Do you have a particularly memorable Christmas?
One that always stands out in my memory is from when I was 10 or 11 but it's Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day that I remember from that year. My Dad must have been at work. I don't know where my little brother was. We'd moved the TV into the alternative living room, for some reason we always spent Christmas in there. I suppose because it was bigger, and sometimes we had guests.
And while my Mum pottered round the house doing housework, I sat in there watching the telly. White Christmas was on, and I watched the whole thing.
On the face of it I can understand why you might not think of that as being the most idyllic childhood memory, and yet it was. The Christmas tree must have been up in there, and I loved the film. Just had a look on the Genome Project. Must have been 1971.
https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/0d794b83e9ca45c8b462ce91685d3a99
The very last time I was at the house a year ago I glanced round all of the rooms before I left the front door for the final time, and that was what I thought of when I came to that room.
This might initially seem an odd one to write about, but it's the one which makes me and my sister laugh the most when we talk about it. My mum loved buying us toys at Christmas. It seemed to be a really big thing for her when we were young and I think it made her really happy. I always felt a bit spoilt compared to my friends when we compared the presents we had been given.
However, one Christmas, I'm guessing I would be about nine, I looked at this mountain of wrapped gifts but before I could dive in and randomly begin opening the parcels, I was told to "open the big one first" as this would make things clearer. I tore open the paper to reveal a very attractive wooden fort. That was ok. I then started to open the rest of the smaller parcels. Toy cowboys. Toy Indians (not PC these days, but printed on the box). A toy saloon. A plastic stockade. The town jail. US soldiers and cavalrymen. Horses of all shapes colours and sizes.
On and on it went. More Western themed buildings and features. My mum and dad waited for my excited reaction. I was left completely flat. I tried very hard to contain my disappointment but I think it must have been so obvious to my parents. My young mind must have been tearing open parcel after parcel thinking why, why, why? I had never really expressed an interest in this area. I was always, planes, rockets, football, anything space related, dinosaurs, science but never the Wild West. My friends thought it was a brilliant set up and always wanted me to reluctantly drag it all out the cupboard as they played with it for what seemed like an age to me.
My mum's best friend thought it was hysterically funny and I think my mum soon realised the humour in it. She would mention it fairly regularly as "the fort Christmas" and we always seemed to have a fond recollection of it. I have to say though that these days I am fairly easy if quite expensive to buy for. I have a list of wants as long as your arm and I'm fairly vocal about it. Anything beginning with Fender would do. Most shapes thereof and practically any colour, but it hasn't happened yet.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on December 23, 2022, 05:02:14 PMI have to say though that these days I am fairly easy if quite expensive to buy for. I have a list of wants as long as your arm and I'm fairly vocal about it. Anything beginning with Fender would do. Most shapes thereof and practically any colour, but it hasn't happened yet.
I do have a spare Fender in Lake Placid Blue you could have, if you like? Don't think I'll be able to get it to you before Christmas, though.
https://i.ibb.co/gFWJbyJ/lpb-fender.jpg
I suppose the absolute peak of my Christmases was sometime in the early to mid-80s, when I was barely a teenager; I so wanted a Commodore 64, which at the time was being sold as a package which included the legendary International Soccer game on cartridge.
I remember one Christmas morning opening a generous bunch of presents for which I was excited and grateful, but none of them was the C64 I craved. Nonetheless I was still pretty happy with my lot, shrugged off the moderate disappointment and enjoyed the new gifts I had. I remember later that day listening to, I think, U2 on our Hitachi "music centre" while I mimed Bono's words through the cheap, plastic microphone it came with.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my Dad walk into the living room with a sizeable present under his arm. I knew instantly what it must be and my spirits soared - sure enough, the magic moments of unwrapping revealed it was exactly what I had wanted. And I spent the next few years hardly off it.
My earliest Christmas memory was from 70 or 71 when I was 4 or 5. We went to spend it in Islington with my cousins. Although it was a beautiful town house it sported an outside toilet - I bet it doesn't today!
Anyway either late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning I was desperate for a pee. My older cousin didn't want me to go for fear of being spotted by Father Christmas. Eventually he relented on condition that I wouldn't look up to the sky. He was only a year older than me so I'm sure it was a genuine fear on his part.
Not much of a memory I suppose but it stuck in my head. Also the fact that it snowed the following morning and I was able to play in it with a newly acquired plastic digger.
Family Christmases in general followed such a consistent pattern that they all merge into one another. I did spend a couple in France that were very different and stand out. Enjoyable as they were I always felt that I'd missed out on Christmas for that year
Christmas was never a big thing being in the Netherlands. We celebrated Sinterklaas with presents unwrapping et al and Christmas was reserved for visiting the grandparents and, oh horror, going to church. Now I was baptised a catholic and never ever did we set foor in church, just at Christmas.
