General Chat

And the box of Mosiac,fab patterns could be made with the little coloured beads,and one by one the beads seemed to just vanish and by easter there was only a handful left.:)

also the little basket with small balls of wool and two wooden or plastic needles,

I spent hours stitching when I got a minature sewing machine. had to wind cotton off a normal reel onto this little tiny one,boy more was wasted because I used to get it in a tangle and all knotted up. :-D :-D.

the big box of paints were great and using an eggcup to rinse the brush out in.

and didnt the dice always get lost.....I remember one flying into the open fire and mum made one from a small scrap of pastry and painted the dots on.....
:-D :-D :-D. :-D.

a tin of cheese footballs :-D

my young sister had a little sewing machine for Chritmas one year - she broke it before we got up in the morning by trying to stitch the blankets together

I think my Mum and Kay's Mum went shopping together!!!

Yes, I can remember everything mentioned on here. Loved the tins of toffees and when they became available my Mum always bought me a box of milk tray and she continued that until she died in 1994 when I was 54 Lol!!

I hated newberry fruits and not keen on turkish delight but my Dad had a very sweet tooth and loved them all.

Mum always had the brazil nuts as theyw ere her favourites.

Black Magic had that chocolate that was a cluster of nuts I remember and one with a cherry in.

I never did like coffee,orange or strawberry cream chocolates so was always happy to share those. You took your life in your hands if your finger lingered, even momentarily, over the caramel or nougat though.

There was that little barrel thing in Milk Tray wih the lime syrup in it too.

Mam's special favourite were Duncan's walnut whips, but certainly looked bigger than they are now.

Lovely thread - it's brought back lots of memories. The front room was hardly ever used, probably because of the expense of heating it, but at Christmas the fire was lit and it felt quite special.

Christmas dinner was usually chicken and our traditional sweets always included Turkish delight, sugared almonds and orange and lemon slices. Parents couldn't usually afford drink in the house but at Christmas they would have a pre- dinner sherry. I thought I was really grown up when my father allowed me a small glass when I was sixteen.

Decorations were usually home made paper chains and my father would throw bits of Lametta over them. Anyone remember Lametta? It was silvery tinsel stuff that usually ended up in bits on the floor.

We usually had a pretty good present from our parents. Goodness knows how they afforded it. Other rellies would buy the paint boxes, pencil cases and things like gloves. I was a bit of a bookworm and usually got books from a couple of aunts. One was always Rupert annual.

I could go rambling on for ages; you've really sent me down Memory Lane now..... :-D

Remember receiving among other things a litttle square thing that you held in your hand with numbers on little tiles which you had to move around to get them into numerical order. One tile short of a full set of numbers enabled you to mess about with it. This appeared in the afternoon when adults needed a bit of a snooze. Loads of messing about with the numbers by me never achieved a result after hours of trying, but adults seemed a bit more lively once they woke up.

Oh the puzle I remember that they are still about in odd places.


anyone have --Pin the Tail on the Donkey.......that used to be great fun,I hadnt seen one for years and a couple of weeks ago went to London and got one in Hamleys.,,,,,,,cant wait to get it in action. :-D :-D :-D.

a table ping pong was another favourite.

Yes you can still get the puzzle in some places, and one with letters too.
I am sure that I saw some Lametta in Poundland yesterday Vera. We were lucky, Dad worked for a stationery firm when he came out of the RN as a salesman so he had a box of samples of decorations. We had decorations everywhere, the huge bells etc that were usually seen in shops. And always had a large tree decorated with lights and covered in decorations, some hand made by my sister and I.
We only used the 'front room' at Christmas when the fire was lit. (no central heating of course). My Mum signed the pledge as a teenager and never, ever touched alcohol. My Dad always had a glass of cherry even though Mum clicked her teeth at him every time. (he ignored her). My Grandmother too would have a glass ("Just a small one my dear") and when I was about 18 I was allowed a babycham. :-D
I loved books and would be given School Friend Album and Abbey Girl books or Famous Five, Secret Seven, or other Enid Blyton Books. I remember one was The Family at Redroofs I loved that book.Or earlier when younger, Rupert Annual or Pip, Squeak and wilfred, or Mabel Lucy Attwell Annual. The only thing was, I was a fast reader and often would finish the book in a day and Mum would complain and say it was a waste of money to read it so quickly :-D
Beside books we used to have one bigger present each. I can remember a second hand Trike, a ditto dolls pram, a china tea set, a dresser made by my Dad, A dolls cot made by my Dad, a large dolls house made by my Dad with all working lights, a scooter, a china doll, a school satchel, a leather handbag
Considering we were not that well off after Dad left the RN we did very well. :-)

The next post is an excerpt from my life history. Some of you may have seen it when I put it on here some years back but others won't have seen it. It describes Christmas in our house (or part of it I didn't want to make it too long. :-D

Christmas in our house was special, we always had lots of decorations up all over the house, my parents loved Christmas. Sometimes relatives would stay, sometimes we would be on our own. It wasn’t until after we were married that my other half and I actually spent Christmas Day together as he usually went home on leave. He would come back on Boxing Day. We would always have a large real tree in the front room and the fire would be lit in there on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. One year Dad arrived home with an enormous tree, having left it a bit late to buy one. Much hilarity as it was so tall that he had to cut the top off to get it into the front room. Christmas Eve, my sister and I would hang our pillowcases up on the end of our bed and, of course, we could never get to sleep. As we lay there we could hear the rustle of paper as Mum and Dad wrapped presents and the rattling of pans etc in the kitchen. Dad always iced the cake that Mum had made and that was done on Christmas Eve, Mum would be baking mince pies (no freezers to keep things in then). Also the vegetables would all be prepared that evening for the Christmas lunch.

