Christmas / New Year Memories

I also remember those gummed paper strips with great affection and amusement. The first year my partner and I were together we were short of cash and she managed to get hold of lots of these strips cheaply. So we sat for ages with a friend licking and sticking them, it never occured to us to use a damp cloth! Anyway we then attached them all over the ceiling but after about an hour or so they started to fall apart so we started to staple them back together but everytime we stapled one, two more would fall apart (I said they were cheap). We eventually realised that it was the only dark red ones that were becoming unstuck so we stapled all the dark red ones and that solved it.

I forgot they fell apart What about the cotton wool on the Christmas tree for snow

All these posts are brilliant - so enjoyable to read and they really bring the magic to life! I loved selection boxes and most of all, having an annual! I can remember sitting on the floor by the fire on Christmas night, whilst the others chatted and watched tv, dipping in and out of my latest one. I loved all those familiar characters doing Christmassy things, the extra articles and Christmassy features. Bliss.

Yes we also decorated the window with cotton wool and got some coloured foil and pipe cleaners to make tree decorations, mainly stars as they are to make. One of the most exciting parts of the run up to Christmas as a child was the annual test of the Christmas lights which never worked first time and then we pushed the bulbs in and tried again when usually they did work.

The run up to Christmas seems to be about the same as most here, making the paper chains and tree decorations but the one thing I liked most was not my main present but two of the little ones. I was always awake in the depth of night to find my presents on the end of the bed. Feeling around in the dark, I would feel the wrappers until I found the torch (a torch was a must every year). Now I could see to find my Beano annual, after unwrapping it quietly I would slip right down in the bed with the bedclothes over me and proceed to read it from cover to cover. LOL, I wasted a lot of batteries over the Christmasses, I always fell back asleep before I had finished reading with the torch still on. Still, my parents did not know what I was doing! Funny though, there were always spare batteries for me in the morning.

There was also the food that only seemed to appear around Christmas. Sweets like dates, candied orange and lemon slices, Melbury(?) fruits and then meat like Ye Olde Oak Ham. I never actually liked any of them but you had to eat them because it was Christmas.

My sister and I would often walk to my grandmothers along Baginton Road in the late 50s early 60s and look with childhood envy at people's FLASHING Christmas tree lights. Like others on here, Santa's Grotto and sleigh ride at the Co-op is another fond memory, attending Massey Ferguson childrens Christmas Party in the canteen at Banner Lane and a visit to the Coventry Theatre pantomime. Biggest thrill of all was the Christmas lights in the city centre, the journey on the bus down Warwick Road, a quick look (if on the upper deck) over the railway bridge hoping to get a glimpse of a steam loco, past the wonderful tableaus on Greyfriars Green, up Hertford Street with single strands of coloured lights, under the bridge of Broagate House to be met with a wonderous scene of Owen Owen's window display, two tall decorated trees on the island with more single strands of coloured lights and looking down the Upper Precinct in amazement as the bus stopped in front of the temporary shops. Was there an illuminated Christmas message in the front of Holy Trinity church? I was thrilled to see on a visit home last Christmas that Hearsall Baptist church still have an illuminated star on a pole outside, another childhood memory of mine.

I agree with the trifle Heritage! We have them regularly, the content being more sherry than trifle! I thought the Turkish Delight boxes with the icing and little fork seemed very exotic. Mum always grilled the chestnuts on the cooker which didn't have that same Bing Crosby appeal but they tasted alright Oh Warninks Snowballs with a cherry was another. The savoury twiglets were always around, I read that they were invented in Britain and have been going since 1929. Love it or despise it, but after the turkey on Christmas Day, my favourite breakfast on Boxing Day was 'Turkey Dripping' on toast, looked forward to it more than Christmas dinner Don't know what response that will get in these health conscious days. Little chocolate liqueurs were very seasonal and special weren't they. Babycham with its pretty tin foil bottles. I still have them now, they must have been going as long as the Twiglets. Oh and mum going out the front and banging the new year in with the metal dustbin lid and all the neighbours would come out and wish everyone a happy new year. Wouldn't have the same tone now with the wheelie bin Christmas cards were really pretty then, really Victorian seasonal affairs with loads of glitter on. I think the modern, minimilistic, contemporary cards like postage stamp size are so miserable. A decent Christmas card has to have at least one tudor dwelling (preferably with a little glow from the window) or a lantern at least, a robin, someone gathering wood for the fire, loads of snow, and a bit of holly here and there and plenty of glitter slapped on. They were so good in the old days that they were decorations in themselves, sparkling and twinkling in the fairy lights. And we were always looking out to hope it snowed for a white Christmas. The sound of the brass band of the Salvation Army around the streets with the seasonal carols was good as well. Messing about over Christmas dinner with the novelties from the Chrismas crackers, contents like the little fish that curled up and silly plastic moustaches that pinched your nose and of course the paper hats. Oh, just forgot the riddles and jokes inside as well...

