Christmas Past

[Kim Mild]

I used to get so excited putting the tree up when I was a kid. I would put my tape of Christmas songs on .

My grandma taking me to church for the christingle service on Christmas eve and getting an orange with a candle in .

Pub on Christmas eve

I never minded working Christmas eve in retail/ hospitality because there was always a nice atmosphere.

 

[TinyDancer2602]

Someone should totally start a ‘Christmas in retail’ thread. We could share horror stories!!

 

[Platypusfattypus]

I used to get so excited putting the tree up when I was a kid. I would put my tape of Christmas songs on .

My grandma taking me to church for the christingle service on Christmas eve and getting an orange with a candle in .

Pub on Christmas eve

I never minded working Christmas eve in retail/ hospitality because there was always a nice atmosphere.

I loved Christmas eve working at the early learning centre. I used to love working in the pub Christmas day as it was only for a few hours with loads of drinks and tips then home for Christmas Dinner

 

[Sosig]

One of my favourite presents was a toy Post Office. I would spend hours and hours playing with it.

View attachment 319687

You have just unlocked a MASSIVE part of me being little

 

[Loiterer]

Love this thread. One of my favourite Christmas memories is getting up at about 6am, it may have been Boxing Day, and only my dad was up. He’d got Alastair Sim’s Scrooge on DVD and we watched it together with the Christmas tree lights on. My parents Christmas decor hasn’t changed since the 70s, so all the lights and baubles and tinsel are a clash of different colours and I love it.

One of my favourite presents was a toy Post Office. I would spend hours and hours playing with it.

View attachment 319687

My three year old now plays with this at my mums! Still had some handwritten letters that we’d posted!

 

[Mulholland Drive]

I always loved it when after Christmas Dinner and the Queen's speech at 3, everyone in my household would all fall asleep in their chairs and sofas. Leaving me to play with my presents in peace, while also pinching the odd mince pie or After Eight mint or 5

 

[NP]

Someone should totally start a ‘Christmas in retail’ thread. We could share horror stories!!

Definitely! I’m so glad I’m not in retail anymore. I used to love how busy it was but the place would be absolutely trashed (clothes shop) and because of the Boxing Day sales we’d have to get everything ready on Christmas Eve. We’d have customers trying to barge in the door as we were closing, “BUT I HAVE TO GET A PRESENT!”... no love, we want to go home!

 

[Belulah]

I worked one Christmas in a Build-A-Bear that was bloody magical when all the Christmas stuff came in. There was a scent you could buy that smelt like candy canes. Unfortunately none of the reindeer had been quality checked so many of them had to be stitched by hand and we ran out of stuffing so had to go borrow a bale from the next store which was several hours away!

 

[Platypusfattypus]

Definitely! I’m so glad I’m not in retail anymore. I used to love how busy it was but the place would be absolutely trashed (clothes shop) and because of the Boxing Day sales we’d have to get everything ready on Christmas Eve. We’d have customers trying to barge in the door as we were closing, “BUT I HAVE TO GET A PRESENT!”... no love, we want to go home!

I worked in a toy shop during the Christmas of the Furby toy. That was intense

 

[Phoenix Lazarus]

There was always some good programmes on. This was a big deal in the 70s, before the internet, DVDs or videos, and with only three TV channels.

 

[265]

Xmas as a child growing up in the 70's was fun, especially when I have a Birthday 2 weeks BEFORE xmas.

We never had a real xmas tree, just this silver tinsel tree for decades, my Dad would decorate the tree on
his own. Xmas day, unwrapping all those presents, some of which were Birthday and Xmas presents.

The main feature was the Turkey, Mum would break out the extra large plates, after the roast would be the
home made xmas pudd. The Turkey would last us a few days ending up as Stew which we still do now.

Back in those days xmas ment something unlike now when it's just one massive commercial load of balls
and the true meaning has been lost forever.

TV was very limited, 3 TV channels only but we had a lot of great programs to watch, especially in the evening
with the xmas specials and all that. My Dad and I would look at the listings and decide what to watch.

 

[Kandy floss]

I used to love getting an early Christmas present on Christmas Eve even though it was the exact same every year - new pyjamas ready to put on after my bath

We had (and still have actually) white stockings with different Santa designs which my mother wrote our names on so she knew whose was whose, and we'd put them at the bottom of our beds. I remember trying to stay awake to see Santa but never managing it and waking up to find the stocking full of presents.

