Now its over

[wales01man]

Now that another xmas is over are there any of you that feel like i do that the whole xmas thing should go back to when i was younger,
Then it was not rammed down your throat and shoved in your face from october onwards so much so that the day becomes an anticlimax?.
I remember back to xmas eve 1964 i remember my paraents going out for the food shopping and staying in with my brother and watching the film Tom Browns schooldays on tele on a red settee in front of an open fire when my parents came back we knew it was xmas the food was now there and the pressies went under the tree, we went to bed trying not to fall asleep knowing that tommorrow was THE
day LIFE WAS SO SIMPLE THEN . I dont know why that year was so special but nearly 50 years in it remains in my memory,
Now i only enjot the time as i can see the joy on the faces of my grandsons,
Would love to read anyone elses memory of a christmas past

[Bill-K]

Re: Now its over

Indeed, Wales. We seem to have combined a celebration of Christ's birth with a celebration of Saint Nicholas's good deeds. I am aware that other religions will not have these beliefs, and I wish to respect that - but Christmas seems to be a celebration of 'Family' to even those of us who have no religious beliefs at all. When we think of 'Family,' then we think of our kids - they are our future. But we cherish each other, and the generations look up and down the family tree and can see some apparent order to all this chaos that we strive to make sense of.

A touch, a hand-shake, a hug, a kiss - a friendly insult, even. Such things are worth so much to all of us - and yet we can't buy those things in town. I guess it will be that - in time - our own kids will say the same, and we will ourselves shed the same tear that our own parents and grandparents shed, when we see that realisation in our dear offspring. We are created by love - but we are not born with wisdom.

[enaid]

Re: Now its over

I remember lots of Christmas pasts, from being 6 or 7 all I wanted was a pony, I understood later in life that my parents could not afford to keep one and also they had no knowledge of horses at all so it would not have been a good thing to give in to me.
I remember searching the house for presents and if I were lucky enough to find one trying to guess what was inside.
My dad made me a dolls house one year it was lovely, I also had bikes and prams and dolls etc piano and stool (that drove em mad). Then one year think I was 11 all hush hush no sign of my main present just a note leading me to it, was this the year of the pony? alas no it was a Grundig tape recorder with a pre recorded Christmas message on it. This turned out to be the star of the party at my aunts house, you young ens wont understand the sound of your voice coming back to you through a machine was quite magical and very amusing in them there days.
Grans for Boxing Day playing cards and Snakes and Ladders lol usually allowed a little drop of sherry too, just because 'it's Christmas '
I also remember being sick one Christmas eve I think it was no more than excitement but out came the Fennings fever cure, mum was taking no chances on me being ill. Trust me when I say the sight of the bottle made you well again it was vile lol.
Even though I know now that my parents were not well off by any means, they both worked and hard too,but they always gave me a fantastic Christmas and always loads of love.
Bye the way when I was 40 I did get a pony for Christmas (well for my daughter too) so never give up on your dreams they often do come true.

[labman]

Re: Now its over

It's strange, isn't it, how we often reflect on those days of yore? For me, I wouldn't want what I had for my children, stuck in a boarding school until, as an 8 year old chorister, we had sung the final service late on Christmas Eve. Then, and only then, were we allowed home.

Despite that facet, the Christmases of old, we see through rather beautiful rose tinted spectacles. They were definitely simpler and appeared less commercial. Less money was spent, and because families tended to all live near to each other still, the family side was, for us, definitely stronger than it is now.

Like Enaid, we never went without at Christmas, though looking back at just how poor my parents were, it is hard to see how. I think, as children, we were satisfied more easily. Smaller things, which children nowadays would find boring, held a fascination for us. Technology was 'simple' so little things meant a lot.

I'm trying to recall the presents I remember most - Action Man go cart which had a short cable, BUT you could steer it which was brilliant; a game called 'Cascade' involving stainless steel balls and mini trampolines; Twister when it first came out; I yearned desperately for a Raleigh Chopper, but to no avail - a bike with gears was well beyond our reach.

Some happy memories, but I wonder, if we really could go back, which life we'd choose - the way of life then, or the way of life now?

One thing is certain - the best things of Christmas, both then and now, cost not one penny.