It must have been 1980, we had just moved. My father died 3 years aealier and my mother was about to marry another man, confusing as hell that was already. She was pregnant with was soon to be my brother and we were in the 'new' house (my soon to be stepfather lived there for 10 years already) for no more than a week. My mother learned there was a catholic church in what was a very protesntant town and decided to go. That meant we all had to go.
All I remember is that it was a horrible experience and when I got home I locked myself in the toilet and had a huge panic attack by the thought of dying and having to live 'life eternal' not understanding what that was supposed to be.
What can parents be cruel creatures exposing children to experiences they are just not cut our for just after life changing events.
Of course church is not now, nor will it ever, be part of my life again. I detest the institute and anything remotely resembling it. My mom and I get along just fine though ;)
Not happy memories but it doesn't get more memorable.
It makes me very sad when people have genuinely bad experiences with religion. I was raised Catholic and have been fortunate to find it a great place of comfort and solace when things go wrong, and I've had quite a few of those experiences down the line. I liken it to having a poor teacher at school and especially the cruel type. It nurtures and nourishes nothing. Just do what you're made to do and get out of there as quickly as possible.
Xmas as a kid had memories for me of Hornby Train sets and albums.. the Hornby set from memory was a class 25 green livery freight set
The albums were
ELP Welcome Back My Friends
Yes Tormato
Rush Hemispheres
Not all in the same year😀
I looked at Hornby trains online recently. I couldn't believe how expensive they are nowadays.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on December 24, 2022, 08:25:26 PMI looked at Hornby trains online recently. I couldn't believe how expensive they are nowadays.
not aimed at kids anymore.
and you should see the price of airfix kits these days
Yes, I received a Hornby Flying Scotsman back in the day.
Other memorable presents include a metallic yellow and red chopper and proving that I'm older than Matt, a Commodore Vic 20.
Couple of albums from Christmas, War of the Worlds and a Status Quo compilation in a blue tin, From The Makers Of.
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on December 24, 2022, 08:25:26 PMI looked at Hornby trains online recently. I couldn't believe how expensive they are nowadays.
They weren't cheap when I was a kid either
First album I ever got was a Xmas pressie.. Dark Side of the Moon
Quote from: The Picnic Wasp on December 24, 2022, 08:25:26 PMI looked at Hornby trains online recently. I couldn't believe how expensive they are nowadays.
The boy collects limited edition Hornby trains. Don't know how he can afford them. He also buys from other manufactures who make Hornby look a bargain :o
I've still got my Flying Scotsman with glowing firebox and realistic engine sound :)
I got LZII at Xmas 1980, that was around the first time I hooked up with the future Mrs S :-X
Quote from: dom on December 24, 2022, 09:07:48 PMand a Status Quo compilation in a blue tin, From The Makers Of.
I got that. My brother got the version in a cardboard box. Only time I ever got preferential treatment, I don't know why.
Wonderful read this whole thread. :)
On the "old" site I mentioned that every Christmas Eve, I drive down to the street where I grew up, park across the street from the house where I grew up and for a while just...reminisce, and think about the magical times I had there as a youngster, especially on Christmas Eve, thrilled to the brim at the magic that was happening and would especially happen the morning after.
I made that pilgrimage yet again this time round, and I even thought of taking a nostalgic walk round those streets that always have had and will have cherished memories, but an untimely battering of heavy rain put paid to that.
But the weather didn't matter; I'd done what I needed to do.
I think the most underwhelmed I'd been with a present was around 1987. We'd purchased an allotment as a building plot from a family member and I embarked on a self-build. That year I was gifted a builder's wheelbarrow.
But like the earlier toolbox and socket set, that was one of the most useful presents I'd ever be given by mum and dad. I still use the toolbox, the socket set and one very battered, well-used wheelbarrow.
I still live in the bungalow it helped to build :)
Thanks mum and dad....for everything. Rest in eternal peace
Today is very much about memories for me. I suppose it's now my first Christmas as a "Grown Up" as now my dad's gone it's the first Christmas dinner I've done in my own home. I just hope he'd approve of my wine choices - but being as most were liberated from his house I'll be fine.
My sister's family are coming round, we'll remember her she was born on Christmas day 1966, the first Christmas I remember. She's been dead 12 years now.
A day for memories. Enjoy it folks.
Popped my cherry with a local girl one Xmas eve in the 80's. Xmas day was memorable as I was hungover and had managed to get home in the wee hours. After my first minced pie I threw up, never touched them since.