Loved getting up early while it was still dark and opening presents with my older sister while my parents were yawning on the settee watching us, with the inevitable "oh that's your sister's actually" because without fail every year my mother would put a few of my presents in my sister's stocking or vice versa

 

[NP]

Xmas as a child growing up in the 70's was fun, especially when I have a Birthday 2 weeks BEFORE xmas.

We never had a real xmas tree, just this silver tinsel tree for decades, my Dad would decorate the tree on
his own. Xmas day, unwrapping all those presents, some of which were Birthday and Xmas presents.

The main feature was the Turkey, Mum would break out the extra large plates, after the roast would be the
home made xmas pudd. The Turkey would last us a few days ending up as Stew which we still do now.

Back in those days xmas ment something unlike now when it's just one massive commercial load of balls
and the true meaning has been lost forever.

TV was very limited, 3 TV channels only but we had a lot of great programs to watch, especially in the evening
with the xmas specials and all that. My Dad and I would look at the listings and decide what to watch.

My mum would get out massive plates as well that were reserved just for Christmas. Turkey leftovers were the best!

 

[265]

My mum would get out massive plates as well that were reserved just for Christmas. Turkey leftovers were the best!

Ours were also used for Easter when we also had Turkey, for some reason we stopped having Turkey at Easter.

Anyway, one thing we would never ever do again is buy a Fresh Turkey, we all ended up very unwell.

Oh and talking of leftovers, back in those days we had proper baked potatoes, massive people done in the
Oven for Boxing day. Not like now when you just bung one in the Microwave for 10 minutes, not the same.

 

[Mulholland Drive]

Sometimes we used to have our Christmas dinner out on the patio. We also played a variety of games, or sunbathed on the patio and back garden. And of an evening we would have a BBQ in the neighbour's back garden (This all happened in Bloemfontein or Jo'burg, South Africa). Which is another reason I found it so hard to adapt to Christmases over here in the UK

 

[CherryAcid]

Xmas as a child growing up in the 70's was fun, especially when I have a Birthday 2 weeks BEFORE xmas.

We never had a real xmas tree, just this silver tinsel tree for decades, my Dad would decorate the tree on
his own. Xmas day, unwrapping all those presents, some of which were Birthday and Xmas presents.

The main feature was the Turkey, Mum would break out the extra large plates, after the roast would be the
home made xmas pudd. The Turkey would last us a few days ending up as Stew which we still do now.

Back in those days xmas ment something unlike now when it's just one massive commercial load of balls
and the true meaning has been lost forever.

TV was very limited, 3 TV channels only but we had a lot of great programs to watch, especially in the evening
with the xmas specials and all that. My Dad and I would look at the listings and decide what to watch.

The xmas telly book was always so exciting

 

[Mulholland Drive]

Xmas as a child growing up in the 70's was fun, especially when I have a Birthday 2 weeks BEFORE xmas.

We never had a real xmas tree, just this silver tinsel tree for decades, my Dad would decorate the tree on
his own. Xmas day, unwrapping all those presents, some of which were Birthday and Xmas presents.

The main feature was the Turkey, Mum would break out the extra large plates, after the roast would be the
home made xmas pudd. The Turkey would last us a few days ending up as Stew which we still do now.

Back in those days xmas ment something unlike now when it's just one massive commercial load of balls
and the true meaning has been lost forever.

TV was very limited, 3 TV channels only but we had a lot of great programs to watch, especially in the evening
with the xmas specials and all that. My Dad and I would look at the listings and decide what to watch.

WOW! Only three channels and no internet!

 

[265]

WOW! Only three channels and no internet!

3 channels, no internet, no video recorders but at least we had a couple of decent movies to watch.
In the early 80's the BBC started running the original FLASH GORDON Cinema series.

Oh and One BBC tradition lost forever, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, watching that was
mandatory in my house.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

We weren’t allowed to eat the chocolates off the Christmas tree until it had been taken down, so one year me and my brother ate them all and the put the wrappers back on the tree My mum never found until she took the tree down.

 

[Kthxbye]

3 channels, no internet, no video recorders but at least we had a couple of decent movies to watch.
In the early 80's the BBC started running the original FLASH GORDON Cinema series.

Oh and One BBC tradition lost forever, Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, watching that was
mandatory in my house.

The Christmas Lectures are still on every year? This year is a Planet Earth users guide