General Chat

i went to lewis's in manchester...you went thro magical places,with snow,elves,fairies etc,before you even got to santa!

this was were we queued,not like today,were you have to line up in a shopping mall!!

Christmas just isnt the same when theres no little ones at home(my three girls are 40.,39 and 33)

we're going away for Christmas this year for the first time ever(we lost my dad in January,so wanted to do things different this year) <3 <3 <3

we had pillow cases as well,and i also will always remember going to lewis"s in liverpool city centre and visiting the grotto,oh it was like a winter wonderland,and sitting on santa"s knee,it was the highlight of my tiny world,no paedo santa"s then it was all so innocent in the 60s,i really feel sorry for the kids now, parents have to be so carefull.x :-)

my most memorable christmas was in the mid 50s,when i was about 7or8.

we always had our filled pillowcases(no santa sacks then!)at the end of our bed.

that particular christmas i wanted a coat trimmed with velvet and a bonnet to match,like the little girl up the road.

anyway,i went to bed christmas eve,and must av been woken,cos i can still here mi mum saying "did you put our elaines' coat on th'end of bed?"

up until then i thought my presents had come from father christmas.....this was the year i "grew up"

im not boasting,i didnt have all of them together(they were yrs apart)and yes i had a real baby at 17,but 31yrs later we are still married.i was the eldest of four,and has the yrs went on i didnt always get what i wanted,but those lovely dolls have stayed in my mind almost 40yrs,oh to go back to my lovely childhood christmasas ,i would give almost anything.....and my brother had action men and also my son(hes23 now)his action men and trucks and cars and tanks are all in the attic,waiting for his 2yr old son to become a fan.x :-D

Christmas present?.......What Christmas present?

Suzanne, will you stop boasting about Sindy and Tiny Tears??????????

Yes, Tressy had a hole in her head (don't we all). A baby at 17? Well I didn't want one that much, lol, I waited until i was 26 and even then I wasn't sure!!! I have 3 kids and the 26 yr old is still cross that, even though she was the first, she was the only mistake!!!

Bless 'em.....

Suzanne, will you stop boasting about Sindy and Tiny Tears??????????

Yes, Tressy had a hole in her head (don't we all). A baby at 17? Well I didn't want one that much, lol, I waited until i was 26 and even then I wasn't sure!!! I have 3 kids and the 26 yr old is still cross that, even though she was the first, she was the only mistake!!!

Bless 'em.....

Suzanne, will you stop boasting about Sindy and Tiny Tears??????????

Yes, Tressy had a hole in her head (don't we all). A baby at 17? Well I didn't want one that much, lol, I waited until i was 26 and even then I wasn't sure!!! I have 3 kids and the 26 yr old is still cross that, even though she was the first, she was the only mistake!!!

Bless 'em.....

oh yes happy days, tell me "did tressy have lovely long hair that came from a hole in her head"she could have any hair style you wanted,short or long(yes i had her and sindy and tiny tears,but tiny tears i had when i was 13 yes 13.four yrs later i had a real baby,but practising on tiny tears made me a better mum lol) oh they were the days,x :-D

Ha ha Suzanne. But you had a Sindy! We are no longer speaking, lol.

My brother was into Action Man. He and his friend Nigel next door had about six between them one Christmas and they spent the whole summer digging out tunnels for them...under Nigel's father's vegetable patch! They then set fire to them and I remember all the cabbages sinking into the abyss, lol. My brother was in big trouble but Nigel was an only child.......

Shortly after this Nigel and his family moved, to be replaced by a family with four little girls, all younger than me. Within days we had set up a string telegraph system between our bedrooms, and spent ages sending messages to each other in tin cans. We were all afflicted by Enid Blyton. How we never fell out of the window I will never know. Happy days!!

oh helen i also remember tressy(think i had one) i also remember having sponge pinky and perky"s ,by jan i had chewed pinky"s fingers off.later on when i was older i had sindy and all her bedroom furniture and lots of clothes,one day my brother went up to my bedroom and stamped on all my sindy furniture andcut sindy"s hair off,oh how i cried,i didnt forgive him until i was 27 ha ha. :-D

Suzanne, I remember Chatty Cathy. No, I never had one, nor a Sindy nor a Tiny Tears. What a deprived child I was!!

I did have a Rosebud doll, that I stiil have, a black china doll that was my mum's, sent from Canada,and Tressy, Barbie, Patch, Skipper, Ricky and Tootie and I still have them. But oh I really wanted a Sindy. Do they still make them? I think I am going to buy myself one.

And a Stieff teddy from my grandma in 1960-something that is so worn and loved he isn't worth anything except to me.

my first and favorite toy(that i remember)was in the late 60s when i was 4 or 5.mum and dad bought me a CHATTY CATHY doll,it walked and talked ,it run on batterys and its hair grew,i can remember the neighbours coming round to see it,dont know how they got it but at the time it was a rare thing,oh how i loved that doll,dad also made a wooden crib and mum knitted bedding,it was not my only toy that christmas but it was always my favorite.x

Not sure if this is the right place and members of the writing group will confirm I am no poet. I wrote the following several years ago and it may bring back memories of christmases past.

