Christmas childhood memories

Ann22

Hope this thread hasn't been posted before, apologies if it has. It's nearly seven weeks to go 'til Christmas! Woohoo!:D I wonder is it as good for children these days as it was for some of us?
When some things were really special and connected with the Christmas season..
like the novelty of having minerals in the house, ours would be in a crate in the back room bought specially for the occasion.
Watching my mother make the pudding, which i never really liked but I used to get so excited anyway when she'd make it.:)
When it was a real joy watching 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Jason and the Argonauts', 'Chitty,Chitty,Bang,Bang' and 'Oliver', in times when we only had a few channels. Even to see the ads for 'films coming your way this Christmas season on BBC1':).
Making decorations at school, Nativity plays and lighting the candles on the Advent wreath-counting down the last weeks.
Being afraid of the turkey hanging upside down in the bathroom:eek:.
When the tops of the milk bottles changed to seasonal ones with holly on.:o Coming home from midnight mass, sick with excitement....and that moment when you open your eyes Christmas morning and breaking your neck down the stairs to see what Santy brought:). Wasn't it just magic?!

iMax

Well if that doesn't bate Bannagher...

Lizzykins

I had forgotten the milk bottle tops! We used to spend days and days in school doing art in the run up to Christmas. Remember the paper chains made out of crepe paper? I remember the turkey in the bathroom too!!
One year I got a Timex watch, a xylophone and two Enid Blyton books. 1971 or '72 I think. Happy days!!

Ruu_Old

Tins of USA brand biscuits, Quality Street and 'The Snowman' on telly. My Dad used to deal with sales reps and they used to bring him all sorts of goodies at Christmas time. Sweets galore in our house.

Ann22

Lizzykins I remember xylophones, my friend had one.:) Think it was a litte white one with a pen thing attached to play the silver keyboard.
I got Sindy dolls, year after year. A 'Funtime Sindy' in a blue swimsuit then a 'Lovely Lively Sindy' with a white and yellow tartan outfit and a satin wedding dress with a hat with pink roses around the rim, another year I also got a Sindy bed and wardrobe, other times I got 'Active Sindy's-they were the ballerina ones with bendy legs. The year I got the brunette 'active' one I remember also getting two or three annuals, a watch, a selection box a new nightdress and slippers.:)

Ann22

iMax wrote: »

Well if that doesn't bate Bannagher...

Who's Bannagher?

branie

Watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on the telly!

stovelid

The Snowman.

Christmas shopping in town (Dublin) / Switzer's window display (when it actually looked like a Christmas display, and not a ghey Off The Rails set : Brown Thomas, take note)

Getting a blue Raleigh Chopper when I was about 8 or 9. Best present ever, and a complete surprise.

Getting the holiday version TV times, RTE Guide etc so you could see what was on over Christmas.

My oul fella cursing if he saw that b*tch's (the Queen) address.

When you were older, meeting up for 'a few' Christmas eve drinks, and spending the whole of Christmas morning trying to hide your hangover with your ma watching you like a hawk for signs of illness.

humberklog

Ann22 wrote: »

Lizzykins I remember xylophones, my friend had one.:) Think it was a litte white one with a pen thing attached to play the silver keyboard.

A xylophone is a percussion instrument. 2 sticks with balls banged on metal/wooden bars.
Now the Rolph Harris Stylophone on the other hand was indeed a silver keyboard with a pen(or stylus).


TCR....Total Control Racing. Deadly.

gidget

Getting the holiday version TV times, RTE Guide etc so you could see what was on over Christmas

+1 for that! loved seeing what was going to be on over the christmas.

Always watched that Santa Claus movie ( not the Tim Allen one!) that would be on BBC1 on Christmas Eve

Always remember the build up of writing my christmas letter and putting it up the chimney and coming back the next day to discover it was gone!!!

The christmas party at school just before we broke up for the holidays

Good Times!!

I wonder is it as good for children these days as it was for some of us?

Ah it is definately what with the big decorations on the houses nowadays!! Remember we only had the inside of the house to contend with but some of the sights you see now are just spectacular, especially at night! Unfortunately there are only 2 young kids left in the grandchildren in my family that have the whole believing in Santa craze which won't be lasting too much longer !! So i look forward to the next generation when the great grandkids start coming along to renew that excitement!!!

freddyf

What about the add off pennys i think

Pennys got a whole lot of things for christmas
and a lot for the family

I heard that song last year and i nearly **** my pants. Every memory of been a kid hit me all at once. I havnt heard it in years.

Ann22

stovelid wrote: »

Getting the holiday version TV times, RTE Guide etc so you could see what was on over Christmas

Yeah that was great, we'd spot loads we wanted to see then miss half of it. By the time Christmas actually arrived, they'd be falling apart.:)
That was the Rolf Harris xylophone I was thinking of. I got a melodica one year and a wee electronic keyboard another.
I too remember the Pennys ad. Great memories.:)One year they changed it from 'gotta whole lotta things for xmas' to 'gotta whole lotta things for your guys', didn't like that one.
There was a really old animated version of 'Gulliver's Travels' that used to be on the odd time, I've an early memory of watching that while my mother put up the decorations, another early xmassy prog was a puppet type version of 'Rudolph the red nosed reindeer'.I have to add the 'Late,late toy show'. Loved that.