When we woke the following morning it was to find bulging pillowcases (I can feel the exciting shapes now) and also a stocking each. We would open the presents in our pillow cases (from friends and relatives) in bed and our stockings then, when we got up, our main presents would be in the kitchen on or by the table. These would be opened after we had eaten breakfast. In the evening there would be more presents on the tree.
On Boxing Day we would have a family get together when as many relatives as could make it would come over in the afternoon and Mum and Dad would put on a special Tea. Mum loved to decorate the table with crepe paper and candles, which sounds ordinary now but was not done much in those days. She would make a huge trifle and we would have two cakes, the fruit Christmas cake which only Dad and I liked, and a walnut cake iced and decorated which Mum, my sister and I preferred to the fruit cake. There would be a ham salad and bread to start and trifle to follow. After tea we would play games like blind man’s buff and pass the balloon. This was probably what put me off party games for life, the embarrassment of adults playing them finding it hilarious, and all without any alcohol.

My Dad was not very good at buying Christmas presents for Mum and was often ‘in trouble’ Mum was a person who could never hide her feelings. One year on the Christmas tree he bought her a hot water bottle. She was not amused!!!

:-D :-D

AnninGlos such memories. First house I lived in was an old cottage...all very basic facilities. My dad was forward thinking at the time and mum had an electric cooker (archaic by today's standards) at a time when the neighbours were still using the solid fuel black range ...never saw mum attempt to cook anything on it even though it was still in our kitchen.

No bathroom, outside loo....water supply was one cold water tap above the kitchen sink. Dad had a brilliant idea and bought mum a sadia water heater for Christmas in order (he thought) to make life easier for her. This was an electrical appliance fitted above the sink. Well it did make life easier for her, but for years and years she never let us forget that it was the worst present ever!!

Ok Girls, own up, who had a Toy Post Office or a Toy Sweet shop?

Post office, lots of paper and envelops with stamps, a rubber stamp and a little set of scales.

Sweet shop, lots of small glass sweet bottles, with scales again.

I used to turn a chair around, with the ladder facing me sis, and 'serve' her through the bars! :-) :-) :-) :-)

Oh yes MTG me I had both

I'm so glad I started this thread - so many happy memories on here - thanks everyone :-D

my Dad made me a lovely wooden desk with inkwells and I asked for purple and green ink the next Christmas - spent the whole Christmas period writing in purple and green ink :-D :-D

I count myself lucky to have been part of a large happy family, money was tight but our parents made Christmas a good time for us.
My father worked for Guinness Hop Farms who also owned Callard and Bowsers. Each Christmas all families working for them received a box containing 6 tins of sweets & a box of nougat. The tins were sealed with a thick layer of foil, to cut through this you had to move a slide on the top of the outer lid.
I shared a bedroom with my 3 sisters, a double bed & 2 singles.
Stocking contents were from Father Christmas, so could be looked at as soon as one of us woke, shook the other 3 & we had all settled ourselves under the eiderdown on the double bed
In our stockings (Dad’s new socks, given to him early so that Mum could thread a bit of wool through the tops to allow us to hang them up), we would always have tangerine (which we ate whilst looking at the other contents), nuts (which got put into a bowl of them on the sideboard), coloured pencils, a colouring book & a sugar mouse. I now know that my paternal Grandmother would supply other little things to be added to them. I remember shells that when placed in water opened allowing a paper flower to ‘grow’ out of them, warbling water whistles shaped like birds, wobbly animals that collapsed when you pushed the bottom, magic fish that curled when placed on your flat hand & sets of ‘jacks’, marbles & playing cards. .
All other presents were under the tree in the front sitting room, this room was seldom used other than Christmas or when we had visitors. Dad would light the fire in there on Christmas Eve & bank it up overnight (with a Yule log), so that it was warm for Christmas Day. These presents had to stay there until after we were all washed, dressed & breakfasted (boiled eggs with toast soldiers).

Carol, good o see yu poting. <3

I don't remember any of the things mentioned above, but we always had plenty of coal for the fire on Christmas Day ;-)

Been busy, got my old Singer sewing machine out to make things for a local nursing home to sell at their craft groups Christmas fair. Aprons, shopping bags, doorstops, drought excluder's, needle cases,pin cushions, Teddy Bears, stockings & little Christmas bags to hang on trees.

Then people saw them & asked me to make. Dizzy was the last, she now has 2 owl doorstops.

I have just got to finish a camouflage back sack for my Grandson & a pretty one for my Granddaughter, then the machine, boxes of material, buttons, ribbons & sand are going away until the New Year.