Senses of Christmas past

Do you remember
How Christmas smelled when you were a child?
Aromatic pine of the tree
Bath salts wrapped for a favourite aunt.
And the food,
Mince pies, roast meat, Christmas pud,
Fruit cake, tangerines, appetizingly good.
The coal fire banked up for Christmas morning,
Chestnuts roasting, burst without warning.

Do you remember
The sounds of Christmas when you were a child?
Rattle of the letter box, cards arriving,
Parcels in removal vans, post workers shouting,
Parents’ whispers outside the door,
Crackle of paper
Creak of the bedroom floor,
Excited shouts of sister or brother
Laughter of father and mother.

Do you remember
How Christmas felt when you were a child?
Needles of the tree caught in stockinged feet,
Satin smooth baubles, prickly holly
Metallic tinsel. Scrunchy paper chain,
Bulky stockings, orange in toe.
Hard parcel knobbly parcels fastened with a bow.
New pages of a book written by a favourite name.

Do you remember
How Christmas tasted when you were a child?
Spicy pudding followed succulent meat
Creamy brazil nuts, chestnuts bitter sweet.
Melting rich chocolates
Fizzy drinks a special treat.
Cold ice cream
Tangy apples and tangerines sweet.

Do you remember
How Christmas looked when you were a child?
Sparkling lights on the Christmas tree,
Tinsels baubles fairy too,special ornaments so much to see.
Welcoming fire burning bright
Carol singers cheeks aglow,
Parents’ love, eyes alight
As they saw your excitement grow.


Where did it all go.

I was thinking that Kay - just what you'd expect from Hayley :-D :-D

I used to love the annuals and the selection boxes of chocolates. There was always a game on the back of the box. We would scoff ours in a day but one of my brothers would leave his for awhile. Then he would sit in front of us and slowly eat the chocolate bars. We would whine about it but mum would tell us off for being greedy.

Sue

That sounds about right for you Hayley........you little greedy minx,
:-D :-D :-D :-D

Yes I remember the Corona man.

My Mum was T Total but dad liked a sherry or a glass of whisky. Mum's treat was to have several of the little bottles of pineapple juice in and sometimes I was allowed to have one. talking of drinking reminds me. Parents were spending christmas with us, daughter was about 17/18, She came into the room with her drink and Mum said, "what are you drinking then *****?" Quick as a flash she replied, "Coke Grandma" and she didn't even blush. I had to hide a grin as I knew she had rum in it!!!

Hayley LOl Lol!! Can just picture it.

I only ever looked for presents once and found a leather shoulder bag. I was really disappointed when I opened it because it wasn't a surprise, I already knew what it was. I never did it again.

Does anyone remember the Corona Man coming just a few days before Christmas with his lorry full of Corona bottles .... remember the ones with the stopper that folded over the top of the bottle ?

We had 6 bottles... two of each.....orange, ordinary, limeade.

It was just as good as seeing Father Christmas....LOL

My M -in-L gave me a frying pan one christmas. Would liked to have used over her head.
One present I really do remember came from my sister when I was 10. It was a bath sponge shaped like a Kangaroo with a baby roo soap in the pouch. It was yellow and the soap was pink. I never used it but kept it for years.
Phyll

A few years I learnt that when us 3 children were left alone, the eldest would make me watch out of the window to watch for Mum's return whilst they played a game of hunt the pressies, bored of waiting at the window I went to investigate what they were doing it was all very secretive and they wouldnt exactly tel me what they were doing but I knew if caught we were goners.

There was a big bulit in wardorbe in my mums bedroom commonly known as the toy cupboard above this was another cupbaird which even mum used to have to climb up on a chair to gain acess too. Whist on this hunt the other two were trying to get in to the top cupboard, both too small to get in using a chair they tried with one standing on the others shoulders both were too heavy, 2 sets of eyes fell upon me. I stood with my hands on my hips firmly shaking my head in disagreement. After a bit of gentle coaching I was hoisted on to my sisters shoulders by the other one, where I was able to climb in to the cupboard, sisters " can you see any pressies" Me nope but there is a big tin of quality street, ooo get it down, my eldest sister carefully removed the sellotape and we all took a handful the tin was carefully rewrapped and replace, off we went to much our chocs.

Now being greedy children we were, a few days later we decided to repeat the process, off I was hoisted on to sisters shoulders and got in the said cupboard, Me ...oooo theres loads of pressies up here...sister nevermind can you reach the tin of quality street, , so I did , just then the the front door banged shut !!!! one sister hid behind the bedroom cutains whilst the other ran to hide ...whilst I was still on her shoulders with the tin of chocs in my hand...screaming ....the bedroom door was flung opened and my mum just stopped dead in her tracks..her face was a picture.