Pigman II

Buying 3x (don't ask me why) tv guides RTE, TvTimes, RadioTimes and spending the first day of the hols circling everything I wanted to watch. Irony of it all being I usually ended missing all of it...... except the Star Wars movie they would ritually show (usually Xmas day or stephens day). Believe me, getting to see a SW movie was a big deal back when there was no dvds or vhs recorders! :eek:

humberklog

Sod the TV guides. It was creaming and scheming over the Argos book for us. Then plotting how to disguise the contraband when crossing back over the border. When it was a real border, with army, accents, guns, customs and a portable t.v hidden in a big jacobs biscuit box.

salad dodger

I have memories of the christmas tree being massive and there being a great fuss every year when it was taken down from the attic.

That was until i came across a photo last year of my 5'5 dad standing next to the self same tree and being significantly taller that it!!!!!!


I remember getting annuals for xmas, buster, beano, dandy etc. I had about 10 years worth of em all from early 80's into the 90's and somebody dumped 'em all to make space when i moved out to go to college.

iMax

Ann22 wrote: »

Who's Bannagher?

It's from a radio ad for Barry's Tea (I think). Possibly one of the best radio ads ever produced. On every Christmas & gives me goosebumps when I hear it as it reminds me of my (now long passed) grandfather.

dSTAR

I loved Christmas Eve more than the day itself. The smell of the fire, the glow of the lights on the tree with lots of pressies stuffed underneath, the candle in the window, the traditional ham sangers and mince pies and watching the usual Chrissy shows on the TV. All very exciting as a kid...

mental07

Holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming, holidays are coming.......

gillybeans

oh please stop talking about xmas im getting far too excited and theres still another 7weeks to go!!!!

Ann22

Yeah! Coke's 'holidays are comin''-deadly:D and can't wait to see the Budweiser ad again too.. and that one-think it's for the post office, with the little fella looking out the window when his wee jammy bottoms fall down-bless! Prob be able to see them all on youtube but it's better to wait to see them at the right time.

mollyoh

Oh yeah the penneys ad... That definately brings it all back!!!! Penneys got a whole lotta things for christmas and a lot for the family................
And The Wizard Of Oz!!!

ChewChew

I remember sitting on my Dad's lap for a full hour and a half watching the Jungle Book that I got from santa on video. and I was 10 I'll never, ever forget it!

nlgbbbblth

Urbi Et Orbi on Christmas Day morning. Not very good.

Christmas editions of Wanderly Wagon. Usually had a studio audience of children.

Christmas Messages programme after the 6pm (approx) news on RTE1. From Cardinal O'Fiaich.

The RTE Guide and the excitement when selecting what we'd want to watch.

Comedy greats like Abbot and Costello, Harold Lloyd and Norman Wisdom would be on every morning post Stephens Day to New Year.

New Years Day concert from Vienna!

RTE2 showed Heaven's Gate one year. Amazing.

Radio 2 programme called The 12 Inches Of Christmas. Hosted by Gerry Ryan. He would play 12" versions of the year's hits. 1982 - 1985.

Having the same decorations and ornaments each year. See some of them in the attic now and it all comes back.

Putting a slice of Christmas cake and a bottle of beer out for Santa Claus. It would be gone in the morning.

Selection boxes.

Putting sock out on bed, Christmas Eve and having it full by morning.

The magic feeling of waking up and seeing the presents under the tree.

I stopped believing in Santa Claus in 1980, my sister a couple of years later. Nevertheless our parents always made sure we got what we wanted for Christmas - or as close as. Looking back now, they were tough economic times and money was scarce. It's only later on that you realise all the sacrifices and effort they made. It can't have been easy.

mollyoh

Oh my god I was at one of them wanderly wagon christmas specials! My Dad was a roadie with band and brought me. I sat on one of Boscos boxes the whole time( He was on it too) It was broadcast from crumlin hospital I think! Must root out the pics!! Think it was 1982/83!!

unreggd

The ad with the little girl on her toy phone who says "santa"

The An Post Ad [we're walking in the air]

Watchin soppy films on Sky Digital

Channel 4 playing The Omen or The Exorcist on Xmas day :rolleyes:

iMax

The Kellogs Cornflakes Christmas special ad...

"Ssssshhhhhh!"

líreacán

Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.