Great stories, keep 'em coming When I was a child in Keresley End my mum and dad weren't great drinkers. So getting the 'Christmas drink' in was always an occasion. There was an outdoor in Bennetts Road North, over the Corley border. It was a bit of a walk, but dad always went there just before Christmas. I loved going along the road in the dark with him. It was very atmospheric with excitement and magic in the air. I can remember the year mum came with us and they bought two little ornamental ceramic barrels with taps, like beer barrels, which were cream coloured and had red and green stripes, respectively. They had Port and Sherry written on them. Apparently, the sherry tasted awful but the port was okay! Later on, they had them turned into lamps, so they became a long time memory (I've often seen similar barrels in antique fairs, since). I remember that shop was exciting to visit because it was different to our usual haunts. We were bought things like net bags of chocolate coins, which I found wonderful Looking back, my parents must have really saved up so that they had a good array of booze to offer visitors

I know what you mean about the sherry. About ten years ago we had a new director for our department and he decided that on the last morning before the Christmas vacation he would invite everybody (about 60 of us) in for sherry and mince pies. To this end he bought five bottles of sherry, lots of soft drinks and about a hundred mince pies. By the end of the day all the mince pies and soft drinks had gone but there were still four unopened bottles of sherry (everybody said "I can't drink, I'm driving" although most were in fact walking). When he retired five years later part of his retirement present was the still unopened four bottles of sherry.

Great story OL! It reminds me of a time the finance officer in a training scheme I worked for traditionally bought sherry (for the ladies) and whisky (for the men), to have a drink when we finished work on the last day before the holiday, at 12.30. It was my first Christmas at the company. I wasn't going to stay as I had shopping to do but I was talked into it. Three large whiskies later the finance officer appeared, having finished his counting up. Unfortunately, as I'd messed up his catering system by drinking whisky, there was none left for him and I had to have a lift home from the manager!! The happy ending to this story is that a month later myself and the manager 'got together' and we had 25 happy years (and Christmas celebrations) together before his death six years ago

I have to say this one. My Uncle Bill (my only uncle who deserved the title of uncle) always gave the same present every year. I used to look forward to it, waiting to do battle with it. The present would be about 3 inches in diameter and about a foot long, Wrapped strongly in sellotape all the way over it. When you had managed to get through the first layer you were then met with another layer the same and so on. When you finally came to the last layer, under that was a row of threepenny pieces to the value of ten bob (forty of them to the decimal people). Wrapping paper was everywhere, must have kept me quiet for an hour as you could not get scissors into it so you had to unwrap the sellotape by hand. His wicked sense of humour must have passed on to me because my family get some VERY STRANGE PRESENTS.

Every Christmas from the age of about ten I used to buy my sister a small piece of jewellery like a charm or something similar. From the start of December my father would keep his daily paper and we would save a selection of boxes of different sizes. We then began to wrap my sisters present in carefully cut layers of newspaper sellotaping each one down firmly (it must have cost a fortune in sellotape), when the parcel was large enough it went into the smallest box, then more paper until the next box and so on. The last box was usually one of the big boxes that boxes of corn flakes were delivered in to shops and finally the whole thing was wrapped in Christmas paper usually saved from the year before. At intervals in the layers there were messages like "nearly there" or "maybe it's empty". On Christmas day my sister spent what seemed like hours unwrapping the present and putting the paper behind the settee. After tea we would roll all the newspaper up into balls and led by my father start throwing at each other usually leaving my mother to clean the mess up (although we did help her). Nothing like making your own entertainment eh

Hi RKid, Winter warmers were on my list of memories too, also wet and cold gloves. Nice little boxes of dates with little plastic forks to use. I also got a ticking off for using proper glue on the cotton wool in the corners of windows, looked really nice too. Every year came chilblains on my heels. The lights were another matter as my father used to go berserk with wiring all along the picture rails but for some reason always missed the tree. We had real candles on that, just lit for a little while. Gran passed down some glass (not plastic) icicles which were years old and these went on last as the final touch, made it look magical. Never had a fairy though just a worn out rather jaded star. Then there were the silver 'thrupny bits' . I am sure mum used the same ones every year! (Sorry for the late response RKid, the laptop has been with Mr. Fixit for a week) #%^*+# Thanks for the memories. Soon be Chrissy !

Thought you had fallen out with me Dreamtime only kidding. I am glad you can relate to the Christmas long ago. We took it all in our stride. I have to wonder how many kids get chilblains today? Well in the UK that is. I have a feeling that you are a bit of a softy when it comes to Christmas as I am. The one thing that would stop me from living abroad in a hot climate is the weather, I just love the cold winter months and snow if we get any. I bet you feel the same way and I also bet you miss England at this time of year? Shoot me down if I am wrong but I seem to have formed a mental picture of the way you feel? Colin.