[wales01man]

Re: Now its over

I always wanted everthing but always got something from the list was spoilt in other ways that cost no money had parents that didnt but my love the earned it with their love

[TUTTSI]

Re: Now its over

I remember from when we were little my father always bought a round jigsaw and we all sat round the table trying to do this jigsaw..... this has carried on in tradition untill this year sadly which is the first year I have not been able to go and get a nice jigsaw or have the concentration to want to do this. We also played a lot of fun card and board games something which I guess people have gone more electronically over the years. Playing games with the family kept us all amused and we had great family togetherness. My parents also entertained a lot so we also had many visitors popping in and our house was always an open house. The one thing which my father did not believe in was fireworks and despite our pleadings he never gave in. Until this day, we have not done any firework displays as I can now see my fathers point of view that it was a waste of money. The most he would go to though was a pack of sparklers. Also, when I was young we had a very small black and white TV and there was not allday programmes like we have now so families were drawn together and made our own fun.

[Hurricane Puffrose]

Re: Now its over

Growing up in an Anglo/Irish family, Christmas was always huge!

Dad was a journalist in Fleet Street, and every year would sit and sigh that he had to work Christmas Day, Boxing Day and "Da day after da day after dat" and me and my brother would tell him is pants were on fire! The worse the Irish accent the bigger the fib!

The 15th would arrive and the Christmas tree would appear in the living room, and the words "Colour children.. I want LOTS of colour!" still rings in my head. It's still a tradition, Dad's birthday party and the tree going up on the same day.

The best gift he ever gave me wasn't in a box covered in shining paper, it was in an envelope. There were 2 tickets to see Take That in concert and under that was the signed consent form to take Aikido at school. I can remember ringing my best friend Angel screaming down the phone that we were going, and seeing the white trousers and ghi bottoms that I would be training in. Dad's smile lot the room, and he said No girl of mine is going to be a victim!

I can also see the look on his face when 10 years later, I was groped in the pub and I put the perv out on his backside with one move!

Mum doesn't like poultry so we always had a massive joint of beef, and a chicken big enough to feed Somers Town!!

On a side note, Dad always put the Christmas tree in the "Attic" ( a sort of cubby hole above the staircase) and I had the loft space as my room. One night, I came home from work after a really bad day, drunks, an attempted suicide, and I had been assaulted at work, and made my weary way up the stairs to my room for my solice.. music! I reached the top of the stairs and was accosted by a figure in black who pulled my hair. I went in to full defence mode, and with a swing of my legs I had the intruder sliding down the stairs, while I screamed for Dad and my brother Rob.. much merriment was made of the fact the Christmas tree was rocket propelled that year!!

[Inca]

Re: Now its over

Massive family,Christmas went on forever,huge tree,huge turkey,Xmas Eve all crossed over the road to Midnight Mass,(I kid you not,we lived opposite a church,I was haunted by the ding of that bell for years!!)Dad singing carols louder than anyone else(,big man,big voice,big load of beer on board lol)
Shops were shut Xmas Eve lunchtime and reopened after Boxing Day so Mum stored milk etc in the outside privvy!

Nowadays I still stick to the 'old values',I always have Xmas Dinner at home,we sit at the table,the TV goes off,and we have 3 courses,after the washing up we sit and slob for an hour or so,then the evening is spent playing board games with music playing.(I won this year ) and I wouldn't change a thing.

[MissFM]

Re: Now its over

enaid - sympathize so much with the pony - my exact experience!

Also with all the rest of you oldies who, like me, were delighted to get a satsuma (a modern improvement on the unpeelable orange!) and a bag of chocolate money along with a homemade "big" present (sledge, wonkey train or clumpy dolls house if lucky etc). Christmas then started on Christmas Eve with eveyone doing the tree, chopping veg and so forth, and ended promptly on Boxing day: a very short time but a very special one (even though some us also have enduring memories of what always did inevitably come on Xmas day ie the very special violence).

IT is horrible now that the hype starts in August with relentless ads and carols aaaaargghhhh! Don't think it's rose-tinted specs - think it actually was better overall - (even tho for me personally it is better now, with my family, as there is no longer the violence to dread - but there is the love to embrace) xx

:santa1:

[enquirer]

Re: Now its over

I liked Christmas better in 1 BC.

[leclerc]

Re: Now its over

Ok, this is really really bad. I have to say that this Christmas, I have been disappointed with the presents I have received. You expect smellies....I got nowt. You expect a little imagination....I got money(that the pub gratefully accepted :o ). The presents I bought were imaginative and were I think pretty spectacular but the ones I received were imho not particularly great. I sound ungrateful but I just feel disappointed by Christmas and not excited......please take me back to when I believed in Santa cos at least then I was not disappointed

[Inca]

Re: Now its over

:27: He still exists,,Oh and any talk of Xmas is banned in my house till after 26th November (my birthday),Xmas stockings still go up (and get mini pressies in,including a satsuma,) The magic of Xmas is in the making,and the imagination.