Hasn't been on in YEARS!

twanda

I remember our local no-name convenience store would have Christmas toy cataloges coming up to the big day, and myself and my sister would spend hours trawling through them and deciding what we wanted-- oh the excitement! We usually wanted half the catalogue and our mother would have to reason with us that 'Santy can't carry that much' LOL!!
There was a huge amount of kids in the estate I grew up in and every year there would be a 'trend' - something that was in great demand. One year it was ''ghetto blasters'' (y'know when big stereos with tape decks became common) and another year it was Mountain bikes. Then there was the year that everyone wanted those huge oversized skateboards....ah the memories

Ann22

It's mad the way you cling on to the Christmas magic belief ignoring the niggling suspicions.When it became too far fetched to believe that Santy came down the chimney, my mother told us he came in through the side window, and when it seemed impossible that he made everything, especially when toys had 'made in japan' stamps, she convinced us that he collected the stuff and delivered it in a magical way with his sleigh. Then she said she had to pay him.:eek::o I remember feeling a little hurt at that bit but just thought, sure doesn't he need money for the poor children's stuff? I got a Triumph 20 bike once that I'd picked in a shop and still believed he levitated it from the sleigh on the roof in through the side window. Maybe I was a slow learning child.:o I was seventeen then................naaaaah! Only jokin'!:D

Ruu_Old

My neighbour who was much older than me at the time blurted out "Sure, your Mammy and Daddy are Santy!" There was me trying to picture my Mam and Dad in Santa suits, ah I was so innocent.

piby

Until I was about 9/10 it was the whole extended family being together just for the two days Xmas eve and day. It was always a real almost Home Alone type experience (without the being home alone part!) as we had the crazy uncle, the relatives you would only see at xmas, the hoardes of us screaming kids etc. Sad now to think that in the 10 or so years since those times mnay of those relatives have passed on or have lost contact with but I still have fond memories of those days.

Others would be things that a lot of people have already mentioned, the bumper issue of the TV guide and picking out movies, xmas songs on TV,the buzz around school, the last couple of days when the excitement would be almost too much to bare! Oh and of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ywqoYGpx0&feature=related

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogetBqMgau0&feature=related

Ann22

piby wrote: »

Until I was about 9/10 it was the whole extended family being together just for the two days Xmas eve and day. It was always a real almost Home Alone type experience (without the being home alone part!) as we had the crazy uncle, the relatives you would only see at xmas, the hoardes of us screaming kids etc. Sad now to think that in the 10 or so years since those times mnay of those relatives have passed on or have lost contact with but I still have fond memories of those days.

Others would be things that a lot of people have already mentioned, the bumper issue of the TV guide and picking out movies, xmas songs on TV,the buzz around school, the last couple of days when the excitement would be almost too much to bare! Oh and of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ywqoYGpx0&feature=related

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogetBqMgau0&feature=related

That was a lovely post.:) Just watched the Coke one there. Was going to hold off hoping to see it on tv nearer the time but couldn't resist. The hairs stood on the back of my neck! What an absolutely beautiful piece of film. Here's the 1987 Budweiser one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffvTtzw0Pm8&feature=related

and this other Coke one...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X23MoTtVplE

The Muppet

Ann22 wrote: »

like the novelty of having minerals in the house, ours would be in a crate in the back room bought specially for the occasion.

I mentioned this to my gang recently when on one of my "things were so different in my day" rants and they just laughed and looked at me id disbelief.

In the weeks after Christmas we would take back the empties a couple at a time to get the few pence (3p?) per empty refund, If it was a Coke or Fanta Bottle it was 5p per bottle. Some how I couldn't picture that happening today.

Christmas Day TV was always brilliant with Morcambe and Wise christmas special not to be missed, Dick Emery , Mike Yarwood and the Two Ronnies were also must watch tv in my house.

There was always a Circus on TV around Lunchtime, I remember watching that while having my dinner, the only day of the year that sort of carry on was allowed.

Elle Victorine

Would have to be The Den christmas specials..only in Ray D'Arcy's time of course Also I remember I had this christmas book with about 6 different stories and I'd line all my teddies up on my bed and read them one story a night. The last one of course on christmas eve which was "The Night Before CHristmas".


And who could forget Christmas morning on the tv. Used wake up really early in the morning to catch the very first programme on the den and for years when they put on The Last Unicorn...Loved it



Then of course onto my gandparents house in tipperary on the 27th of december to see the whole family (my grandfather for me really) and I'd have a feast of fizzy drinks and turkey and ham with loads of vegetables. He always had thte best marrowfat peas too...never squishy. Just right!

leahyl

Oh my god I LOVE CHRISTMAS! This is such a great idea for a thread!

I'm 23 and I swear i get more excited now then i did when i was a kid!

Hopefully the tree will be up in the next two weeks! And the garland which i bought myeslf for the house about 4/5 years ago - i remember my mum saying at the time 'fine get it you like. It's a waste of money' and now she loves it more than i do!

i just love the whole getting all the food and drink in, visiting on christmas eve, then coming home and lighting all the tea lights and the tree and watching the RTE News where they show Santa heading off from Lapland!

Oh my god i am such a CHILD! HA!:D

NostalgicDublin

Do u remember around thsi time of the year all the parents going up to newry to buy the cheap presents and drink , i remember one time up there it snowed and the salvation army brass band were playing xmas songs as i stood outside woolworths holding my now departed dads hand, one of my most treasured xmas memories ever , and remember paddy barretts toy shop in henry street ?