twink and Waggle about a bird, a cat and a dog. I called my kitten Twink.
My children and grandchildren find it hard to believe that apart from a teddy bear, bought when I was born, the golly and a knitted ball, I had no other toys to play with. I was the eldest of all my cousins so there were no cast offs for me to inherit, and such were the times that toys for children weren't anybody's priority.
I did have a lot of attention from the adults in my life, my grandmothers and aunts and uncles all lived close by, and not knowing anything else I was quite happy.
What I did get were books. All my family were great readers and my mother would beg and borrow used books from anyone, so my lifelong obsession with books and reading was born at an early age. I discovered later that a lot of my presents had been second/third/fourth and counting, hand books.
They were the best presents of all.